MS Word Smart Quotes Saved Return as Question Marks (?Hello World? or ¿Hello World¿) (Doc ID 2022024.1)

Last updated on MAY 31, 2023

Applies to:

Symptoms

The above figure shows an example of what Smart Quote are and used for demonstration purpose only.

Data in the DB was saved by copying MS Word Text, Pasting it into Forms, and saving it. Some of the data from MS Word contains MS "Smart Quotes" which are also called "Curly Quotes" or "Typographer's Quotes"

When copied into the text field the quotes appear normal.  However, when the data is saved and re-queried the quotes are not returned accurately.  For example:

1. If double "Smart Quotes" are used then “Hello World” displays as ¿Hello World¿
2. If single "Smart Quotes" are used then ‘Hello World’ becomes `world¿
3. If the data is examined in the data base using commands from <Note 13854.1> "Dump SQL Command for NLS Debugging" one can see the following:

ASCII for the double "Smart quote" was saved as 191 for both the leading and trailing quote.  It should be 147 for leading and 148 for trailing.

One can see similar problems for the saved single "Smart Quote".  The leading and trailing ASCII representation should be 145 and 146 respectively but it is also saved incorrectly. This behavior has also been seen in other Microsoft products, including Outlook.

Changes

 None

Cause

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