Smart Quotes Converter
Turn straight ASCII quotes (" ') into curly typographic quotes (“ ” ‘ ’) — with correct opening/closing detection — or straighten curly quotes back for code, CSV, and JSON. Runs entirely in your browser, no server, no sign-up.
About this tool
Smart quotes (also called curly or typographic quotes) are the curved quotation
marks used in books, magazines, and polished web copy: “ ” for double quotes and ‘ ’
for single quotes and apostrophes. Code editors, terminals, and plain-text tools instead
use straight ASCII quotes: " and '.
This converter moves text between the two, in either direction:
- Straight → Curly (educate): it looks at the character before each straight quote to
decide whether it opens or closes. A quote at the start of the text, after a space,
or after an opening bracket becomes an opening mark (
“/‘); a quote after a letter or digit becomes a closing mark or an apostrophe (”/’). So"Hello," she said. It's a 'test'.becomes“Hello,” she said. It’s a ‘test’. - Curly → Straight (straighten): every curly quote (and prime mark) becomes plain
ASCII again — exactly what you want before pasting into code, a CSV, or JSON, where a
stray
”breaks parsing.
Everything else — accents, CJK, emoji, dashes, and ellipses — passes through untouched. It all runs locally in your browser: nothing is uploaded.
Worked example
Input (straight quotes), direction Straight → Curly:
"Don't," he said, "you dare." Back in '89 the dogs' bowls were 6'4" apart.
Output (curly quotes):
“Don’t,” he said, “you dare.” Back in ’89 the dogs’ bowls were 6’4” apart.
Note Don’t, the elided year ’89, and the plural possessive dogs’ all get the correct
apostrophe. Turn on Feet & inches → prime marks and 6'4" instead becomes 6′4″
(true prime marks) rather than curly quotes.
FAQ
How does it know whether a quote is opening or closing?
It looks at the character immediately before each straight quote. If there's nothing
word-like to the left — the start of the text, a space, or an opening bracket/dash — the
quote opens (“ / ‘). If the previous character is a letter or digit, it closes
(” / ’) or becomes an apostrophe. This is the same heuristic word processors and
SmartyPants use, and it handles It’s, dogs’, and the elided year ’89 correctly.
Can I convert only double quotes and leave apostrophes alone?
Yes. Convert double quotes and Convert single quotes / apostrophes are separate
checkboxes. Un-tick one to leave that kind untouched — for example, curl the " in prose
while keeping ' straight for code identifiers embedded in the text.
What is the feet-and-inches mode?
With Feet & inches → prime marks on (Straight → Curly only), a straight quote directly
after a digit becomes a true prime mark instead of a curly quote: 6' → 6′ (feet /
minutes) and 4" → 4″ (inches / seconds), so 6'4" becomes 6′4″. It's off by default
because most text wants curly quotes there. Straightening always folds prime marks back to
plain ' and " regardless of this setting.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No. The conversion runs entirely inside your browser via WebAssembly — the text never leaves your device. The same engine also powers the command-line and chat versions.
Limits & edge cases
- Size cap: up to 1 MB of text per conversion (plenty for a long document).
- English curly set: it produces the standard EN curly quotes (
“ ” ‘ ’). Locale styles like German„…“or French guillemets« … »are not generated — use the straighten direction if you need to remove them. - Ambiguous leading apostrophes: a single quote at a word boundary followed by a digit
(e.g.
'89) is treated as an elided-year apostrophe (’89), not an opening quote. Genuinely opening single quotes before a number are rare; if you need one, edit the result. - Scope is quotes (and primes): dashes, the ellipsis glyph, guillemets, and exotic spaces are left as-is. To strip all typographic characters to ASCII, use the companion smart-quotes-clean tool instead.
Developer & Automation Access
Run it from the terminal
Same engine as this page, headless — via the gizza CLI:
gizza tool smart-quotes-converter "\"Hello,\" she said. It's a 'test'."New to the CLI? Get gizza →
Open it by URL
Pre-fill and auto-run this tool with query parameters — the names match the API/CLI:
https://gizza.ai/tools/smart-quotes-converter/?input=%22Hello%2C%22%20she%20said.%20It%27s%20a%20%27test%27.&direction=to_curly&convert_double=true&convert_single=true&feet_inches=trueMachine-readable descriptor: tool.json — title + parameters JSON Schema for agents.