How to stop quotes and dashes being changed as you type
Switch off smart quotes or dashes in Tools, then AutoCorrect options in Write by Zaweba, or press Ctrl+Z straight after a change to keep what you typed.
Go to Tools, then AutoCorrect options in Write by Zaweba and switch off the corrections you do not want, such as smart quotes or dashes. Each correction has its own switch, so you can keep the useful ones and lose the rest. For a one-off, press Ctrl+Z straight after the change and Write puts back exactly what you typed.
What AutoCorrect does as you type
Write's AutoCorrect tidies text while you type. It turns straight quotes into curly ones and double hyphens into dashes. It makes (c), (r) and (tm) into their symbols, and turns arrows and fractions into proper characters. It gives sentences a capital letter at the start, makes a lone i into I, and fixes around 90 common typing mistakes, such as letters typed in the wrong order. AutoFormat also starts a list when a line begins with a star, 1. or a), and draws a line when you type --- or === and press Enter.
Most of the time this is helpful. Curly quotes and real dashes look better in a printed letter, and fixed typos save time.
When you want the text left alone
There are good reasons to turn some of it off. Code, file paths, measurements in feet and inches and anything to be pasted into another system usually need straight quotes. Some style guides want a spaced hyphen, or have their own rules on dashes. A lowercase word at the start of a line may be correct in a poem, a list of commands or a product name.
Switching corrections off step by step
Open the Tools menu and choose AutoCorrect options. Find the correction that is getting in your way, such as smart quotes, dashes, capitals at the start of sentences, or list starts, and switch it off. Close the dialog and carry on. The change applies to what you type from then on.
Text you have already typed keeps its curly quotes or dashes. If you need to change those, Find and Replace will swap them across the document.
Undoing a single change
Often you only want to stop one correction, once. Press Ctrl+Z straight after Write makes the change and it puts back exactly what you typed, leaving AutoCorrect switched on for the rest of the document. This is the quickest fix for a list that started when you did not want one, or a capital that should have stayed small.
What is never changed
AutoCorrect only works on text you type at the keyboard. Pasted text is never corrected, so code, quotes and data copied in from elsewhere arrive exactly as they were. If you want text with no formatting at all, Paste as plain text in the Edit menu brings it in as bare characters.
Typing the symbols on purpose
With dashes switched off, you can still type a dash when you want one. Write has keyboard shortcuts for dashes and for the copyright, registered and trademark symbols and the ellipsis, and Insert, then Symbol offers common symbols, recently used ones and special characters. Help, then Keyboard shortcuts lists the shortcuts.
AltGr is left alone, so the accented letters on your keyboard always type normally.
Getting AutoCorrect to suit the way you write takes a minute in Write by Zaweba, and after that it helps without getting in the way.
