Smart Quotes and Other Formatting Pitfalls

Have you ever tried to copy text from a Word Processor into Projectmates, only to see "???" or some other unexpected characters displayed on the screen?  This sometimes happens when copying text from another application, such as Microsoft Word, into Projectmates.  Many applications have formatting options, such as smart quotes (Smart quotes format the quotation marks to differentiate between the starting and ending quotes), which Projectmates does not recognize and cannot display properly. 

It is always best if text can be typed directly into Projectmates instead of copied from another application, but if this is not practical, here are a few other suggestions:

1. Turn of smart quotes:  If you are using Word, click on Tools -> AutoCorrect Options -> AutoFormat As You Type -> and uncheck the box next to "Straight quotes" with "Smart Quotes"

2. Do not use auto formatting for bullets or numbering.  You may type numbers into lists yourself, but do not use the AutoFormatting options that many Word Processors offer.  To turn this feature off in Word click on Tools -> AutoCorrect Options -> AutoFormat As You Type -> and uncheck the boxes next to Automatic bulleted lists and Automatic numbered lists.

3. If you have used other formatting in your text such as bold, underlines, font colors, etc. copy your text into Notepad before copying it into Projectmates.  This should remove most of the formatting for you.

Note: As of Version 8.1, smart quotes should display properly in most of Projectmates' modules; however, if you have used smart quotes in the past, this formatting issue may still rear its ugly head in the Portfolio module, so look out!