What this tool converts
Each curly glyph is its own Unicode code point. A parser sees a different character, not a prettier version of the ASCII key.
Double quotes: the opening and closing curly pair (U+201C, U+201D) both become the straight ASCII double quote.
Single quotes and the apostrophe: U+2018 and U+2019 become the straight ASCII apostrophe. The apostrophe is the one that costs people the most time, because a single curly apostrophe inside a contraction breaks a string literal and is nearly invisible in most fonts.
Prime marks: the prime and double prime (U+2032, U+2033), which measurements in Word documents and PDFs leave behind, straighten to ' and ".
Low-9 quotes and guillemets: the German-style low-9 pair (U+201A, U+201E) and the French guillemets (U+00AB, U+00BB, U+2039, U+203A) all map to straight ASCII, so quoted text out of a European document comes back plain.
Ellipsis: the single-character ellipsis (U+2026) becomes three periods. The toggle is on by default, because that glyph breaks the same pipelines the quotes do.
Publishers call the curved marks curly quotes or typographer's quotes, and the flat ones dumb quotes. In prose the curved ones look better. In code they are a different character, and that is where the trouble starts.
Why straight quotes matter
Autocorrect is where the curly characters come from. Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Apple Pages and Outlook all convert straight quotes as you type, under a setting called smart quotes, and phone keyboards do the same. Copy a code sample out of a doc, a slide or a PDF and the curly marks ride along.
The awkward part is that they come back. Word, Google Docs and macOS text substitution silently re-curl straight quotes on the next edit or paste, so a one-time cleanup fixes the snapshot in front of you and nothing after it.
Every programming language treats only straight quotes as string delimiters. Python, JavaScript, SQL and shell all reject the curly versions, so a snippet that looks correct on screen fails the moment it runs. The message is usually a blunt SyntaxError: invalid character, and you can stare at the line for a minute before spotting the curve.
One line makes it concrete. This does not run:
print(‘hello world’)
Straighten the two single quotes and it does:
print('hello world')
JSON is stricter still. The specification requires straight ASCII double quotes around keys and string values, so one curly quote turns a whole file into a parse error. CSV imports, command-line arguments and config files break the same way.
How to use it
1. Paste your text into the input box. Curly quotes, apostrophes, prime marks and the ellipsis glyph are all detected.
2. Press Convert. The output is straight ASCII, with a count of how many characters were replaced.
3. Copy the result into your editor, your JSON file, your terminal or a spreadsheet cell.
This free tool vs Klipto
This page straightens one batch of text at a time. On a Mac you can get it automatically on every paste with Klipto, a native clipboard manager whose Anti-LLM transform cleans text the moment you press ⌘V, offline, in any app.
The two treat a quote differently, and the difference decides which one you want. This tool converts curly quotes to straight ASCII, which is what a parser needs. Klipto's Anti-LLM deletes quote and apostrophe glyphs outright, so "don't" comes out as dont. That is the right answer for a Slack message with the AI tells stripped off, and the wrong answer for a Python string. Use this page when the text is headed into code or data.
| This free web tool | Klipto Anti-LLM | |
|---|---|---|
| Curly quotes and apostrophes | Converted to straight ASCII | Removed outright, "don't" becomes dont |
| Ellipsis glyph | Becomes three periods | Becomes three dots |
| Runs on paste | No, paste in and copy back | Yes, every ⌘V |
| Works in your editor and terminal | No, this page only | Yes, any macOS app |
| Handles the next paste too | No, repeat each time | Yes, every paste |
| Also strips dashes and hidden characters | No, see the AI text cleaner | Yes, full Anti-LLM pass |
| Needs a website or internet | Yes | No, native and offline |
| Privacy | Runs in your browser | On-device, network only for updates |
| Clipboard history, Stack, 20+ transforms | No | Yes |
| Platform | Any browser | macOS 14+ |
| Price | Free | Free tier, $19.99 one-time Pro |