http://shiflett.org/blog/2005/oct/convert-smart-quotes-with-php There are many places Microsoft "reveals*" it's auto-replacement policy as the user types, using high-order printable typographic characters replacing standard 256 ASCII characters resulting in "?" and so on for word-to-web cut-and-paste, look in the following Microsoft Word menus (note (c) and 1/2 and other replacements): Tools > Auto Correct Options... [AutoCorrect] Show AutoCorrect Options buttons Correct TWo INitial CApitals Capitalize first letter of sentences Capitalize first letter of table cells Capitalize names of days Correct accidental usage of cAPS LOCK key Replace text as you type [AutoFormat As You Type] Replace as you type "Straight quotes" with smart quotes Ordinals (1st) with superscript Fractions (1/2) with fraction character ( ) Hyphens (--) with dash ( *Bold* and _italic_ with real formatting Internet and network paths with hyperlinks Apply as you type Automatic bulleted lists Automatic numbered lists Border lines Tables Built-in Heading styles Automatically as you type Format beginning of list item like the one before it Set left- and first-indent with tabs and backspaces Define styles based on your formatting [AutoFormat] Apply Built-in Heading styles Automatic bulleted lists List styles Other paragraph styles Replace "Straight quotes" with smart quotes Ordinals (1st) with superscript Fractions (1/2) with fraction character ( ) Hyphens (--) with dash ( *Bold* and _italic_ with real formatting Internet and network paths with hyperlinks Preserve Styles Always AutoFormat Plain text WordMail documents == You're dealing with MS Word as the dynamic input editor for MediaWiki, and that's similar to the task of re-purposing static MS Word DOCs for use as MediaWiki pages, so there's much overlap in assignment and tools. Importing existing documents, as well as cutting and pasting "live/unsaved/in-process" documents in your case, is a significant need, and there's much to be learned from document converter/import experiences that applies equally to cut-and-paste (where "?" often displays on the web instead of Microsoft's choices for typographical characters intended for printing). Note the following characters are anticipated and dealt with by Gunter Schmidt http://www.beadsoft.de in http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension_talk:Word2MediaWikiPlus ' Replace all smart quotes with their dumb equivalents ... and: "_" "-" "+" "/" "{" "}" "[" "]" "~" "^^" "|" "'" "<" ">" ... and adding as needed: "" 'save some space if several characters in a row "<nowiki>" "</nowiki>" 'remove empty paragraphs at begin of document 'add <br> to all manual line breaks 'add <br> to all paragraphs 'Add empty line at document end to prevent error (address lines beginning with tab or space) 'replace "forced blanks" 'do not allow more than two empty paragraphs in a row 'Clean up Tab Indention 'Header, Footer and Footnote reference ... and much, much more. == I do extensive document cleanup (macros) before converting form MS Word to Wiki, and your users may be able to load the macro at http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension_talk:Word2MediaWikiPlus which will assist them in also cutting-and-pasting tables and images, and preserving bold, italic and other formatting! I love it. Good luck. Keep us informed in how it works for you, and please share your results on http://www.mediawiki.org/ == * for your entertainment: Microsoft's non-"reveal codes" white paper: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=microsoft+word+wordperfect+reveal+c odes+white+paper&btnG=Google+Search - oh how the mighty have fallen, too bad, WordPerfect and "reveal codes" could have evolved into the perfect web editor, Macromedia Dreamweaver came close.