Quotation marks changing in web forms, from being pasted from MS Word

Ever wondered why those funny quotes which Microsoft Word produces are translated as backwards ?. in web forms

If you write a quote in word, type something and then close with another quote, Word magically pairs the two quotes. One quote the right way up the other upside down. If you then copy & paste this text into an Oracle web form you may find, after saving, those wonderful quotes have turned into something else.

The problem here is the NLS_LANG parameter in the Application Server. If your AS is windows go into the windows registry and locate the NLS_LANG parameter of the Oracle home the AS is using. If your NLS_LANG is

NLS_LANG = ENGLISH_UNITED KINGDOM.WE8ISO8859P1

You will have to change it to

NLS_LANG = ENGLISH_UNITED KINGDOM.WE8MSWIN1252

I should note that it MUST be ENGLISH_UNITED KINGDOM otherwise if you use anything else you may find your ‘£’ will becomes ‘$’