If you type a double quote after an open bracket, it inserts an end quote, rather than an opening quote (see screenshot below). If you leave a space after the bracket, it will insert the correct quote mark. I am using Scrivener 2.9.0.29 for Windows.
It does this after any character, not just brackets or parens. I’m not sure this is a fixable bug. Not all quote marks are paired (not even all double quote marks are paired), nor is the symbol only used for quotations. I do not know of an algorithm to read the author’s intent.
May I contradict you? When I write a text in LibreOffice or other word processors, if I type a double quote after an opening bracket it puts an opening quote, whereas it puts an end quote after other characters. The algorithm has not to be telepathic; it only has to verify if the preceding character is an opening bracket, the same way it verifies it is a space or other separator, and act accordingly.
I should add that if it’s the case that the program can’t determine if it should be an opening or closing smart quotation mark, then it shouldn’t use a smart quotation mark at all. Instead, in the absence of certainty, it should use a straight quotation mark. While perhaps not completely correct, it would not be completely wrong. (And they can be easily searched for.)
I’m having this issue, too. If it’s irritating to you, then a solution that works in the meantime is to type the open-parenthesis, leave a space, and then type the quotation mark, like this: ( "
Then you can go back and delete the space, and the open-quote will stay as typed.
