How to Change Case in Word, Google Docs, and Excel

When this comes up

Someone typed the entire text with Caps Lock on. The customer list has names in a mix of uppercase and lowercase. A title needs to be in title case. There’s no need to retype anything: Word, Google Docs, and Excel can change the text in just a few clicks.

In Word

• Shortcut: Select the text and press Shift + F3. Each time you press it, the text switches between lowercase, UPPERCASE, and Capitalize Each Word. On laptops, you may need to press Fn + Shift + F3.
• Menu: On the Home tab, click the Aa button (Change Case) and choose Sentence case, lowercase, UPPERCASE, Capitalize Each Word, or tOGGLE cASE.
• On Mac: The same Aa button is available; the shortcut is also Shift + F3 (with Fn, depending on your keyboard).

Sentence case is the option to use when fixing text that was typed entirely in uppercase. Afterward, check proper names and acronyms, which will be changed to lowercase.

In Google Docs

Select the text and go to Format › Text › Capitalization. Choose lowercase, UPPERCASE, or Title Case. There’s no default keyboard shortcut for this.

Some editors offer small caps or all-caps text styles that change only how text looks, not the letters themselves. In Docs, use the menu to actually change the letters.

In Excel and Google Sheets

Spreadsheets don’t have a change-case button. Instead, use a function in a helper column.

• Excel in Portuguese: =MAIÚSCULA(A2), =MINÚSCULA(A2), and =PRI.MAIÚSCULA(A2) (title case).
• Google Sheets: =UPPER(A2), =LOWER(A2), and =PROPER(A2).

After filling the formula down the column, copy the new column and paste it over the original using Paste Special › Values (in Sheets, press Ctrl+Shift+V). This leaves you with just the converted text, so you can delete the helper column.

The catch with names like “van,” “de,” and “von”

Title-case functions turn "MARIA DA SILVA" into "Maria Da Silva," capitalizing "Da," which isn’t correct in Portuguese. Fix it afterward with Find and Replace, changing " Da " to " da ", " De " to " de ", " Dos " to " dos ", and so on. Include the spaces so you don’t change parts of other words. In Excel, you can also combine this with the SUBSTITUIR function.

Watch out for acronyms and foreign names, too: "SP" becomes "Sp" and "McDonald" becomes "Mcdonald."

For text snippets, without opening a program

If your text is on your phone, in an email, or in a system without a change-case option, paste it into Change Case, choose UPPERCASE, lowercase, Title Case, or Sentence case, and copy the result. If a system doesn’t accept accent marks or special characters, such as some forms and bank files, Remove accents strips them while keeping the letters.

On your phone: keyboard and office apps

• Keyboard: Double-tap the Shift key (up arrow) to turn on Caps Lock on Android and iPhone. But the keyboard can’t fix text you’ve already typed; use a document app or an online tool.
• Word for mobile: In versions with full editing features, the Aa change-case button is in the formatting menu on the Home tab.
• Google Docs on mobile: The app lets you edit text, but the capitalization option isn’t always available in the menu. In your phone’s browser, the desktop version of Docs has the full Format menu.

Which case style to use

• Sentence case (only the first letter is capitalized): Body text, messages, and descriptions.
• Title Case: People’s names and place names in lists. For titles, English style guides vary: some capitalize most words, while others capitalize only the first word and proper nouns.
• UPPERCASE: Acronyms, signs, short warnings, and fields in systems that require it.
• lowercase: Email addresses and website addresses, which aren’t case-sensitive and are easier to read this way.

Frequently asked questions