Text & writing
Title Case in Word, Google Docs, and Excel
Word processors and spreadsheets have case-changing tools, but they are not the same as proper title case. Microsoft Word’s “Capitalize Each Word” and Excel’s PROPER function capitalize every word, including short words like “of” and “the”, and PROPER has a quirk with apostrophes. This guide explains what each built-in option actually does and how to get real title case.
Ready to try the tool this guide describes?
Microsoft Word
Word’s Change Case button (Home tab) offers Sentence case, lowercase, UPPERCASE, Capitalize Each Word, and tOGGLE cASE. Pressing Shift+F3 with text selected cycles between lowercase, UPPERCASE, and Capitalize Each Word.
None of these is title case. Capitalize Each Word capitalizes every word, so “the lord of the rings” becomes “The Lord Of The Rings” rather than “The Lord of the Rings”.
Microsoft Excel
Excel’s PROPER function is documented as capitalizing the first letter in a text string and any other letters that follow any character other than a letter, and lowercasing everything else. Microsoft’s own example turns “this is a TITLE” into “This Is A Title”.
Because a letter after any non-letter is capitalized, an apostrophe triggers a capital too: “don’t” becomes “Don’T”. PROPER also capitalizes every short word and lowercases acronyms, turning “NASA” into “Nasa”.
Google Docs and Google Sheets
- Google Docs has Format → Text → Capitalization with lowercase, UPPERCASE, and Title Case options. Review short words and acronyms after using it, as with any automatic option.
- Google Sheets has UPPER, LOWER, and PROPER functions; PROPER capitalizes the first letter of each word.
Getting real title case
For a spreadsheet, keep the original column and paste the converted titles into a new one, so you can compare them before replacing anything.
- Copy the titles from your document or spreadsheet column.
- Paste them into a title case converter — one title per line.
- Check phrasal verbs, names, and any style-guide requirements.
- Paste the result back.
Title Case in Word, Docs, and Excel FAQ
- Does Microsoft Word have a title case option?
- Not a true one. Its Change Case options include Capitalize Each Word, which capitalizes every word, including “of”, “and”, and “the”.
- What does Shift+F3 do in Word?
- With text selected, it cycles between lowercase, UPPERCASE, and Capitalize Each Word.
- Why does Excel’s PROPER turn “don’t” into “Don’T”?
- PROPER capitalizes any letter that follows a non-letter character, and the apostrophe counts as a non-letter.
- Does PROPER keep acronyms like NASA?
- No. PROPER lowercases every letter except the first of each word, so “NASA” becomes “Nasa”.
- How can I title-case a whole column of titles?
- Copy the column into a title case converter with one title per line, check the results, and paste them into a new column.
Related guides
- Title Case Edge CasesHow to capitalize the tricky parts of a title: hyphenated compounds, phrasal verbs like “Log In”, acronyms, brand names such as iPhone, numbers, and words after a colon.
- Capitalizing Titles of WorksHow APA, MLA, and Chicago capitalize and format the titles of books, articles, and websites — including when APA uses sentence case and when to use italics or quotation marks.
Open the tool
Jump into Title Case Converter when you are ready to process your files.
