How to Change Case in Word, Excel and Google Docs
Updated October 22, 2026
Typed a whole paragraph with Caps Lock on? You do not need to retype it. Each program has a built-in way to change the case of text, and this guide shows where to find it.
Microsoft Word
- Select the text, go to the Home tab and click the Change Case button (the Aa icon).
- Choose Sentence case, lowercase, UPPERCASE, Capitalize Each Word or tOGGLE cASE.
- Keyboard shortcut: select the text and press Shift + F3 to cycle through UPPERCASE, lowercase and Capitalize Each Word. On some laptops you need Fn + Shift + F3.
Google Docs
- Select the text and open Format, then Text, then Capitalization.
- Choose lowercase, UPPERCASE or Title Case.
- Google Docs has no sentence case option in that menu, so for sentence case use lowercase first and then capitalise the first letters, or use the online tool below.
Excel and Google Sheets
Spreadsheets use formulas. Put the formula in a new column, then copy the results and paste them as values over the originals.
| Formula | What it does | Example result for "hELLO wORLD" |
|---|---|---|
| =UPPER(A1) | All capitals | HELLO WORLD |
| =LOWER(A1) | All small letters | hello world |
| =PROPER(A1) | Capital letter at the start of every word | Hello World |
What these tools get wrong
- PROPER and Capitalize Each Word capitalise every word, including small words like "of" and "the". Real headline style (Title Case) keeps them lowercase.
- Names such as McDonald or iPhone are changed to Mcdonald and Iphone. Check names and brand names afterwards.
- Acronyms such as NASA lose their capitals when you convert to lowercase or sentence case.
An easier way: change case online
If you just want to paste text, click a button and copy the result, use the Convert Case tool. It offers UPPER CASE, lower case, Title Case, Sentence case, camelCase, snake_case and more, and it follows headline rules for title case. Your text stays in your browser and is never uploaded.
Frequently asked questions
What is the shortcut to change case in Word?
Select the text and press Shift + F3. Each press cycles between UPPERCASE, lowercase and Capitalize Each Word (and sentence case in some versions).
How do I capitalize only the first letter of a sentence?
In Word, use Change Case, then Sentence case. In Excel, use =UPPER(LEFT(A1,1))&LOWER(MID(A1,2,LEN(A1))). Online, use the Sentence Case tool.
Why does PROPER give me the wrong result for some names?
PROPER capitalises the first letter after any character that is not a letter and lowercases everything else, so it cannot know that McDonald or van der Berg have special capitals.