Capitalize Every Word

Capitalized case vs. title case

Capitalized case capitalizes every word without exception. Title case keeps small words lowercase, which is what most style guides expect for headlines. Use capitalized case for lists of names, product names, and labels where every word should stand out.

Apostrophes

Letters after an apostrophe stay lowercase, so “don’t” becomes “Don’t”, not “Don’T”.

Changing case in Word, Google Docs, and Excel

Microsoft Word: select the text and press Shift+F3 to cycle through lowercase, UPPERCASE, and Capitalize Each Word, or use the Change Case (Aa) button on the Home tab, which also offers Sentence case. On a Mac, use Format › Change Case.

Google Docs: select the text, then choose Format › Text › Capitalization.

Excel and Google Sheets: use =LOWER(A1), =UPPER(A1), or =PROPER(A1), then paste the results back as values. For anywhere else, such as email, a CMS, or a form, paste your text into this converter.

Good uses for capitalized case

Capitalized case is useful when every word is a name or a label: lists of people’s names imported in lowercase, street names, product names, menu items, and column headers. It is also the quickest way to tidy a spreadsheet column of names that arrived in all caps, before you correct exceptions like “McDonald” or “van der Berg”.

Names that need a second look

Some names don’t follow the simple rule: McDonald and MacKenzie have a capital in the middle, van, de, and la are often lowercase in Dutch, French, and Spanish names, and hyphenated names such as Smith-Jones capitalize both parts. Check names before you send an email merge or print badges.