Title Case Converter: Capitalize Titles and Headlines

Example

Before

the lord of the rings: the return of the king

After

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Which words stay lowercase

Articles (a, an, the), short conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet), and short prepositions (at, by, in, of, on, to, up, via, with, from, and similar) stay lowercase unless they start or end the title or come right after a colon.

This follows the general approach of Chicago style. APA and AP capitalize prepositions of four or more letters, such as “With” and “From”, so check your style guide if you need exact compliance.

Hyphenated words

Each part of a hyphenated compound is treated as its own word, so “state-of-the-art design” becomes “State-of-the-Art Design”.

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.

Title case at a glance

Always capitalize the first and last word, nouns, pronouns, verbs (including short ones like Is and Be), adjectives, and adverbs. Keep articles, short conjunctions, and short prepositions lowercase in the middle of a title. The full explanation, with examples from AP, Chicago, APA, and MLA, is in our guide to title case rules.

Words to check after converting

Brand names with unusual capitals, such as iPhone, eBay, or YouTube, are converted like ordinary words, so “iphone” becomes “Iphone”. Acronyms you typed in lowercase (“nasa”) become “Nasa”. Words like up, out, and off are tricky: they are prepositions in “Up the Hill” but part of a verb in “Set Up Your Account”, where most styles capitalize them. Read the result once with those in mind.

Frequently asked questions

Which style does this converter follow?

It follows the general approach of Chicago style: short articles, conjunctions, and prepositions stay lowercase. AP and APA capitalize any word of four or more letters, so check prepositions such as “with”, “from”, and “into” if you follow those styles.

Is title case the same as capitalizing every word?

No. Capitalizing every word, including “of” and “the”, is Capitalized Case. Word and Google Docs call that option “Capitalize Each Word” or “Title Case”, which is why their result looks different from a style guide’s.

Should my website headings use title case?

Either style is fine if you use it consistently. Many sites now prefer sentence case for headings because it is easier to read; book, film, and song titles still use title case.