In this article, we are going to show you how to change case in Excel using different methods.

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Unlike in Word, Excel doesn't have any built-in features that can help modify the text case. However, some of the methods we will be looking at in this guide can help you with this feature in Word as well. Let’s start with the functions method to change case in Excel.

Excel functions for changing case

Although lacking any specific features that can help with the text changing case, Excel instead has 3 functions that can do just that:

  • PROPER: Capitalizes first letter of each word, makes others lowercase
  • UPPER: Changes all letters to uppercase
  • LOWER: Changes all letters to lowercase

The usage of all three functions is very straightforward: The formulas need a single parameter, which should be the string to be modified, and the functions return a string with the updated letter case.

=PROPER(<text>)

=UPPER(<text>)

=LOWER(<text>)

If you want to get rid of the formulas, copy the values after changing the case of texts and paste as value into the original value. To paste as value,

  1. Right-click on the cell(s) with original value after copying the formula result(s)
  2. Click on the Values icon (the icon with 123 number on it)

VBA Method

The second Excel-based method is using a macro with VBA. VBA has its own case functions, similar to those in workbook formulas. Aside from one exception, they work the same way as their Excel counterparts. If you are not familiar with VBA, feel free to check out our How to create a macro in Excel article. You can simply copy paste the codes given below into your macros.

Please keep in mind that VBA overwrites the value in cell. Thus, you will lose the original case of letters.

VBA doesn’t have a built-in function equivalent of the PROPER function. However, we can call it from Excel. Let’s see our options:

  • UCase: Uppercase (UPPER) in Excel
  • LCase: Lowercase (LOWER) in Excel
  • WorksheetFunction.Proper: This calls the PROPER function itself

UCase

Sub Uppercase()
For Each Cell In Selection
If Not Cell.HasFormula Then
Cell.Value = UCase(Cell.Value)
End If
Next Cell
End Sub

LCase

Sub Lowercase()
For Each Cell In Selection
If Not Cell.HasFormula Then
Cell.Value = LCase(Cell.Value)
End If
Next Cell
End Sub

Proper

Sub Proper ()
For Each Cell In Selection
If Not Cell.HasFormula Then
Cell.Value = Application.WorksheetFunction.Proper(Cell.Value)
End If
Next Cell
End Sub

Using Word to change case

Our final method is to get help from Word. We have mentioned that Word has built in features for changing case. Follow the steps below in Word.

  1. Open an empty Word document along with your Excel workbook
  2. Copy the cell(s) you want to change case
    How to change case in Excel - Word
  3. Paste the copied cells into the Word document
  4. Select the text in Word
  5. Click on the Change Case icon to see the options available in Word
  6. Once you are satisfied with the result, copy them back into Excel
    How to change case in Excel 05

Alternatively, you can press Shift + F3 to cycle between change case options in Word.