How to Convert Small Letters to Capital in Excel

In this tutorial, we will learn how to convert small letters to capital in excel completely.

Letters capitalization is a process that we sometimes need for the text data we have. By understanding the methods given in this tutorial, you will be able to do it easily. There is no need to do it manually by retyping all your text using capital letters!

Here, we will discuss 4 methods in detail to convert small letters into large/capital letters in excel. Quite a lot, isn’t it? Let’s learn them all and use the most appropriate one with our text data processing condition later :)

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links from which we earn commission from qualifying purchases/actions at no additional cost for you. Learn more

Want to work faster and easier in Excel? Install and use Excel add-ins! Read this article to know the best Excel add-ins to use according to us!

Method 1: The UPPER Formula

In this first method to convert small letters to capital in excel, we will use a built-in excel formula. This formula is the UPPER formula.

From the usage perspective, we can say that UPPER is quite simple to implement. This is like what you can see in its general writing form below.



UPPER just needs one input, which is the text you want to convert the letters from into capital letters. Give your text as its input and enter. UPPER will then immediately convert the text letters into capital letters!

To deepen your understanding of this UPPER formula usage, here is an example of its implementation and result in excel.



Pretty easy, right? If your text data is in one column like in the example, then just type UPPER for one of them. After that, copy your UPPER formula into all the rows of your text data. You will immediately get the result of all your text letters capitalization!

If you want your letters to become capital in their cells directly, not in different cells, then just use paste special. The way to use this feature is by activating the copy mode first on the cells where your UPPER formulas are.

You can activate the mode by pressing Ctrl + C (Command + C in Mac) after highlighting all the cells containing your UPPERs. There will be dotted lines around your cell like the following. It is a symbol that your copy mode is active.



Then, move your cell cursor to the first cell of where your text is. Then, click the Paste button dropdown in the Home tab. There will be choices shown as you can see in the screenshot below. Choose Paste Values.



All the letters in your original text have been converted to capital letters!



If you don’t want your UPPER results anymore after using paste special, delete them from your worksheet

Method 2: Flash Fill

Want another method that doesn’t involve formulas in its process? You can also convert the small letters in your text to capital in excel by using the flash fill feature.

(Note that we can only use this method if we have excel version 2013 and beyond. This is because Microsoft added this flash fill feature starting from excel 2013).



Flash fill is a great feature to fill a cell range based on the pattern it detects in your previous input. Here, we use flash fill to detect our pattern to convert small letters into large letters in our text.

The way to use flash fill for this is as follows. Rewrite your first text by changing all of its letters into capital besides the actual text cell. After that, move your cursor to the next cell in that column besides your text.

Then, press the Ctrl + E buttons on your keyboard simultaneously. Excel will automatically detect your previous input pattern and apply it to the rest of your text. All the letters in your text have been converted to capital letters!

To make this use of flash fill clearer, see the text data example screenshot below (the same as the data we use for the UPPER formula tutorial previously).



To make flash fill helps us converting our letters, we manually convert the text at the top first. Retype our first text with capital letters. The result becomes like this.



Then, we move our cell cursor below to begin the flash fill implementation.



Press Ctrl + E simultaneously. You will get your desired text, which letters have been converted to capital automatically by excel!



If you want your text to be converted directly in their cells, just copy your flash fill results to them.

As an alternative, besides using Ctrl + E, we can also access flash fill from the Fill dropdown in the Home tab.



Besides that, we can also access it through the Data tab in your workbook.



Whichever method you use to activate flash fill, you will get the same results!

Method 3: Change the Font Type

Do you know that there are font types in excel in which letters are all capital? If this is the right method for you, you can also change your text’s font types to capitalize your letters easily.

To change our font type in excel, many of us may have known the method. But, we will discuss it again here so those who don’t can also practice this method!

First, you must highlight the cells containing the text you want to capitalize the letters on.



Then, click the font type dropdown in the Home tab. You can see the dropdown location below.



Pick the font type with capital letters for all of its writing. You can check this by looking at the writing of the font type in the dropdown list.

See the examples of the font type choices with capital letters, highlighted in the following screenshot.



After choosing the font type, your letters will all become capital, following the letter form in the font type.



Quite practical, isn’t it? However, you should use this method only if it isn’t a problem to use a different font for your text.

Method 4: Use Word

The last method we discuss here is by utilizing the Change Case feature in Word. This feature can change the letter cases you have in your text fast and easily.

This feature, unfortunately, isn’t available in excel. However, you can utilize the availability of it in Word by copying your excel text data into word first.



The steps for the implementation of this method are as follows. First, highlight the text in your cells in excel and activate the copy mode on them by pressing Ctrl + C (Command + C in Mac). The result will be as follows.



Next, open your word program and copy your excel text data there by pressing Ctrl + V (Command + V in Mac). The result will be as follows.



Then, just highlight your text in Word and click the Change Case menu in the Word’s Home tab. You can see the menu’s exact location in the screenshot below.



After you choose the Change Case menu, there will be a dropdown list with choices shown. To convert the letters in your text to capital letters, click UPPERCASE.



All your text letters have been converted to capital letters! Now, you just need to copy your text back to excel.

To do that, press Ctrl + C after making sure all your text in Word has been highlighted. Open the excel workbook where your text originally came from and press Ctrl + V in the cells of your text. You will immediately get your letters capitalization results in excel!



What do you think? Pretty easy and fast, isn’t it, if you choose to use this method?

Exercise

After understanding how to use various methods to convert small letters to capital in excel, let’s do an exercise. This is so you can understand more about the practices of those methods.

Download the exercise file and answer all the questions. Download the answer key file if you have done the exercise and want to check your answers. Or, probably, when you are confused about how to answer some of the questions!

Link to the exercise file:
Download here

Question

Answer each question in the appropriate gray-colored cell that fits the question number!

1. Use UPPER to convert the small letters in the text on the left to capital letters!
2. Use flash fill to convert the small letters in all the text on the left to capital letters!
3. Change the text font type into the font in which text is written with capital letters!

Link to the answer key file:
Download here

Additional Note

There are other formulas that can convert letters in excel besides UPPER, which are LOWER and PROPER. Understand each of their functions and usage by visiting their Compute Expert tutorial links.



Related tutorials you should learn too: