Correcting a Capital Mistake

I can't tell you the number of times that I've been feverishly typing away, without glancing up at my worksheet. I get in a "groove," and I keep typing away, figuring I will check things out when I get to the end of a row or a column. When I finally look up, I notice that I had the Caps Lock key selected, so all my normal text is in uppercase, and everything I wanted in upper case is in lowercase. This happened because I hit the Caps Lock key by mistake, and didn't notice the mistake until I'd already entered quite a bit of data.

Fortunately, Excel can catch this type of mistake for me—if I tell it to catch it. Follow these steps:

1. Depending on your version of Excel, choose either AutoCorrect or AutoCorrect Options from the Tools menu. Excel displays the AutoCorrect dialog box. (To display the AutoCorrect dialog box in Excel 2007, click the Office button and then click Excel Options. Click Proofing, and then click AutoCorrect Options.)
2. Display the AutoCorrect tab. (Click here to see a related figure.)
3. Make sure the Correct Accidental Use of cAPS LOCK Key check box is selected.
4. Click on OK.

Now, if I type something in a cell and the first letter is lowercase and the rest of the letters are uppercase, Excel figures that I've got the Caps Lock key selected, and helpfully turns it off. It also corrects the capitalization of my text entry.