Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 14, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Have you ever run into people who insist on typing everything with the Caps Lock key on? In some worksheets, that may not be acceptable. Yet, there you are, with a worksheet full of text cells that are all in uppercase. How do you convert everything to upper- and lowercase, without the need to retype?
If you find yourself in this situation, the MakeProper macro may do the trick for you. It will examine a range of cells, which you select, and then convert any constants to what Excel refers to as "proper case." This simply means that when you are done, the first letter of each word in a cell will be uppercase; the rest will be lowercase. If a cell contains a formula, it is ignored.
Sub MakeProper() Dim rngSrc As Range Dim lMax As Long, lCtr As Long Set rngSrc = ActiveSheet.Range(ActiveWindow.Selection.Address) lMax = rngSrc.Cells.Count For lCtr = 1 To lMax If Not rngSrc.Cells(lCtr).HasFormula Then rngSrc.Cells(lCtr) = Application.Proper(rngSrc.Cells(lCtr)) End If Next lCtr End Sub
If you would rather convert all the text in the range into lowercase, you can instead use the following macro, MakeLower().
Sub MakeLower() Dim rngSrc As Range Dim lMax As Long, lCtr As Long Set rngSrc = ActiveSheet.Range(ActiveWindow.Selection.Address) lMax = rngSrc.Cells.Count For lCtr = 1 To lMax If Not rngSrc.Cells(lCtr).HasFormula Then rngSrc.Cells(lCtr) = LCase(rngSrc.Cells(lCtr)) End If Next lCtr End Sub
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2026) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.
Best-Selling VBA Tutorial for Beginners Take your Excel knowledge to the next level. With a little background in VBA programming, you can go well beyond basic spreadsheets and functions. Use macros to reduce errors, save time, and integrate with other Microsoft applications. Fully updated for the latest version of Office 365. Check out Microsoft 365 Excel VBA Programming For Dummies today!
Sometimes it may be helpful for a macro to know exactly where it is being executed. This tip provides a way that you can ...
Discover MoreYou can use the Zoom feature of Excel to magnify what Excel shows of your workbook, but it affects the entire screen. ...
Discover MoreIf someone sends you a worksheet that has lots of data in it, you might want to "spread out" the data so you can have ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)
Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments