How to Change Text Case in Microsoft Word (Uppercase, Lowercase & Title Case)
You have finished a document and the headings are a mess: one is typed in ALL CAPS, another in lowercase, and a third is half capitalised by accident. Retyping everything would take forever — and Word already has a built-in tool that fixes text case in two clicks.
This guide shows you the three ways to change text case in Word, with one worked example per method.
Method 1: The Change Case Button (The Easiest Way)
Word keeps its case tools behind one button on the Home tab, in the Font group. It looks like “Aa” with a small arrow next to it. Click it, and you get five options:
| Option | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Sentence case | Capitalises the first letter of each sentence | “hello world. how are you?” → “Hello world. How are you?” |
| lowercase | Makes every letter small | “HELLO WORLD” → “hello world” |
| UPPERCASE | Makes every letter capital | “hello world” → “HELLO WORLD” |
| Capitalize Each Word | Capitalises the first letter of every word | “hello world” → “Hello World” |
| tOGGLE cASE | Flips every letter to the opposite case | “Hello World” → “hELLO wORLD” |
How to use it:
- Select the text first. Word only changes what you selected — click and drag over the words, or press Ctrl+A to select the whole document.
- Go to Home → Change Case (the “Aa” button in the Font group).
- Pick the case you want. The change happens instantly.
Worked example. Suppose your document has the heading the lord of the rings. Select it, open Change Case, and pick Capitalize Each Word. The result is:
The Lord Of The Rings
That is close — but notice the problem. Word capitalised every word, including “Of” and “The”. A style guide would write it as “The Lord of the Rings”, with the small words lowercase. We come back to that trap in a moment.
Method 2: The Shift+F3 Shortcut (The Fastest Way)
If you change case often, the keyboard shortcut is quicker than the menu. Select your text, then press Shift+F3 — and press it again to move to the next case.
Each press cycles the selected text through the cases: sentence case, then lowercase, then UPPERCASE, then back to sentence case. So if your text is in the wrong case, keep pressing Shift+F3 until it looks right.
Worked example. Select the words SARA KHAN and press Shift+F3 once:
sara khan
Press Shift+F3 again:
SARA KHAN
Press it a third time, and you are back to sentence case:
Sara khan
The shortcut is the fastest way to fix a heading that arrived in SHOUTING CAPITALS — select it, press Shift+F3 until it is lowercase, and move on.
Method 3: Fix a Whole Document at Once
When the case problem is everywhere — a document pasted from the web, or a file typed in caps lock by accident — fix it in one pass:
Step 1: Select everything. Press Ctrl+A. The whole document is now highlighted.
Step 2: Open Change Case. Home → Change Case (the “Aa” button).
Step 3: Pick lowercase first. This resets everything to small letters, which gives you a clean base.
Step 4: Re-capitalise the headings by hand. Select each heading and apply Capitalize Each Word, or press Shift+F3 until it looks right. Headings are few, and body text does not need capital letters except at the start of sentences — which sentence case handles for you.
This two-pass method (lowercase everything, then fix the headings) is much faster than hunting through a document one heading at a time. The same trick works in Excel too — our guide on how to change text case in Excel shows the UPPER, LOWER and PROPER functions for spreadsheets.
The Title Case Trap: Capitalize Each Word Is Not True Title Case
Here is the one thing Word gets wrong. Its Capitalize Each Word option capitalises every word — including the small words that style guides keep lowercase in the middle of a title:
- Word gives you:
The Lord Of The Rings - A style guide wants:
The Lord of the Rings
The same trap applies to “and”, “the”, “in”, “on”, “at”, “to” and “a” — Word capitalises them all, while the Chicago, APA and MLA style guides leave them small in the middle of a title. If your document follows a style guide, use Capitalize Each Word as a first pass, then fix the small words by hand — or read our guide on which words you capitalize in a title for the full rule, and use our free Case Converter to get true title case in one click.
Common Mistakes and Traps
1. Forgetting to select the text. The Change Case button does nothing if nothing is selected. Always highlight the words first — or press Ctrl+A for the whole document.
2. Using tOGGLE cASE by accident. It sits at the bottom of the Change Case menu, and one wrong click turns “Hello World” into “hELLO wORLD”. If it happens, press Ctrl+Z (Undo) and pick the right option.
3. Trusting Capitalize Each Word for titles. As above, it capitalises every word, including the small ones. For book titles and headings that follow a style guide, check the small words afterwards.
4. Expecting sentence case to fix everything. Sentence case only capitalises the first letter of each sentence. It will not capitalise names inside a sentence — “sara khan went home” becomes “Sara khan went home”, not “Sara Khan went home”. Names still need fixing by hand.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change text to uppercase in Word?
Select the text, then go to Home → Change Case → UPPERCASE. Or select the text and press Shift+F3 until it turns uppercase.
How do I change capital letters to lowercase in Word?
Select the text, then go to Home → Change Case → lowercase. Shift+F3 also cycles through lowercase as one of its stops.
How do I change text to title case in Word?
Select the text, then go to Home → Change Case → Capitalize Each Word. Remember it capitalises every word, including small words like “of” and “the” — for true title case, adjust those by hand.
What is the keyboard shortcut to change case in Word?
Shift+F3. Select the text first, then press Shift+F3 repeatedly to cycle through sentence case, lowercase and UPPERCASE.
Does Word for the web have Change Case?
Yes — Word for the web has the same “Aa” Change Case button on its Home tab, with the same five options.
Try It Yourself
Open any Word document, select one heading, and try all five Change Case options on it — sentence case, lowercase, UPPERCASE, Capitalize Each Word and tOGGLE cASE. You will see in ten seconds which one you actually need. And if the text is not in Word at all, our free Case Converter changes the case of any pasted text in one click — no Word needed.