UPPER, LOWER, PROPER in Excel - Real Business Scenario

Scenario Mode

👤 Your Role: You are a data assistant at a customer service department.

📋 Request: Your manager wants you to clean up the customer names in the database so they look consistent and professional.

📊 Data: You have a list of customer names in different formats: some are all uppercase, some all lowercase, and some mixed with random capital letters.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a new table with three columns showing the customer names converted to all uppercase, all lowercase, and proper case (first letter capitalized).

Sample Data

Customer Name
john doe
JANE SMITH
alice Johnson
BOB brown
mArY aNnE
george WASHINGTON
linda
CHRIS evans

1

Step 1: In a new column next to the customer names, convert all names to uppercase using the UPPER function.

=UPPER(A2)

Expected Result

For 'john doe' the result is 'JOHN DOE'

2

Step 2: In the next column, convert all names to lowercase using the LOWER function.

=LOWER(A2)

Expected Result

For 'JANE SMITH' the result is 'jane smith'

3

Step 3: In the next column, convert all names to proper case (first letter of each word capitalized) using the PROPER function.

=PROPER(A2)

Expected Result

For 'alice Johnson' the result is 'Alice Johnson'

4

Step 4: Copy the formulas down for all rows to convert all customer names.

Drag the fill handle from row 2 down to row 9 for all three columns.

Expected Result

All customer names are shown in uppercase, lowercase, and proper case in their respective columns.

Final Result

Customer Name | UPPERCASE       | lowercase       | Proper Case
-------------------------------------------------------------
john doe      | JOHN DOE       | john doe        | John Doe
JANE SMITH    | JANE SMITH     | jane smith      | Jane Smith
alice Johnson | ALICE JOHNSON  | alice johnson   | Alice Johnson
BOB brown     | BOB BROWN      | bob brown       | Bob Brown
mArY aNnE     | MARY ANNE      | mary anne       | Mary Anne
george WASHINGTON | GEORGE WASHINGTON | george washington | George Washington
linda         | LINDA          | linda           | Linda
CHRIS evans   | CHRIS EVANS    | chris evans     | Chris Evans

✓Using UPPER makes all letters capital, useful for shouting or codes.

✓LOWER makes all letters small, good for uniformity in emails or usernames.

✓PROPER capitalizes the first letter of each word, making names look neat and professional.

Bonus Challenge

Create a formula that checks if the original name is already in proper case and returns TRUE or FALSE.

Show Hint

Use the EXACT function to compare the original name with the PROPER version.