How to Use UPPER, LOWER, and PROPER Functions in Excel

In Excel, use UPPER(text) to convert all letters to uppercase, LOWER(text) to convert all letters to lowercase, and PROPER(text) to capitalize the first letter of each word. These functions help you quickly change text case in cells.

Syntax

Each function takes one argument: the text you want to change.

• UPPER(text): Converts all letters in text to uppercase.
• LOWER(text): Converts all letters in text to lowercase.
• PROPER(text): Capitalizes the first letter of each word in text.

excel

UPPER(text)
LOWER(text)
PROPER(text)

Example

This example shows how to use each function on the text "hello world".

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=UPPER("hello world")
=LOWER("HELLO WORLD")
=PROPER("hello world")

Output

HELLO WORLD
hello world
Hello World

Common Pitfalls

People often forget that these functions only change letters and do not remove extra spaces or punctuation. Also, PROPER capitalizes every word, which may not be correct for some names or acronyms.

For example, PROPER("macdonald") becomes "Macdonald", which might not be desired if the name is "MacDonald".

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=PROPER("macdonald")  // Outputs: Macdonald
=UPPER("  hello ")  // Outputs: "  HELLO " (spaces stay)

Output

Macdonald
  HELLO 

Quick Reference

Function	Purpose	Example Input	Example Output
UPPER	Convert all letters to uppercase	"hello"	"HELLO"
LOWER	Convert all letters to lowercase	"HELLO"	"hello"
PROPER	Capitalize first letter of each word	"hello world"	"Hello World"

Key Takeaways

Use UPPER to make all letters uppercase in a cell.

Use LOWER to make all letters lowercase in a cell.

Use PROPER to capitalize the first letter of each word.

These functions only change letter case and keep spaces and punctuation.

PROPER may not always handle names or acronyms correctly.