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How to Capitalize the First Letter of Each Word in Excel

D
David DeSouza
Dec 1, 2025
Illustration for How to Capitalize the First Letter of Each Word in Excel

The Problem

Your data is a mix of shouting (JOHN) and whispering (john). You want it to look professional (John). Retyping it is a waste of time.

The Easy Way: Use SheetXAI

If you don't want to mess with formulas, the fastest way to do this is simply by asking.

With SheetXAI, you can open the sidebar and type:

Fix the capitalization in column A to Proper Case.

SheetXAI will instantly write the formula or script for you and fill the cells. It handles the syntax so you can focus on the result.

The Manual Way: The Formulas You Need

To do this manually, you need to use: PROPER.

1. PROPER

Capitalizes the first letter of each word and lowercases the rest.

Syntax: =PROPER(text)

  • text: Text enclosed in quotation marks, a formula that returns text, or a reference to a cell containing the text you want to partially capitalize.

Example: =PROPER("jOhN sMiTh") returns "John Smith".

Understanding the Logic

It scans for spaces and capitalizes the letter immediately following a space (and the first letter of the string).

The Final Formula:

=PROPER(A2)

Conclusion

Now you know the "classic" way to solve this using formulas. It's a great skill to have.

But for those times when you just want the job done without the mental math, SheetXAI is there to help.

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