How to Make All Capitals in Excel

Excel is a powerful tool that can greatly enhance your productivity and efficiency. One common task that you might find yourself needing to do is to make all the text in a range of cells uppercase or capital letters. While manually typing each cell’s contents in uppercase is time-consuming and error-prone, Excel provides a very simple and straightforward function to make this much easier. In this blog post, we will outline the basic steps you need to take to quickly convert all text to uppercase in Excel.

Method 1: Using the UPPER function

The easiest and most straightforward method to make all the text in a range of cells uppercase in Excel is to use the UPPER function. The UPPER function is a built-in function in Excel that converts any text in a cell to all uppercase letters. Follow the instructions below:

1. Select the cell(s) or range of cells that you want to convert to all uppercase.
2. Type the formula =UPPER(cell) into the formula bar or directly into the cell, replacing “cell” with the cell reference of the first cell in the selected range.
3. Press Enter to apply the formula to the first cell, then double-click on the fill handle to apply the formula to all cells in the selected range.

Method 2: Using the Ribbon

If you prefer using the Excel Ribbon to do things, you can achieve the same result by following these simple steps:

1. Select the cells you want to convert the text to all uppercase.
2. Go to the Home tab in the Excel Ribbon.
3. Look for the “Font” group, click on the small arrow at the bottom-right of the group to open the “Font” dialog box.
4. In the “Font” dialog box, check the “All caps” option and click OK.

Method 3: Using VBA code

If you’re comfortable with using VBA code and have a lot of cells that need to be converted to uppercase, you can save time by using the following code:

Step 1: Open the VBA Editor

Press Alt + F11 on your keyboard to open the VBA Editor or go to the Developer tab and click on the “Visual Basic” button.

Step 2: Insert the VBA Code

Copy and paste the following code into the VBA Editor:

Sub MakeAllCaps()Dim r As RangeFor Each r In Selection    r.Value = UCase(r.Value)Next rEnd Sub

Step 3: Run the Code

Press F5 or click on the “Run” button in the toolbar to run the code. All the selected cells will be converted to uppercase.

Using Conditional Formatting to Highlight Uppercase Text

If you have a large dataset and you’re not sure which cells have uppercase text, you can use conditional formatting to highlight them. Here’s how:

1. Select the range of cells you want to check for uppercase text.
2. Go to the Home tab in the Excel Ribbon.
3. Click on “Conditional Formatting” and choose “New Rule”.
4. In the “New Formatting Rule” dialog box, select “Use a formula to determine which cells to format”.
5. In the “Format values where this formula is true” field, enter the following formula: =EXACT(A1,UPPER(A1))
6. Click on the “Format” button and choose a format that will highlight the cells with uppercase text.
7. Click OK to close the “Format Cells” dialog box.
8. Click OK again to close the “New Formatting Rule” dialog box.

The Importance of Consistency

Using all caps may seem like a simple formatting task, but it’s important to remember that consistency is key in any dataset. Using all caps for some text but not others can be confusing to readers and may even make information harder to read. Make sure you have a consistent approach that is easy to read and follow.

Wrapping Up

There you have it, three different ways to make all uppercase text in Excel! The method you choose will depend on your preferences and the size of your dataset. Remember to keep your text consistent for readability, and using conditional formatting can be a great way to find inconsistencies in your data. Happy Excel-ing!

FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions related to making all capitals in Excel:

Can I only make all caps for certain text in Excel?

Yes, you can use the UPPER function or Ribbon method to select individual cells or ranges of cells to make all caps for particular text. This is helpful when you want to emphasize the text for specific cells, but not all cells in your dataset.

Can I make all caps for an entire worksheet in Excel?

Yes, you can select the entire worksheet or a large range of cells to make all caps using the UPPER function or the Ribbon method we discussed earlier. However, it’s important to remember to use all caps consistently throughout your dataset.

What’s the difference between all caps and title case?

All caps, as we discussed in this blog post, converts all text to uppercase letters. Title case, on the other hand, capitalizes the first letter of each word in a cell, leaving all other letters lowercase. Excel doesn’t have a built-in function for title case, but it is possible to achieve using string manipulation functions in VBA code.

Can I use conditional formatting to highlight cells with lowercase text?

Yes, you can use a similar formula to the one we used to highlight cells with uppercase text. In the “Format values where this formula is true” field, enter the following formula: =EXACT(A1,LOWER(A1)). This will highlight all the cells that have any lowercase letters in the text.

Is it possible to toggle between all caps and normal text?

Yes, you can apply and remove all caps on a selection of cells as needed using a macro. You can record a macro that applies all caps, then assign a keyboard shortcut such as Ctrl+Shift+U. When you want to convert the text back to normal, simply select the cells and press the keyboard shortcut again.