PROPER in Excel: Capitalize First Letter of Each Word

Capitalizes the first letter in each word of a text value.

Generated Formula
=PROPER(A1)

Learning Resources

Want to master Excel? Check out this Top-Rated Course.

How to Capitalize the First Letter of Each Word in Excel

The PROPER function converts text to title case: capitalizing the first letter of every word and converting all other letters to lowercase.

Syntax

=PROPER(text)

Example

InputFormulaResult
"jane doe"=PROPER(A2)"Jane Doe"
"NEW YORK CITY"=PROPER(A3)"New York City"

Common Errors & Fixes

  • Wrong capitalization result

    Causes:
    • PROPER capitalizes every word — including prepositions like "of" or "and".
    • PROPER cannot distinguish proper names from regular words (e.g. "mcdonald" becomes "Mcdonald").
    Fixes:
    • Manually fix small words that should stay lowercase.
    • For complex name capitalization, consider a lookup table or manual correction.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does PROPER handle apostrophes like O'Brien?

PROPER capitalizes the letter after the apostrophe, so O'brien becomes O'Brien. This is actually correct for most Irish and Scottish surnames.

Does PROPER handle mixed case?

Yes, PROPER ignores the original case and capitalizes the first letter of each word, making all other letters lowercase.

Does PROPER work in Google Sheets?

Yes, PROPER works identically in Google Sheets with the same syntax.

Related Formulas

Explore related formula generators to solve similar problems

CONCATENATETRIMUPPERLOWERLEFT

🛠️ Related Tools

Formula Comparator

Compare Excel formulas side by side

Remove Duplicates

Clean duplicate values from your data

GPA Calculator

Weighted & unweighted grade point average

SUMIFS Across Sheets

Sum across multiple Excel sheets

Want to become an Excel Pro?

Stop searching for formulas. Master Excel in 30 days with this top-rated course.

Learn More