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To capitalize each word in desktop Word, select the text, go to Home > Change Case, and choose Capitalize Each Word. The same command offers sentence case, lowercase, UPPERCASE, and toggle case. You can also cycle through cases with Shift+F3. Word for the web does not have the Change Case command, so there you need a workaround.

Capitalize words in desktop Word with the ribbon

The ribbon method is the most reliable choice because each option is labeled with the outcome it produces.

  1. Select the word, phrase, sentence, or passage you want to change. The command only acts on selected text, so if nothing is highlighted, the case will not change.
  2. On the Home tab, click Change Case.
  3. Choose the option you need from the list (see the table below).
  4. If the result is not what you wanted, press Ctrl+Z on Windows or ⌘+Z on Mac, then select a different option.

Know what each Change Case option does

The options differ in how they treat letters after the first one, so pick based on the result you need. The examples below use the phrase “the quick brown fox.”

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Option What it does Example result
Sentence case Capitalizes the first letter of a sentence and leaves other letters lowercase The quick brown fox
lowercase Changes all letters to lowercase the quick brown fox
UPPERCASE Changes all letters to uppercase THE QUICK BROWN FOX
Capitalize Each Word Capitalizes the first letter of each word and makes the remaining letters lowercase The Quick Brown Fox
tOGGLE cASE Switches each letter to its inverse of the current case THE QUICK BROWN FOX becomes the quick brown fox

Capitalize Each Word is not the same as UPPERCASE. It keeps the rest of each word in lowercase, which is why it suits headings and titles. Use UPPERCASE only when every letter should be capital.

Use the keyboard shortcut

Select the text and press Shift+F3 repeatedly. Each press moves to the next case among lowercase, UPPERCASE, and title case (Capitalize Each Word). On a Mac, Microsoft lists fn+Shift+F3. Shortcuts can vary with platform and keyboard layout. If the shortcut behaves differently on your device, use the ribbon command instead. For the full list, see Microsoft Support: Keyboard shortcuts in Word.

The ribbon is better when you want a specific result, because you can see the option names. The shortcut is faster when you already know the case you need and only need to step to it.

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Capitalize words in Word for the web

Microsoft’s support article states that “Word for the web doesn’t support changing case.” In the web app, you have two options:

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  • Open the document in the desktop Word application and use Home > Change Case there.
  • Edit the capitalization manually by retyping the affected letters.

Microsoft’s guidance on this limitation appears in Microsoft Support: Change the capitalization or case of text. The ribbon steps and the desktop menu options are in the en-us version of the same article.

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Quick checklist

  • Select the text before choosing Change Case.
  • Choose Capitalize Each Word for titles, and UPPERCASE only for text that should be all capital letters.
  • Use Ctrl+Z (Windows) or ⌘+Z (Mac) to undo an unwanted change.
  • In Word for the web, switch to desktop Word or edit the letters by hand.

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