Easily Change Case in Google Sheets (3 Ways)

In this tutorial, I will show you how to change text cases in Google Sheets. You can convert any text into Upper case, Lower case, Proper case (also called the Title case), or Sentence case.

If you’re unfamiliar with these text cases, below is an example that shows what each of these is.

The fastest way to change cases in Google Sheets is by using formulas.

And the other way is using an add-on.

Let’s see how each of these work.

Up Your Skills First

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Change Case Using a Formula in Google Sheets

Google Sheets has three formulas that are meant to change the case of the text value:

• UPPER – this function converts the text into uppercase
• LOWER – this function converts the text into lowercase
• PROPER – this function converts all caps to mixed case, converting it into proper case

Each of these formulas takes a single argument as input, which is either the cell reference that contains the formula or the text itself in double quotes. However, these functions only work with texts, not numbers.

Capitalize All and Lowercase All

Google Sheets capitalize all turns all the letters in the texts into capital letters, while lowercase all converts all letters into small letters.

The UPPER function is used to capitalize all in Google Sheets. It only has one argument, which is to capitalize all the text. This can either be the text string in quotation marks or as a cell reference.

For example, you have written the text, ‘Lorem Ipsum” in cell A1. Here’s how to change the text to all caps in Google Sheets. You can use the UPPER function below:

=UPPER("A1")

You can also hard-code the text into the formula and use the below formula:

=UPPER("lorem ipsum")

In both cases, the result would be LOREM IPSUM.

You can use the same logic with the LOWER function and PROPER formula as well. The proper function will convert the first character to uppercase.

How To Apply Sentence Case Using Functions, with the JOIN Function

While there are dedicated formulas for the UPPER function, LOWER function, and PROPER function case, there is nothing in Google Sheets to give you a sentence case (which is probably the most needed option).

A sentence case is where only the first alphabet of the first word is capitalized, and the rest is in Google Sheets lowercase.

Below is an example:

While there is no direct text function for this, you can still have Google Sheets capitalize the first letter with the formula below:

=ArrayFormula(join(". ",replace(transpose(TRIM(SPLIT( A1 , "." ))),1,1, upper(left(transpose(TRIM(SPLIT( A1 , "." ))),1))))&".")

One of the drawbacks of using a formula to change a case is that it requires you to add/use a new column to get the result in those new columns. You can copy and paste (as values) the resulting data over the original data, but that adds a few more steps.

If you want to convert the case of the text in Google Sheets without using a new column, you can use an add-on (covered next in this tutorial)

Using an Add-On to Change Case in Google Sheets

If you’re open to using an add-on, this is definitely one of the easiest ways to handle case changes in Google Sheets.

The best part about an add-on is that you don’t need to add any new columns, as it works on your existing columns or cells. This means that any case changes can be done instantly with a single click. Also, you don’t need to remember or worry about formulas.

The add-on we recommend to change the case in Google Sheets is the ChangeCase add-on, which is available on Google Workspace Marketplace by Alec Tutin.

You can install it in a few clicks. It gives you many options for changing cases in Google Sheets.

Here are the steps to install this add-on in Google Sheets:

1. Open the Google Sheets document that you want to change the case of text.
2. Click the “Extensions” tab.
   

   

3. Click on “Add-on,” then “Get add-ons.”
   

   

4. In the Add-ons dialog box that opens, search for ‘ChangeCase‘ in the field in the top-right.
   

   

5. In the list of add-ons that are shown, click on the “+ Free” (blue) button for the ChangeCase add-on.
   

   

6. In the dialog box that appears, it may ask you to confirm your account by logging in to your Gmail. Enter the credentials and click on the blue ‘Allow‘ button.

This will add the ChangeCase add-on to your Google Sheets.

Now let’s see how to make all caps in Google Sheets using the add-on.

1. Select the cells in which you have the text that you want to change.
2. Click the “Add-ons” tab.
3. Hover your cursor on the “ChangeCase” option.
4. Select from the options to change the text in the selected cells.

Since this uses a Google Script to change the case, it may take a few seconds to finish the work. If you selected a large range of cells, this may take a few more seconds.

Apart from the regular Upper, Lower, Proper, and Sentence case, the add-on also offers two extra options:

1. Invert Case – where it simply inverts the case of each alphabet.
2. First letter capital – where it capitalizes the first letter of each word. This is similar to Proper case, with a minor difference that it would even capitalize words such as a, an, if, etc.

When you add an add-on in Google Sheets, it’s only available in the document in which you added it. If you open another Google Sheet document or a new one, you must go through this process again to use it.

Change Text Cases with Apps Scripts

App scripts is also another powerful tool in Google Sheets that allows Google Sheets to change cases using special functions.

In this case, in order to change the case, we will use the function “ChangeCase.”

Here’s how to make text in all caps in Google Sheets using App Scripts:

1. Go to “Extensions” > “App scripts.”
2. Copy and paste the code below in the code window:

function changeCase() {

  var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName("Sheet2");

  for(var cell = 2; cell <=sheet.getLastRow(); cell++){

    var rng = sheet.getRange(cell,2);

    var val = rng.getValue();

    rng.setValue(val.toUpperCase());}

}

3. Click “Save,” then “Run.”

You will notice that the text in your spreadsheet will be converted to all uppercase. You may need to give it some time to reflect the changes.

If you want to convert them to lowercase instead of using app scripts, you can replace the “to UpperCase” in the last line with “to LowerCase”

Wrapping Up

In this article, we have shown you Google Sheet uppercase, how to turn Google Sheets all caps into lowercase, and how to convert to mixed cases. These are the easiest ways to change case in Google Sheets.

If you found this article useful, feel free to check out our other articles on find and replace in Google Sheets.

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