Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Changing Text Case Many Times.

Changing Text Case Many Times

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 25, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


1

Word provides a shortcut for changing the capitalization of your text. You can quickly change between lowercase, uppercase, and initial caps (first letter only is capitalized). To do this, all you need to do is to select the text that you wish to alter, and then press Shift+F3. You can continue to press Shift+F3 until you are satisfied with how the text appears.

There may be times when you are working with a large document that you want to change the case of the words in all occurrences of a particular style. For instances, let's assume that you have a document that you wrote, in which heading level 3 was originally intended to be all uppercase. Now, however, you need to change it so that only the first letter of each word is uppercase (usually referred to as initial caps). The following macro will search for all occurrences of the Heading 3 style and change it to initial caps.

Sub ChangeTextCase()
    Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
    Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
    Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
    Selection.Find.Style = ActiveDocument.Styles("Heading 3")
    Selection.Find.Execute
    While Selection.Find.Found
        Selection.Range.Case = wdTitleWord
        Selection.Find.Execute
    Wend
End Sub

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13049) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Changing Text Case Many Times.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Putting an X in a Clicked Cell

Need to click on a cell and have it replaced with an "X"? Macros make it easy to do, as illustrated in this tip.

Discover More

Getting Rid of the Ctrl+Click Message

When you add a hyperlink to a document, you can later click that link to display whatever is linked to. Well, you ...

Discover More

Moving Master and Subdocuments

If you need to move master documents or subdocuments from one place to another on your computer, you have to keep in mind ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Engraving and Embossing Text

Word allows you to format your text in a number of different ways. Two rather esoteric ways to format your text are by ...

Discover More

Changing Kerning

When you need to adjust the space Word uses between characters, you need to adjust what is called “kerning.” This tip ...

Discover More

Understanding Monospace Fonts

Monospace fonts allow you to easily achieve a specific "look" with your text or to line up information in a certain way. ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 0 + 7?

2021-04-17 18:01:30

John Mann

Why not simply change one occurence of the style in question (Heading 3 in the example), then redefine the style to that new format. That should cause all instances of the style to change to match the new definition.


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.