Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. 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 Word in Microsoft 365


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 Word in Microsoft 365. 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

Printing in White

Word allows you to print in every color of the rainbow, but not in white. (Bad comparison; white is not a color of the ...

Discover More

Getting Rid of Modify Style Message

When you apply styles to a paragraph, you may periodically see a message asking if you want to reapply the style or ...

Discover More

Documents Significantly Larger in Microsoft 365

As you move to a newer version of Word, you may notice that your documents all of a sudden require more disk space ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Protecting Hidden Text

Formatting some of your text as hidden can be a great help when you need to keep some things from being viewed or ...

Discover More

Reversed Bolding

If you paste information from one document into another, you may be surprised at the results. If your text changes from ...

Discover More

Making Text Bold

Want a cool shortcut to make your text bold? Here's a method that fits in wonderfully with how things are done in the ...

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 two more than 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.