Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Turning Off Automatic Capitalization.

Turning Off Automatic Capitalization

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 1, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365


1

As you busily enter data into a worksheet, you may have noticed that periodically Excel will second-guess what you are doing and capitalize words for you. In general, Excel does this when it thinks you are starting a new sentence. (And, it assumes that the beginning of a cell is always the beginning of a sentence.)

If you find yourself undoing Excel's decisions on this issue quite a bit, you can turn off the feature completely by following these steps:

  1. Display the Excel Options dialog box. (In Excel 2007 click the Office button and then click Excel Options. In Excel 2010 and later versions display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
  2. Click Proofing at the left side of the dialog box.
  3. Click AutoCorrect Options. Excel displays the AutoCorrect dialog box.
  4. Make sure the AutoCorrect tab is displayed. (See Figure 1.)
  5. Figure 1. The AutoCorrect tab of the AutoCorrect dialog box.

  6. Clear the Capitalize First Letter of Sentences check box.
  7. Click on OK.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (6208) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Turning Off Automatic Capitalization.

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

Counting the Instances of a Text String

Sometimes it is helpful to know how often a particular phrase appears within a document. If you need to know such a ...

Discover More

Selecting a Paper Source

If your printer allows you to specify different paper trays as sources for paper, you need to know how to select those ...

Discover More

Conditionally Highlighting Cells Containing Formulas

Excel's conditional formatting feature allows you to create formats that are based on a wide variety of criteria. If you ...

Discover More

Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Backing Up Your AutoCorrect Entries

Want to protect the information that you may be stored in your AutoCorrect entries? Just find a special type of file on ...

Discover More

Correcting a Capital Mistake

As you are entering data in a worksheet, Excel can monitor what you type and make corrections for common mistakes. One ...

Discover More

Turning Off Capital Corrections

Tired of having Excel second-guess you when you type a word that starts with two capital letters? You can turn off this ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, 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 6 - 0?

2021-05-01 16:10:03

Tomek

in my version of Excel (MS365 Family) first letter in a cell is not capitalized; however if I have a period, exclamation mark, etc. within a cell than the first letter of the next word will be automatically capitalized. I am not complaining, actually I think this works better for me, but i just wanted to share my experience.


This Site

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

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, 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.