How to change text to uppercase in Excel

Formula (Excel and Google Sheets)

=UPPER(A2)

Use =UPPER(A2). It returns the text with every letter in capitals; numbers and symbols stay as they are.

Result on the example: one result per row in B2, filled down to B7
Works in: Every current version
Google Sheets: Same formula

See it work

The formula is already in B2, filled down to B7. Change any input and the result updates, or edit the formula to experiment.

How it works

UPPER converts each lowercase letter to its capital and leaves digits, dashes and spaces alone. Spreadsheets have no Change Case button like Word, so a formula in a helper column is the usual way to do it.

=UPPER(A2)

Result"NW-1042"

A2"nw-1042"
The value in A2.
UPPER(A2)"NW-1042"
UPPER: Converts to uppercase.
- textA2"nw-1042"

In Google Sheets

The same formula works in Google Sheets: =UPPER(A2). We ran it in Google Sheets mode on the same data and it returns the same results.

Other ways to do it

Each one was run on the same example sheet.

Formula	Result	When to use it
=UPPER(TRIM(A2))	NW-1042, SE-2087, MN…	Also removes stray spaces, which is worth doing for imported codes you will look up later.

Common mistakes

The result is a new column. To replace the original text, copy the results and Paste Values over it, then delete the helper column.
Lookups and COUNTIF ignore case anyway, so you don't need UPPER to make them match. You do need it for case-sensitive systems and tidy reports.

Try it yourself

Same data, empty answer cell. Your formula is graded instantly, then re-checked on changed data, so a typed-in number won't pass.

Change text to uppercase

In B2, convert the code to all capital letters and fill down to B7.

Questions

How do I change text to lowercase?

Use =LOWER(A2).

How do I capitalize only the first letter of each word?

Use =PROPER(A2).

Checked by running on 2026-10-30: every formula and result on this page was calculated by the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine, in both Excel and Google Sheets modes.