We usually think about formulas in Excel in terms of numbers, but there are also a handful of formulas and functions for text.  The good news is, these functions are not only incredibly useful, they also happen to be user friendly! (we are looking at  you, complicated nested IF formulas)

Perhaps you have inherited a list of names in all lower case or all caps that you want to return to proper case… or vice versa, the list is in proper case and you long for a list in all caps (no judgement). Here is a quick way to transform that list in to the text case you want.

Follow along with the attached document NameList.

Let’s do Proper Case first as our template:

1. Click into cell B2
2. In the Formulas Tab, Click on the “Text” Function button
3. From the drop down list, select PROPER.
   
4. In the Function Arguments Box, Click in the white space next to text.
5. Click on Cell A2 (or type A2)
6. Click OK
7. Double click on the autofill handle to carry the formula all the way down.

Nifty!

Now try lower and upper case.  Follow the same instructions, but instead use the Text formulas for LOWER and UPPER in cells C2 and D2 respectively.

New Power Users:

Congratulations to the newest WSU Microsoft Office Power Users!

• Ellen Abbey
• Ross Powell

See the full gallery at wichita.edu/poweruser