Quick Answer

PROPER Function

Title-cases each word in a string.

Syntax

PROPER

(text)

Parameters

Parameter	Description	Required
text	The text or cell reference to convert to title case.	Required

Basic Example

Title-case a phrase

=PROPER("hello world")

ResultHello World

The first letter of each word is uppercased and the rest lowercased.

Advanced Examples

Example 1: Clean up imported names

Cell A1 contains "jane doe"

Standardize a person's name

=PROPER(A1)

Result: Jane Doe

Each word's first letter is capitalized for a clean display.

Example 2: Mixed case product codes

Cell A1 contains "WIDGET-a1"

Normalize a label

=PROPER(A1)

Result: Widget-A1

PROPER capitalizes after each non-letter boundary, here after the hyphen.

How PROPER Works

PROPER treats any non-letter character (space, hyphen, punctuation) as a word boundary and uppercases the letter that follows it, while lowercasing all other letters.

1

Select the text

Click the cell with the text to fix.

2

Apply PROPER

Type =PROPER(cell) and press Enter.

Important Notes & Limitations

Capitalizes after apostrophes, so "don't" becomes "Don'T" and "o'brien" becomes "O'Brien".
Does not respect proper nouns, acronyms, or brand casing (e.g. "iPhone" becomes "Iphone").
Operates only on a single text value.

Common Errors & Fixes

Awkward casing with apostrophesPROPER treats the apostrophe as a word boundary.

Fix: Use a custom formula or post-edit for names like O'Brien and don't.

Download Practice File

Practice PROPER with Real Data

Download a sample CSV file with pre-populated data and practice exercises for the PROPER function. Works in both Excel and Google Sheets.

Works in Google SheetsCompatible with ExcelIncludes exercises

File format: CSV (comma-separated values) - opens in Excel, Google Sheets, and all spreadsheet apps

Related Functions

CLEAN

Strips non-printable control characters from text.

CONCAT

CONCAT combines multiple text strings into a single string.

CONCATENATE

Joins text values together (legacy function).

FIND

Finds the position of text within another text string, case-sensitive.

LEFT

LEFT extracts a specified number of characters from the left side of a text string.

LEN

LEN counts the number of characters in a text string.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does PROPER break contractions?

It capitalizes the letter after every non-letter, including apostrophes, so "don't" becomes "Don'T".

Does PROPER handle non-English text?

It follows Unicode letter boundaries but may not match language-specific title-case rules.

How is PROPER different from UPPER?

UPPER uppercases everything; PROPER only uppercases the first letter of each word.