Text Case Reference
Which case to use where, and the traps in each. Pin it next to whatever style guide you are supposed to be following.
BFCBrilliance · bfcbrilliance.com/tools/case-converter
The four cases
- UPPERCASE
- EVERY LETTER CAPITAL
- lowercase
- every letter small
- Title Case
- Every Word Capitalised
- Sentence case
- First letter of each sentence
- This tool's Title Case
- mechanical - capitalises short words too
- This tool's Sentence case
- capitalises after . ! ? + a SPACE
- Where it runs
- your browser - nothing is uploaded
Where each one belongs
- Body text
- Sentence case
- Headlines
- Title or Sentence, per your style guide
- Buttons and labels
- Sentence case - easier to read
- Navigation
- Title Case or Sentence, pick one and keep it
- Acronyms
- UPPERCASE - the only solid use for it
- Whole sentences in caps
- avoid - slower to read, reads as shouting
Check before you paste it anywhere
- Proper nouns capitalised again - the tool lowercases them
- Acronyms restored - NASA, PDF, UK
- Small words in a title lowercased if your style guide says so
- Word capitalised mid-sentence? An abbreviation came before it
- Hyphenated words checked - style guides differ on the second half
- Brand names spelled their way, not the converter's way
- Anything in quotes left exactly as the source had it
Title Case is a style decision, not a fact
The major style guides genuinely disagree about which words stay lowercase in a title and how long a word must be to be capitalised. No automatic tool can settle that for you, because the answer depends on which guide you are following. Decide once, write it down, and apply it consistently - consistency is worth more than picking the 'right' guide.
Avoid long stretches of capitals
Text set entirely in capitals is measurably slower to read, because the word shapes that let people recognise words at a glance all become identical rectangles. It also reads as shouting in most contexts. Capitals are for acronyms and the occasional short label.