Microsoft Excel keeping all cells uppercase

[Greg Daughenbaugh]

I have a spreadsheet that several people use and would like to keep the text in a particular column always set to upper case.  Regardless of case the user enters the data in this column it is saved in upper case.  Is this possible?  Thank you for your input.

Greg

[#2]

Greg,

This is possible, but with some lines of code!

I have a macro which is fairly good to do this task, to apply it follow these steps:

Step 1: Press Alt+F11 to open the VBA editor as shown in the below screenshot:

Step 2: Double-click on the sheet that contains the column you want.

Step 3: Copy this code to the editor, then close it.

Private Sub Worksheet_Activate()
On Error Resume Next
Application.ScreenUpdating = False

Dim cell As Range

For Each cell In Range("$A$1:" & Range("$A$1").SpecialCells(xlLastCell).Address)
    cell.Value = UCase(cell.Value)
Next cell

On Error GoTo 0
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

Step 4: Save the workbook as Macro-Enabled Workbook (*.xlsm).

After that, the macro will trigger each time you activate the worksheet.

NOTE: This macro is applied to column A in sheet1.

[#3]

You can use another way, it's forcing users from the beginning to enter uppercase characters through Data Validation feature.

Just follow these steps:

• Select the entire column you want.
• Go to Data Ribbon Tab >> Data Tools Group >> Data Validation

• From Data Validation dialog box, select custom from Allow combo box.
• In the formula bar copy and paste this formula:

=EXACT(A1,UPPER(A1))

• Press OK.

After that, users are not allowed to enter lowercase characters in column A.

NOTE: If you want to apply this to a column other than column A, select that column entirely, and change the cell references in data validation formula.

[#4]

HI Haytham,

Hope you are doing well, I need one solution if it is possible;

I want to change a sentence written in a single cell to PROPER Case except  the word(s) written in CAPITAL Letter.

For E:g 1,

From, "I love APPLE" To, "I Love APPLE"

For E:g 2,

From, "united arab emirates (UAE)" To, "United Arab Emirates (UAE)"

@Haytham Amairah 

[#5]

@SM_Talal

Hi,

I've already replied to your separate post.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Excel/Conversion-in-PROPER-Case-except-the-word-s-written-in-...

Regards,

Haytham

[#6]

@Greg Daughenbaugh 

This is a very special situation by the way...

The solutions provided by @Haytham Amairah are great.

However you want to treat the different words in the same cell differently!!

I suggest:

1- Select the range (assuming column A) that you want to fix >> Data Tab >> Text To Column

2-  Data Tab >> Text To Columns (Should have blank columns to the Right) >> Check "Delimiter" >> Check "Space" >> Finish

3- In Cell D1 write the Formula that fixes the capitalization as desired

'=IF(NOT(EXACT(LOWER(A1),A1))=FALSE,PROPER(A1),A1)&" "& IF(NOT(EXACT(LOWER(B1),B1))=FALSE,PROPER(B1),B1)&" "& IF(NOT(EXACT(LOWER(C1),C1))=FALSE,PROPER(C1),C1)

4- Copy the formula down

5- Copy All results in Column D >> Then Paste Values (CTRL + C >> ALT E S V >> Enter)

6- Delete the Columns A, B, C

Hope that helps

Nabil Mourad

[#7]

The VBA code is perfect  - thanks. However, how can I get it to make all cells in 2 colums, e.g. A and C, uppercase, rather than just 1 column?

Thanks in advance for any help

[#8]

@richbraithwaite

Hi,

Please try the code on column C.

The code is somehow applied to all columns not only column A!

To limit it to column A & C, try this one instead:

Private Sub Worksheet_Activate()
    On Error Resume Next
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
     
    Union(Range("A1:A" & Range("A" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row), _
          Range("C1:C" & Range("C" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row)).Select
    
    Dim cell As Range
    For Each cell In Selection
        cell.Value = UCase(cell.Value)
    Next cell
    
    Range("A1").Select
    On Error GoTo 0
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

[#9]

@Haytham Amairah 

Hi Haytham,

Am only able to add the data validation to one column.

When I add it to the next column, the next column does not work.

It only works for the 1st column created.

data validation --> formula custom = exact(a1,upper(a1))   works great

when i do same thing in next column, it does not work for that column

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Pam

[#10]

@Haytham Amairah Hi, this does not seem to work for me, even in column A when I directly copy and paste the code and saved as suggested.

Any ideas?

[#11]

This does not work to automatically change lower to upper case. It only shows an error telling one that the data is incorrectly entered. It does not change the entry from lower case to upper case automatically.

[#12]

@greg, I Love this code. I also use it to change a cells contents to MAC Address format. Is there a way to get the code to activate when the active cell looses focus, rather than having to change worksheets back and forth? (i.e. I press enter after entering data and the focus shifts to the next cell down)