Text & Cleanup

Excel formula for Capitalize only the first letter

Uppercase the first character and leave the rest of the sentence as-is.

Copy this formula

=UPPER(LEFT(A2,1))&MID(A2,2,LEN(A2))

How the formula works

Unlike PROPER (which capitalizes every word), this uppercases only the first letter and keeps the remaining text unchanged — the right choice for sentences and descriptions.

Examples

=UPPER(LEFT("hello world",1))&MID("hello world",2,99)→Hello world

Sentence case for a phrase.

Other ways to do this

Capitalize every word

=PROPER(A2)

Use PROPER for titles and names.

FAQ

Why not just use PROPER?

PROPER capitalizes every word, which is wrong for sentences. This formula touches only the first letter.

Related formulas

Change text to proper/upper/lower case Extract the first N characters

Functions used

UPPER LEFT MID

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