Paste a headline or a list of titles, one per line, and press Title in the toolbar. Major words are capitalized and short function words stay lowercase, except at the start or end of a title.
The rules WordPico applies
- The first and the last word of every line are capitalized.
- The first word after a colon, a dash or a full stop is capitalized, so subtitles start with a capital.
- These short words stay lowercase elsewhere: a, an, the, and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet, as, at, by, in, of, off, on, per, to, up, via, vs.
- All other words get a capital first letter and lowercase for the rest.
- In hyphenated compounds each part is capitalized, except a listed short word: Out-of-Date, Self-Made.
| Input | Title case |
|---|---|
| the lord of the rings | The Lord of the Rings |
| a guide to writing: where to start | A Guide to Writing: Where to Start |
| what are you looking for | What Are You Looking For |
| an out-of-date map of the city | An Out-of-Date Map of the City |
Why style guides disagree
There is no single title case. AP style lowercases articles, coordinating conjunctions and prepositions of three letters or fewer, but capitalizes longer prepositions such as with and about. Chicago style lowercases every preposition, whatever its length. APA capitalizes all words of four letters or more. The list above follows the common ground of these guides: very short function words stay lowercase and everything else is capitalized. If your publication follows a stricter guide, check prepositions such as from, with, into and over by hand.
Capitalize Every Word
Some interfaces, playlists and menus capitalize every word, including Of and The. Use the Capitalize button for that style. It is also handy for lists of names, because it ignores the short-word rules entirely.
Things to fix by hand
- Acronyms and brands: the converter lowercases a word before capitalizing it, so NASA becomes Nasa and eBay becomes Ebay.
- Phrasal verbs: up stays lowercase as a short word, although many editors write Set Up or Log In when it is part of a verb.
- Words like is and be: they are verbs, so they are capitalized even though they are short.
Each line is treated as its own title, so you can convert a whole list of headlines at once. To convert only one line, select it first. If the result is wrong, Undo restores the original.
For other cases, see the case converter overview. Whatever style you choose, apply it to every heading in the same document so the page looks deliberate.