Title Case Converter: Chicago, AP, MLA and APA Rules
A title case converter capitalizes the significant words of a title and leaves short articles, conjunctions and prepositions in lowercase. the lord of the rings becomes The Lord of the Rings — not The Lord Of The Rings. The converter below applies the real rules of four style guides, and it keeps acronyms and brand names intact.
Most tools that claim to do title case simply capitalize every word. That is a different style, it matches no published guide, and it is why so many headlines look slightly wrong. This page explains what title case actually is, where the four major style guides disagree, and how to apply the correct one in Word, Excel, Google Docs and code.
What title case is
Title case is the capitalization style used for the titles of books, films, articles and headlines. Its rule has three parts:
- Capitalize the significant words — nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and pronouns.
- Leave the minor words lowercase — articles, coordinating conjunctions and short prepositions.
- Always capitalize the first and last word, whatever they are, and the first word after a colon.
That third rule is the one people forget, and it is why What Are You Waiting For capitalizes For: it closes the title. The full list of words that stay lowercase is in our guide to words that are not capitalized in titles.
Title case in the four style guides
The guides agree on the shape of the rule and disagree on where the line falls for prepositions. This is the whole difference, and the converter above implements each one separately.
| Rule | Chicago | AP | MLA | APA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Articles (a, an, the) | lowercase | lowercase | lowercase | lowercase |
| Coordinating conjunctions | lowercase | lowercase | lowercase | lowercase |
| Short prepositions (of, to, in) | lowercase | lowercase | lowercase | lowercase |
| 4-letter prepositions (with, from) | lowercase | Capitalized | lowercase | Capitalized |
| Long prepositions (through, between) | Capitalized | Capitalized | lowercase | Capitalized |
| Verbs, even short (Is, Be, Are) | Capitalized | Capitalized | Capitalized | Capitalized |
| First and last word | Capitalized | Capitalized | Capitalized | Capitalized |
| Word after a colon | Capitalized | Capitalized | Capitalized | Capitalized |
| Used by | Books, publishing | Newsrooms | Humanities | Social sciences |
If nobody has chosen a guide for you, pick Chicago. It is the most widely used for general writing, and on a typical headline it agrees with AP most of the time. The disagreements cluster on five words: with, from, into, over, upon.
The same title in all four styles
| Style | Result |
|---|---|
| Raw text | a walk through the park with my dog |
| Chicago | A Walk Through the Park with My Dog |
| AP | A Walk Through the Park With My Dog |
| MLA | A Walk through the Park with My Dog |
| APA | A Walk Through the Park With My Dog |
Three words move: through and with. Everything else is identical. That is the practical size of the disagreement between style guides, and it is why consistency matters more than the choice.
Which words stay lowercase
| Category | Words |
|---|---|
| Articles | a, an, the |
| Coordinating conjunctions | and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet |
| Prepositions of 2 letters | as, at, by, in, of, on, to, up |
| Prepositions of 3 letters | off, out, per, via |
| Chicago and MLA also lowercase | with, from, into, onto, over, down, upon |
| MLA alone also lowercases | about, above, after, among, under, through, between, against, without |
Note what is not on that list: verbs. Is, Are, Be, Was and Do are short but they are verbs, so every guide capitalizes them. The same goes for pronouns: It, He, We, You.
Twenty worked examples
| Raw text | Title case (Chicago) |
|---|---|
| the lord of the rings | The Lord of the Rings |
| a tale of two cities | A Tale of Two Cities |
| what are you waiting for | What Are You Waiting For |
| to kill a mockingbird | To Kill a Mockingbird |
| gone with the wind | Gone with the Wind |
| the guide: a new beginning | The Guide: A New Beginning |
| how to change case in excel | How to Change Case in Excel |
| salt and pepper | Salt and Pepper |
| i was tired so i left | I Was Tired So I Left |
| small yet powerful | Small Yet Powerful |
| run as fast as you can | Run as Fast as You Can |
| a well-known secret | A Well-Known Secret |
| the twenty-first century | The Twenty-First Century |
| the best HTML editor | The Best HTML Editor |
| how to use iPhone at work | How to Use iPhone at Work |
| meet me at 3 p.m. in the park | Meet Me at 3 p.m. in the Park |
| the things we dream of | The Things We Dream Of |
| life before the war | Life Before the War |
| a walk with the dog | A Walk with the Dog |
| this is the way | This Is the Way |
The five edge cases converters get wrong
| Case | Naive tool | Correct |
|---|---|---|
| Acronym | The Best Html Editor | The Best HTML Editor |
| Brand with inner capital | How to Use Iphone | How to Use iPhone |
| Abbreviation with a period | Meet Me at 3 P.m. In the Park | Meet Me at 3 p.m. in the Park |
| Hyphenated word | A Well-known Secret | A Well-Known Secret |
| Last word is a preposition | The Things We Dream of | The Things We Dream Of |
The converter on this page handles all five: it detects all-capital words, words with an internal capital, and hyphenated compounds, and it capitalizes both the first and the last word regardless of what they are.
Title case is not Capitalize Each Word
Microsoft Word offers Capitalize Each Word in its Aa menu. It is not title case. It capitalizes every word, including of, to and the, and it matches no published style guide.
| Style | Same headline | Standard? |
|---|---|---|
| Title Case | How to Change Case in Excel | Yes — Chicago, AP, MLA, APA |
| Capitalize Each Word | How To Change Case In Excel | No |
| Sentence case | How to change case in Excel | Yes — web, apps, journals |
| Proper Case | How To Change Case In Excel | Only for names in data |
| ALL CAPS | HOW TO CHANGE CASE IN EXCEL | Short labels only |
The difference between title case and sentence case is covered in detail in our guide to sentence case, and the question of whether every letter of a title should be capitalized is answered in should all letters in a title be capitalized.
Where to use title case, and where not to
| You are writing | Use |
|---|---|
| A book, film or album title | Title case |
| An article title in a reference list (MLA, Chicago) | Title case |
| A US newspaper headline | Title case, AP rules |
| A web page heading | Either — sentence case is the modern default |
| An email subject line | Sentence case |
| A button or menu label | Sentence case |
| An article title in an APA reference list | Sentence case |
| A UK newspaper headline | Sentence case |
Title case in other tools
| Tool | Method | Real title case? |
|---|---|---|
| This page | Paste, choose a guide, click Convert | Yes, all four guides |
| Microsoft Word | Home > Aa > Capitalize Each Word | No — capitalizes every word |
| Google Docs | Format > Text > Capitalization > Title Case | No — same problem |
| Excel | =PROPER(A1) | No — and it breaks acronyms |
| Python | text.title() | No — and it breaks apostrophes |
| CSS | text-transform: capitalize | No — display only, every word |
Every built-in option in that table produces Capitalize Each Word rather than title case. None of them has a minor-word list. That is the gap this converter fills. The spreadsheet side is covered in upper and lower case in Excel, and the Word procedure in changing case in Word.
Does title case help SEO?
Not directly. Capitalization is not a ranking factor, and search engines normalize case when they match a query to a page. A title in title case and the same title in sentence case rank identically.
What it can change is the click-through rate of a result, and the evidence points both ways depending on the audience: title case reads as more formal and authoritative, sentence case as more direct. Test it on your own pages rather than trusting a rule of thumb.
The one thing that measurably matters is consistency. A site whose headings switch between three conventions looks careless to a reader, and that cost is real regardless of what the algorithm does.
Need more than title case? The upper lower case converter on our home page does twelve styles — UPPERCASE, lowercase, Sentence case, Proper Case, camelCase, snake_case and six more — with a live word and character count. Free, no sign-up.
The other case styles, and where each belongs
Title Case is one answer to one question: how should a headline be capitalized? These are the neighbouring questions and the guides that answer them.
| You need | Style | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| A headline or book title | Title Case | This page |
| Body text and web headings | Sentence case | Sentence case explained |
| Names in a spreadsheet | Proper case | Proper case converter |
| Column headers and labels | Capitalize Each Word | Capitalize Each Word |
| Text that arrived in capitals | lowercase, then fix | Undo all caps |
| Any text, lowercased | lowercase | Lowercase converter |
| Variables in JavaScript or Java | camelCase | camelCase converter |
| Columns in a database | snake_case | Snake case converter |
| Capitals applied by a stylesheet | CSS, not the text | text-transform in CSS |
| A length limit to respect | Count first | Word and character counter |
| Case tools inside Google Docs | Format menu | Change case in Google Docs |
One rule cuts across all of them: capitalization is not a ranking factor, so the choice is about how the text reads rather than how it ranks. What does cost you is inconsistency, and the way to avoid it is to decide once per element type and apply the same decision everywhere.
Frequently asked questions
What is a title case converter?
A tool that capitalizes the significant words of a title and leaves articles, conjunctions and short prepositions lowercase, following a published style guide rather than capitalizing every word.
Which words are lowercase in title case?
Articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet) and short prepositions (as, at, by, in, of, on, to, up, off, out, per, via). The first and last word are always capitalized regardless.
What is the difference between Chicago and AP title case?
AP capitalizes prepositions of four letters or more, so it writes With and From. Chicago leaves them lowercase. On a typical headline that is the only difference.
Does title case capitalize is and are?
Yes. They are verbs, and every style guide capitalizes verbs in a title regardless of length. This Is the Way, not This is the Way.
How do I do title case in Word?
Word has no true title case option. Its Capitalize Each Word capitalizes of, to and the as well, which no style guide does. Use a converter that has a minor-word list.
Does the converter keep acronyms and brand names?
Yes. All-capital words such as HTML and NASA, and words with an internal capital such as iPhone and eBay, are detected and left exactly as they are.
How are hyphenated words capitalized in a title?
Both halves take a capital: A Well-Known Secret, The Twenty-First Century. Chicago lowercases the second part only after a prefix such as anti- or re-.
Is title case better than sentence case for SEO?
No. Capitalization is not a ranking factor. It can affect click-through rate, and consistency across a site matters more than which style you pick.
The short version
Title case capitalizes the significant words and leaves articles, coordinating conjunctions and short prepositions lowercase, with the first word, the last word and the word after a colon always capitalized. The four style guides differ only on prepositions of four letters and more. Choose Chicago unless your organization says otherwise, keep acronyms and brand names intact, and never use the Capitalize Each Word option in a word processor for a headline — it follows no standard at all.