Format text not all caps

[Justin]

I am doing a mail merge from an xls file into word. The excel file that I
purchased is in all caps, ie JOHN SMITH. I would like to change the xls
file to be John Smith. I see from excel Help something called Proper, but
it doesn't tell me how to apply it to columns or cells. How do I do this???
I have no problme actually performing the mail merge. The text needs to be
changed within excel so as not to change what I have in the word source doc
..

Thanks from Southern California.

 

[Frank Kabel]

hi Justin
if your data is stored in column A put the following formula in B1
=PROPER(A1)
copy this formula down
Now select column B and copy this range. Goto 'Format - Paste special'
and paste these data as VALUE.
If you like delete the old columns

HTH
Frank

 

[Dave R.]

I don't see why help wouldn't tell you how to apply it, but you apply it
like
PROPER(A1). If A1 contains JOHN, PROPER(A1) in B1 or wherever will be John.

 

[Ken Wright]

The others have you given the answers you need, but just to show you that the
Help does indeed tell you how to apply it:-

PROPER - Straight out of *Help on this function* when you look at the function
in the function list.

Capitalizes the first letter in a text string and any other letters in text that
follow any character other than a letter. Converts all other letters to
lowercase letters.

Syntax
=PROPER(text)
Text is text enclosed in quotation marks, a formula that returns text, or a
reference to a cell containing the text you want to partially capitalize.
Example
The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.
How?
Create a blank workbook or worksheet.
Select the example in the Help topic. Do not select the row or column headers.

Selecting an example from Help
Press CTRL+C.
In the worksheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
To switch between viewing the results and viewing the formulas that return the
results, press CTRL+` (grave accent), or on the Tools menu, point to Formula
Auditing, and then click Formula Auditing Mode.

A
1 Data
2 this is a TITLE
3 2-cent's worth
4 76BudGet

FormulaDescription (Result)

=PROPER(A2)Proper case of first string (This Is A Title)
=PROPER(A3)Proper case of second string (2-Cent'S Worth)
=PROPER(A4)Proper case of third string (76Budget)

 

[David McRitchie]

Besides looking at Help from the list of Functions, you can
also look directly in HELP.

F1 (Help), Index, Proper Worksheet Function

another way would be to search
F1 (Help), Answer Wizard, Proper

--
But I think a subroutine to change things in place rather than
having helper columns for each name and address column.
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/proper.htm

HTH,
David McRitchie, Microsoft MVP - Excel [site changed Nov. 2001]
My Excel Pages: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
Search Page: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/search.htm