Title Case Converter
Title case means capitalizing the main words of a title or headline and keeping small words such as a, the and of in lower case. This free title case converter changes your text in your browser, so nothing is uploaded. Paste your titles, pick one of four style buttons, and the tool applies that style's rules to every line.
- The rules are the commonly published summary of each style. The tool is not official and not affiliated with any of the four styles, so check the style guide your school, editor or publisher requires.
- The tool cannot tell a preposition from an adverb, and it cannot recognize a name typed in lower case. Check those words by hand.
- The small-word lists are English, so the tool is meant for English titles.
101 characters · 19 words · 1 line
AP rule used here. Small: a, an, the, and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet and prepositions of three letters or fewer. Every word of four letters or more is capitalized. The first and last word are always capitalized.
Words kept small in the middle of a title: a, an, and, as, at, but, by, for, in, nor, of, on, or, per, so, the, to, via, yet.
Your text stays in this page. Nothing is uploaded.
Where the four styles differ
- AP and APA keep only words of three letters or fewer small, so "With", "Between" and "From" are capitalized. Chicago and MLA keep every preposition small, so "with", "between" and "from" stay small.
- MLA also keeps "so" and "yet" small; Chicago capitalizes them.
- Up, out, off and down are always capitalized here: in titles they are usually adverbs (Give Up, Turn Off), which all four guides capitalize. In a phrase where they really are prepositions, lower-case them by hand.
- APA is the only one of the four here that does not force a capital on the last word.
- In all four, the first word, the first word after a colon (or after an em dash, ! ? or a full stop) and the part after a hyphen are treated alike; a small word inside a hyphenated word stays small (State-of-the-Art).
In one sentence
A free online title case converter that capitalizes the main words of a title and keeps small words in lower case, with a choice of four sets of rules (AP, APA, Chicago and MLA), all in your browser.
Key facts
- Input: up to 200,000 characters, one title per line; each line gets its own first and last word, and web addresses, e-mail addresses, #tags, @names and words such as iPhone or McDonald are left as typed.
- Output: the title in AP, APA, Chicago or MLA style, with Copy and Download .txt (UTF-8); a panel shows the rule and the list of small words for the style you pick.
- AP and APA keep only words of three letters or fewer small (a, an, the, and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet and short prepositions), Chicago keeps prepositions of any length small, and MLA keeps those and so and yet small; the last word is always capitalized except in APA.
- The rules are the commonly published summary of each style, not an official tool of any of them; the tool cannot tell a preposition from an adverb (up, out, off and down are always capitalized) or recognize a name typed in lower case, and the small-word lists are English.
- Free, with no account, no human check and no daily limit, because the text is changed on your device.
How it works
- Type or paste your title or text into the box labelled "Your title or text (one title per line)". The box holds up to 200,000 characters.
- Pick one of the four style buttons: AP, APA, Chicago or MLA. The page opens on AP, and a panel under the buttons shows the rule that style uses.
- Check the options: lower-case the rest of each word first, keep ALL-CAPS words, and choose a language rule for letters.
- Read the result in the box labelled "Result:", then press Copy or Download .txt.
How to use the Title Case Converter
Start by typing or pasting your text into the input box. Each line is treated as its own title, so every line gets its own first and last word. Line breaks and spaces stay exactly as you typed them.
Next, choose one of the four style buttons. The result changes at once for the style you pick, and the panel under the buttons states the rule that style uses here. The panel also lists the small words for that style, and the list changes with the style.
Three options sit under the input. You can switch each one on or off as needed.
- Lower-case the rest of each word first (on by default)
- Keep ALL-CAPS words such as NASA and USA (off by default)
- Language rules for letters: Default, Turkish, Azerbaijani or Lithuanian
What title case is
Title case capitalizes the main words of a title and leaves small words in lower case. Words such as a, an, the, and, of and in usually stay small unless they open or close the title.
Style guides do not agree on every detail. One style may keep a four-letter preposition small, while another capitalizes it. Some styles also treat the last word differently. That is why the converter offers four styles instead of one fixed result.
Because styles differ, the same title can come out in more than one form. Choose the style that your school, editor or publisher uses, and apply it the same way across your document.
AP, APA, Chicago and MLA: where they differ
The four styles share the basic idea but differ in their small-word lists and their last-word rules. Here the tool applies the commonly published summary of each one. Those summaries are not official, and the tool is not affiliated with any of the four styles.
Compare the same input across styles. "a guide to working with data" becomes "A Guide to Working With Data" in AP and APA, because both capitalize any word of four letters or more. Chicago and MLA give "A Guide to Working with Data", because they keep every preposition small.
Check the guide you must follow before you publish. The converter cannot replace the full guide, and a summary may leave out cases your editor expects.
Small words: what stays lower case
In AP and APA, small words are a, an, the, and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet, and the short prepositions as, at, by, in, of, on, per, to and via. Any word of four letters or more is capitalized, so With, Between, From, Over and Into all get capitals.
In Chicago, the small words are a, an, the, and, but, for, nor and or, plus prepositions of any length, such as about, between, from, into, with and within. Chicago capitalizes so and yet. MLA uses the same list as Chicago, plus so and yet, so those two stay small in MLA.
The first word of a title is always capitalized, and so is the first word after a colon, an em dash, or a full stop, exclamation mark, question mark or ellipsis. In AP, Chicago and MLA, the last word is always capitalized. In APA, the tool does not force a capital on the last word, so "what are you looking for?" becomes "What Are You Looking for?".
Hyphenated words, colons and dashes
The tool treats each part of a hyphenated word as a word of its own. Small words inside a hyphenated term stay small, so "state-of-the-art tools for mid-size teams" becomes "State-of-the-Art Tools for Mid-Size Teams" in all four styles.
A word after a colon starts with a capital. "a tale of two cities: the end of an era" becomes "A Tale of Two Cities: The End of an Era" in all four styles. The same rule applies after an em dash, so "war—what is it good for" becomes "War—What Is It Good For" in AP.
Quotation marks and punctuation stay where you typed them. For example, "he said: "never give up" - and meant it" becomes He Said: "Never Give Up" - and Meant It in AP.
What the converter leaves alone
The converter does not change web addresses or e-mail addresses. It also leaves #tags and @names as typed. Words that already have a capital after a small letter or after an apostrophe stay the same too.
- Web addresses, such as aiipworld.com
- E-mail addresses
- #tags and @names
- Names such as iPhone, eBay, McDonald and O'Brien
Limits: what a program cannot decide
The converter cannot make every call that a style guide asks for. Up, out, off and down are always capitalized in all four styles, because in titles they are usually adverbs, as in "Give Up" and "Turn Off". If you use one of these as a preposition, lower-case it by hand.
The tool also cannot recognize a proper noun or a brand that you type in lower case. Check those names yourself before you copy the result. Hyphenated prefixes, Roman numerals, abbreviations after a full stop and words after a slash are not handled, so review them by hand. A word that starts with a digit is not changed, so "3d" stays "3d".
The tool applies one fixed rule set per style, so the same input always gives the same output. It cannot judge the context of a sentence, so read the result before you use it.
ALL CAPS text and the options
ALL CAPS text is common in pasted headlines. With the first option on, "WHAT TO DO WHEN IT RAINS IN SPAIN" becomes "What to Do When It Rains in Spain" in all four styles. Turn that option off, and the letters you typed stay as they are, except the first letter of each word that gets a capital.
Turn on "Keep ALL-CAPS words (NASA, USA)" to leave words of two or more letters that are all capitals as typed. This keeps acronyms readable in the result. The option is off by default.
The language rules for letters change how single letters are capitalized. Choose Turkish, Azerbaijani or Lithuanian when your text needs those rules, for example to change Turkish i to İ. The language rules do not translate the small-word lists, which are English.
Privacy: nothing is uploaded
The converter runs in your browser. The text you type is changed on your device, and nothing is uploaded or saved. You do not need an account to use the tool, and there is no daily limit.
When the result looks right to you, press Copy to place it on your clipboard. The button shows "Copied" for a moment. You can also press Download .txt to save a UTF-8 text file. The file is named title-case-ap.txt, title-case-apa.txt, title-case-chicago.txt or title-case-mla.txt, depending on the style you chose.
Questions
What is title case?
Title case is a way of capitalizing a title or headline so that the main words start with capitals and small words stay in lower case. Each style has its own list of small words.
How do I convert text to title case?
Paste your text into the input box, with one title per line, and choose one of the four style buttons. The result appears in the box labelled "Result:", and you can then press Copy or Download .txt.
Which words stay lower case in title case?
Small words such as a, an, the, and, but, for, or and short prepositions usually stay lower case. AP and APA keep only short prepositions small, while Chicago and MLA keep prepositions of any length small.
What is the difference between AP, APA, Chicago and MLA title case?
The four styles differ in their small-word lists and in the last-word rule. For example, "a guide to working with data" becomes "A Guide to Working With Data" in AP and "A Guide to Working with Data" in Chicago. The rules shown are a commonly published summary, so check the style guide you must follow.
Is the last word always capitalized?
In AP, Chicago and MLA, the last word is always capitalized. In APA, the tool does not force a capital on the last word, so "what are you looking for?" becomes "What Are You Looking for?".
Does title case capitalize words after a colon?
Yes, in this tool the first word after a colon is always capitalized in all four styles. For example, "a tale of two cities: the end of an era" becomes "A Tale of Two Cities: The End of an Era".
Why does the converter capitalize "Up" or "Off"?
Up, out, off and down are always capitalized because in titles they are usually adverbs, as in "Give Up" and "Turn Off". The tool cannot tell an adverb from a preposition, so lower-case the word by hand if you use it as a preposition.
Can I convert ALL CAPS text to title case?
Yes, "WHAT TO DO WHEN IT RAINS IN SPAIN" becomes "What to Do When It Rains in Spain" with the first option on. You can also turn on the option to keep ALL-CAPS words, such as NASA and USA, as typed.
Is the text I type uploaded?
No. The converter runs in your browser, the text is changed on your device, and nothing is uploaded or saved.
Is the title case converter free?
Yes, the title case converter is free to use. It has no account, no human check, no daily limit and no API.
Need images or PDFs from your own code?
This tool runs in your browser and does not use the API. To turn text or HTML into an image or a PDF from your own code, the render API does that. A free account includes 100 credits a month.