Change Capitalization For Many Cells at Once

Jeff,

If you are doing a lot of this, here is an AppleScript that will change the text case in multiple selected cells.

--select range of cells in Numbers, run, changes text case

--change as desired to: "upper" "lower" "title" "capitalize"

set caseType to "title"

tell application "Numbers" to tell front document to tell active sheet

set selectedTable to first table whose class of selection range is range

tell selectedTable

set selectedRange to the selection range

tell selectedRange

repeat with i from 1 to count of cells

set thisValue to value of cell i

if thisValue is not missing value then set value of cell i to ¬

(do shell script "/usr/bin/python -c \"import sys; print unicode(sys.argv[1], 'utf8')." & caseType & "().encode('utf8')\" " & quoted form of thisValue)

end repeat

end tell

end tell

end tell

--end of script

This changes the actual text, not just how it is displayed in Numbers, so it won't "revert" your subsequent manual changes. To use, select the cells first, then run.

SG

Jeff,

The capitalization menu only seems to work on text (that is you must double click the text in the cell to get the menu item to activate). The only way I can think of to capitalize this text is to:

copy (from Numbers)

to a text editor (I used Mail),

then copy (from Mail) to Pages

then use the menu item "Edit > Transformations > Make Upper Case"

then copy (from Page) back to Numbers

Yes,

UPPER() is probably your best bet:

assuming lower case list is in column B. Add a new column after column B then use the formula:

C2=UPPER(B2)

this is shorthand for select cell C2 then type (or copy and paste from here) the formula:

=UPPER(B2)

select C2, copy

select column C, paste. If cell C1 is a header then hold the command key and click cell C1 before pasting

You are correct about the menu command for capitalization. It is applying a format. The formatting way of doing it does not change the underlying text in the cell it only affects the way it is displayed. You can see the actual text that is in the cell by looking at the bar at the bottom of the Numbers window. It applies the format to whatever was in the cell and whatever you type in the cell afterward.

If it is a column (or row) of cells to convert and you want all uppercase characters, you can insert a temporary new column (or row) and use the UPPER formula. Then you can Paste Formula Results back to the original column and delete the new column (or row).

If you want the first letter of each word capitalized, it is the same thing except use the PROPER function

yes. you will have to use the method that several of us have mentioned earlier.

If you only want to convert to proper capitalization use the function PROPER()

IF you want ALL caps use the function UPPER()

I'm a little confused by this thread. As Badunit describes, can't you just select multiple cells and make a menu pick?

No need for formulas, right? (unless it's a special situation of capitalizing the start of each sentence)

SG

I just noticed that I can select multiple cells and use the Format/Font/Capitalization menu items. This is in Numbers 3.1. So my approach is not necessary for Numbers 3.1

Jeff,

It's not easy, is it?

Here'a clunky way to convert the first character of each cell to a cap, by using a conversion table:

Yes, I know it's gibberish.

Jerry

Assuming you did something like this:

The corrected text is in column C. select column C, copy,

Now paste the formula results using the menu item "Edit > Paste Formula Results" then go back through Column C to make final fixes (for Initials,etc). then copy column C, then paste over column B and delete column C

Actually when I make changes after the capitalization command it reverts back to the way it was after the command.

Wow, I never would have expected a reversion. For some things Numbers is too smart for its own good.

If you need to do this a lot I think a short AppleScript can do the trick.

SG

Badunit,

UPPER could have been used in my approach too, if I'd thought of it!

Jerry

Wayne,

I think I should have been more clear on my objective. I was working to achieve Sentence Caps, not All Caps.

Jerry