Capitalize customer names (PROPER)
A partner exported their CRM with no data hygiene: customer names in A2:A5 arrive as john smith, MARY JOHNSON and worse. Before the names go into the quarterly report, fill Proper name with a PROPER formula so every name is capitalized cleanly, starting in C2 and filling down to C5.
Your solution should use cell references so it updates automatically when Test Case input values change.
Notes
PROPER(text) capitalizes the first letter of every word and lowercases the rest — MARY JOHNSON becomes Mary Johnson. Unlike UPPER and LOWER, it handles whole name lists in one fill-down. Watch its blind spots: it lowercases deliberate capitals like McDonald into Mcdonald, and it cannot add a missing space — johnsmith stays one word. Clean the source with TRIM first when the raw export is messy.
FAQ
What does PROPER do to `MARY JOHNSON`?
It returns `Mary Johnson`: the first letter of each word is capitalized and every other letter is lowercased. It fixes shouting all-caps exports in one fill-down.
Why did `McDonald` become `Mcdonald`?
PROPER treats everything after the first letter of a word as lowercase, so internal capitals are lost. Fix names with internal capitals manually or with a lookup-based replacement after the bulk cleanup.
How is PROPER different from UPPER and LOWER?
UPPER makes everything uppercase, LOWER makes everything lowercase, and PROPER capitalizes each word's first letter only. For title-cased name lists, PROPER is the one you want.
Does PROPER fix missing spaces like `johnsmith`?
No — PROPER only changes letter casing, it never inserts or removes characters. `johnsmith` stays one word; you'd need TEXTSPLIT, Flash Fill, or a manual fix to split it.