Title Capitalization FAQ

Title capitalization is the practice of capitalizing specific words in a title or headline according to a set of grammatical rules. Most style guides capitalize principal words — nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs — while lowercasing articles, short prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions unless they appear at the beginning or end of a title.

Title case is a capitalization style where the first letter of principal words is uppercase and minor words are lowercase. For example: "The Quick Brown Fox Jumps over the Lazy Dog." Exactly which words are capitalized depends on the style guide — APA, Chicago, AP, and MLA each have slightly different rules.

Title case capitalizes most major words in a title (e.g., "How to Write a Great Title"), while sentence case capitalizes only the first word and proper nouns (e.g., "How to write a great title"). Wikipedia and professional email subject lines typically use sentence case; academic and journalistic publications mostly use title case.

It depends on your field. Use APA for psychology and social sciences, Chicago for books and general publishing, AP for journalism and media, MLA for literature and language studies, AMA for medicine and health sciences, Bluebook for legal writing, NY Times for editorial journalism, Wikipedia for reference content, and Email for professional email subjects.

Yes. TitleCasePro fully supports APA 7th Edition title case, which capitalizes nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs while lowercasing all prepositions, articles, and coordinating conjunctions regardless of length.

Yes. TitleCasePro supports Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS 17th Edition) title case. Chicago lowercases short prepositions of four or fewer letters and capitalizes longer prepositions like "About" and "Between."

Yes. TitleCasePro supports AP Stylebook title case, which capitalizes words of four or more letters and lowercases articles, short prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions.

Yes. TitleCasePro supports MLA Handbook (9th Edition) title case, which capitalizes all principal words and lowercases all prepositions regardless of length, along with articles and coordinating conjunctions.

Yes. The Compare Styles tool lets you enter any title and see it formatted in all 9 style guides — APA, Chicago, AP, MLA, Bluebook, AMA, NY Times, Wikipedia, and Email — simultaneously in one clean table.

Yes. The Batch Capitalizer tool lets you paste a list of titles or import a file and convert all of them to your chosen style in one step.

Yes. The Batch Capitalizer accepts CSV and TXT file uploads. It reads one title per line and exports clean results as a TXT or CSV file for use in your workflow.

Yes. TitleCasePro is completely free to use. There is no account, no subscription, and no paywall on any of the tools.

Yes. After converting a title, click "Explain" below the output to see a word-by-word breakdown. Each word is shown alongside the exact rule that was applied — for example, "Short preposition — lowercase per Chicago §8.157."

Yes. All tools run entirely in your browser. No data is sent to a server, and nothing is stored externally. The tools work on any modern browser on desktop or mobile.

No. TitleCasePro has no ads inside the tool area. The capitalization tool, comparison view, batch tool, and all other tools are ad-free.

In title case, capitalise: the first word, the last word, all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions. Do not capitalise articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet), or short prepositions (in, on, at, by, of, to) when they appear in the middle of a title.

No. "Bipolar disorder" is a common noun describing a medical condition and is written in lowercase in running text. It is not capitalised unless it begins a sentence. In a title, "bipolar" and "disorder" follow normal title case rules — "disorder" as a noun would typically be capitalised, but the condition name itself is not a proper noun.

In standard title case, do not capitalise articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet), and short prepositions (at, by, for, in, of, on, to, up, via) when they appear in the middle of a title. Always capitalise the first word and the last word regardless of their part of speech.

Yes. "All" is a pronoun or adjective and should be capitalised in title case under all major style guides — APA, Chicago, AP, MLA, NY Times, and Bluebook. For example: "All the Light We Cannot See."

Yes. "My" is a possessive pronoun and is capitalised in title case under every major style guide including APA, Chicago, AP, MLA, AMA, NY Times, and Bluebook. Example: "My Life as a Writer" or "Finding My Way Home."

It depends on context. Capitalise a job title when it appears directly before a person's name as a formal designation — for example, "Marketing Manager Sarah Chen." Lowercase the job title when used generically in a sentence — for example, "She works as a marketing manager." In resumes and formal documents, job titles are typically capitalised.

Yes, capitalise your job title in a cover letter when referring to it as a specific position — for example, "I am applying for the role of Senior Content Editor." When used descriptively in a sentence, it may be lowercase. Most style guides recommend capitalising formal job titles in professional correspondence.

The correct capitalisation depends on the style guide required for your work. APA is used in social sciences, Chicago in publishing, AP in journalism, MLA in literature, and AMA in medicine. Use TitleCasePro to convert your title in any of these styles instantly and see a word-by-word explanation of every capitalisation decision.

"The" is an article. In title case, "the" is lowercased when it appears in the middle of a title — for example, "Lord of the Rings." However, "The" is always capitalised when it is the very first word of a title — for example, "The Great Gatsby."

Capitalise principal words in a title: nouns, verbs (including "is," "are," "was"), adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, and the first and last word. Do not capitalise articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS), or short prepositions in the middle of the title. The exact rules vary by style guide.

It depends on the style guide. In APA and MLA, "with" (a preposition) is lowercased. In Chicago, "with" is 4 letters — at the boundary — and is lowercased (Chicago lowercases prepositions of 4 or fewer letters). In AP style, "with" is capitalised because AP capitalises all words of 4 or more letters.

"For" is a coordinating conjunction (one of the FANBOYS) and is lowercased in the middle of a title under APA, Chicago, AP, MLA, and NY Times style. It is only capitalised if it appears as the first or last word of the title.

Yes. "Is" is a verb — a form of the verb "to be" — and is capitalised in title case under all major style guides including APA, Chicago, AP, MLA, AMA, and NY Times. Example: "What Is Title Case?" or "Where Is My Phone?"

"To" is lowercased in most title case styles. As a preposition (2 letters), it falls below every style guide's minimum threshold for capitalisation. In Chicago style, "to" as an infinitive marker is also explicitly lowercased. Example: "How to Write a Great Title" — "to" stays lowercase.

Yes. "Are" is a verb and is capitalised in title case under all major style guides — APA, Chicago, AP, MLA, AMA, and NY Times. Example: "What Are the Rules of Title Case?" — "Are" and "Rules" are capitalised.

"Of" is a preposition (2 letters) and is lowercased in the middle of a title under all major style guides — APA, Chicago, AP, MLA, AMA, and NY Times. Example: "The Lord of the Rings" — "of" and "the" are both lowercase in the middle.

It depends on the style guide. In APA and MLA, "from" (a preposition) is always lowercased. In Chicago, "from" has 4 letters and is lowercased (Chicago lowercases prepositions ≤4 letters). In AP style, "from" has 4 letters and is capitalised because AP capitalises all words of 4 or more letters.

Title case is a capitalisation style where most major words in a title or heading are capitalised and minor words are lowercased. Capitalised words include nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Lowercased words include articles (a, an, the), short prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions when they appear in the middle of the title.

Title case means formatting a title or heading so that the first letter of most words is uppercase. The exact rules — which words to capitalise and which to lowercase — are defined by style guides such as APA, Chicago, AP, and MLA. Title case is used for book titles, article headlines, section headings, and other titles.

Title case capitalisation is the practice of capitalising the first letter of major words in a title while lowercasing minor words such as articles, short prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions. It is used across publishing, journalism, academic writing, and professional communication.

A title case heading is a section heading or chapter title formatted using title case capitalisation — where major words are capitalised. This contrasts with sentence case headings, which capitalise only the first word and proper nouns. Different style guides specify when each type of heading should be used.

In APA 7th Edition, title case capitalises the first word of the title, the first word after a colon or dash, and all major words — nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns. Lowercased words include articles (a, an, the), all prepositions regardless of length, and coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet).

In APA style, title case headings are used for Level 1 and Level 2 headings. At these levels, all major words are capitalised following APA title case rules — nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns are uppercase; articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions are lowercase. Level 3, 4, and 5 headings use sentence case.

Numbers themselves are neither uppercase nor lowercase, so they are never changed by capitalization rules. Words that accompany numbers follow normal title case rules. For example, in "Top 10 Tips for Writers," "Top" and "Tips" are capitalized (major words) while "for" stays lowercase. The number 10 is unaffected.

Most style guides capitalize both parts of a hyphenated compound in a title. Chicago (CMOS) and MLA both capitalize each major element. For example: "Self-Help Guide," "Well-Known Author," "Up-to-Date Information." Minor words within a compound (like "to" in "Up-to-Date") may be lowercased per Chicago, but the first part is always capitalized.

Yes. In all major style guides — APA, Chicago, AP, MLA, and NY Times — the first word after a colon in a title is always capitalized, even if it would normally be lowercase. Example: "How to Write: a guide for beginners" becomes "How to Write: A Guide for Beginners." This also applies to words after an em dash used as a subtitle separator.

Yes. A subtitle — the text after a colon or em dash — follows the same title case rules as the main title. The first word of a subtitle is always capitalized. All other words follow the style guide's standard rules for that style. For example: "The Art of Writing: Rules, Tips, and Examples" capitalizes "Rules," "Tips," and "Examples" (nouns) while "and" stays lowercase.

Yes. Proper nouns — specific names of people, places, organizations, countries, brands, and titles — are always capitalized in titles regardless of the style guide. This applies in all modes including Wikipedia and Email sentence case. For example: "A Visit to New York" keeps "New York" capitalized in all styles.

"Not" is an adverb, not a preposition or conjunction, so it is capitalized in all major title case style guides — APA, Chicago, AP, MLA, AMA, and NY Times. Example: "Why You Should Not Ignore This Rule." Only Wikipedia and Email (sentence case) would lowercase "not" as a non-first word.

Yes. "Be" is a verb (infinitive form of "to be") and is always capitalized in title case. All major style guides — APA, Chicago, AP, MLA, AMA, and NY Times — capitalize verbs including all forms of "to be." Example: "All You Need to Be Happy" — "Be" is capitalized.

The primary difference is how prepositions are handled. APA (7th Edition) lowercases all prepositions regardless of length, so "through," "between," "about," "from," and even short ones like "of," "in," "to" are all lowercase in the middle of a title. MLA (9th Edition) follows the same rule. Both styles also lowercase articles and coordinating conjunctions in non-first/last position.

No. Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS 17) lowercases prepositions of four or fewer letters, and "from" has exactly four letters, so it is lowercase in the middle of a Chicago title. Example: "A Letter from the President" — "from" stays lowercase. If "from" were the first or last word, it would be capitalized.

No. APA 7th Edition lowercases all prepositions regardless of length, and "with" is a preposition. So "with" is lowercase in the middle of any APA title. Example: "A Study Conducted with College Students" — "with" stays lowercase. This is different from AP style, which capitalizes "with" because it has four letters and AP capitalizes words of four or more letters.

AP Stylebook capitalizes words of four or more letters — so "From," "With," "Over," and "Into" are all capitalized. Chicago Manual of Style lowercases prepositions of four or fewer letters — so "from," "with," "over," and "into" are all lowercase in Chicago. Both styles lowercase articles (a, an, the) and coordinating conjunctions in the middle of a title.

The batch capitalizer accepts CSV (.csv) and plain text (.txt) files. For CSV files, it reads the first cell of each row as a title. For TXT files, each non-empty line is treated as a separate title. Exports are available in both TXT and CSV format.

There is no hard limit on the number of titles you can convert in a single batch. All conversion happens in your browser, so practical limits depend on your device. Most users convert hundreds of titles at a time without any issue.

camelCase is a naming convention where the first word is all-lowercase and each subsequent word starts with an uppercase letter, with no spaces or separators. Example: "the quick brown fox" → "theQuickBrownFox". It is widely used in JavaScript and TypeScript for variable names, function names, and JSON keys.

PascalCase (also called UpperCamelCase) is a naming convention where every word starts with an uppercase letter, with no spaces or separators. Example: "the quick brown fox" → "TheQuickBrownFox". It is commonly used in most programming languages for class names, component names (React), and type definitions.

Both use all-lowercase letters with no capital letters, but they use different separators. snake_case joins words with underscores (the_quick_brown_fox) and is used for Python variables, database column names, and file names. kebab-case joins words with hyphens (the-quick-brown-fox) and is used for URL slugs, CSS class names, and HTML attributes.

APA lowercases articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet), and prepositions of any length — unless they are the first or last word.

No. Unlike Chicago, APA lowercases all prepositions regardless of length — including longer ones like "between", "through", and "without".

The first word after a colon in a title is always capitalized in APA style, even if it would normally be lowercase.

CMOS 17 capitalizes all major words. Short prepositions (≤4 letters) like "at", "by", "for", "in", "of", "on", "to" are lowercase, but longer ones like "About" and "Between" are capitalized.

No — "to" as an infinitive marker is lowercase in Chicago style (e.g., "How to Write a Book"). However, "To" as the first word would be capitalized.

Chicago capitalizes both parts of a hyphenated compound in most cases (e.g., "Self-Help Guide", "Well-Known Author").