Sentence case

Location on ribbon: Tab DVD Addin → Group Text and Number → Menu Case

Command ID: btnSentencecase

What it does

Lowercases the text in the selection and capitalizes the first letter of each sentence, while keeping units, marks and abbreviations intact. Before converting, it also tidies whitespace: leading and trailing spaces are trimmed and runs of consecutive spaces are collapsed to one.

This is what you reach for when data arrives typed inconsistently — work descriptions in a bill of quantities, inspection remarks, site diary entries — and it has to look uniform before the file is printed into a record.

How to use

1. Select the text cells you want normalized.
2. Go to tab DVD Addin → group Text and Number → open the Case menu → click Sentence case.
3. The Confirm data change box appears before anything is overwritten; keep Back up sheet ticked and click Continue. The command then processes each contiguous area in one pass.
4. The Excel status bar reports "Changed N/M cells". If nothing changed, a message box explains why (all formulas, all empty, or already in the right format).

A letter is capitalized when it starts the cell, follows a sentence-ending ., :, ? or ! plus a space, follows a list dash - , or follows a line break inside the cell. A dot inside a word, as in e.g., 1.5 or TP.HCM, does not trigger a capital.

Video tutorial

Narrated in Vietnamese, with Vietnamese subtitles. Đổi chữ hoa thường · 5 min 21 s · 12 cases · Download the video · Practice workbook for the video

Commands in this video: Sentence case · Proper Case · SMART case (AI) · UPPERCASE · lowercase

Chapters (17)

1. Giới thiệu
2. Mở lệnh
3. Năm kiểu chữ
4. 1 · Hoa đầu câu
5. 2 · HOA TOÀN BỘ
6. 3 · thường toàn bộ
7. 4 · Hoa Đầu Mỗi Từ
8. 5 · Chữ viết tắt, ô toàn chữ HOA
9. 6 · Ô nhiều dòng
10. 7 · Chọn cả bảng: số, công thức
11. 8 · Danh sách đang lọc
12. 9 · Hoa theo ngữ cảnh (AI)
13. 10 · Khi AI báo lỗi
14. 11 · Ghi đè và hoàn tác
15. 12 · Khi không ô nào đổi
16. Mẹo
17. Kết thúc

Illustrated walkthrough

Practice

Download this command's sample workbook — the data matches the pictures below (sheet Quantities), so you can follow each step right away.

Step 1. Select the text cells to normalize, for example a work-description column typed in mixed case with extra spaces (1).

Step 2. On the ribbon, open the DVD Addin tab → Text and Number group → open Case → choose Sentence case.

Step 3. The add-in asks before overwriting. Keep the sheet backup ticked (1) so that Ctrl+Z right after the command puts the sheet back, then click Continue (2).

Step 4. Each cell gets its extra spaces collapsed and a capital at the start of every sentence, including after . or :; abbreviations, units and codes (TCVN, MPa, C1) are kept as typed (1). The status bar reports how many cells changed (2).

Example

A work-description column received from a subcontractor:

Before	After
pour column concrete level 3. inspect before pouring	Pour column concrete level 3. Inspect before pouring
ERECT BEAM AND SLAB FORMWORK TO TCVN 4453	Erect beam and slab formwork to TCVN 4453
note: check the setting-out level of column C1	Note: Check the setting-out level of column C1

Notes

• The command keeps the following exactly as typed:
  • units of measure: MPa, kN, kg, mm, m2, m3…;
  • marks that mix letters and digits: C1, D12, P66, M250…;
  • common abbreviations: TCVN, QCVN, UBND, BTCT, HDPE…;
  • in a cell that also contains lowercase text, every ALL-CAPS word of 2 or more letters (treated as an abbreviation). In a cell typed entirely in capitals, only the common abbreviations above are kept.
• So capitals typed inside an otherwise lowercase sentence (for example pour COLUMN concrete) are kept. On the other hand, proper nouns not written in all caps (for example Hanoi) are still lowercased — use SMART case (AI) when the text is full of names.
• Formula cells are preserved — they are never overwritten with their values.
• Hold ESC while it runs to stop early; areas already written stay written.
• The selection is clamped to the UsedRange, so selecting whole columns is still fast.
• The command overwrites cell content; Ctrl+Z right after the command puts the sheet back as it was (thanks to the backup). A detailed log is kept at %TEMP%\DVDAddin\case.log.

Related

• UPPERCASE — converts the whole selection to capitals.
• Proper Case — capitalizes the first letter of every word.
• SMART case (AI) — uses AI to capitalize proper nouns correctly in context.
• Remove extra spaces — cleans whitespace without touching letter case.