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openoffice.org package

In Open Office, use Proper function on a column of text

Asked by Rodney

I have a long column of names, some in lower case, some in upper case. I want to change them all to have the first letter in each name capitalized with the remaining letters in lower case. How do I use the "Proper" function to do this without having to retype each name? Should there not be a way to select the column and apply the Proper Function to the entire column?

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

I suggest you post on the libreoffice forum too.

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Tony Pursell (ajpursell) said : 		#2

Hi Rodney

In my version, which is LibreOffice 3.5.4.2, I can highlight a column of names, some with first letter in lower case, then do Format > Change Case > Sentence case, and get all the first letters changed to capitals. Similarly Format > Change Case > Capitalize Every Word will capitalize the first words in names like John Smith (from john smith).

If you are using OpenOffice.org and this is not available to you, perhaps you should consider upgrading to a version of Ubuntu that uses LibreOffice.

Tony

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Rodney (rciwan) said : 		#3

When I go to Format and Change Case the only options are "upper case" and "lower case". No Sentence case listed. Yes, I can change all to upper or to lower case but I was wanting to have only the first character of each name capitalized, not all of it. The function "Proper" does this for a single entry but I can not see how to make it do a full column of names.

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Tony Pursell (ajpursell) said : 		#4

OK, Rodney

This means you are on an old version of OpenOffice.org that does not have the 'Sentence case' or 'Capitalize Every Word' options in Format > Change Case.

What versions of Ubuntu and OpenOffice.org are you using?

Tony

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Tony Pursell (ajpursell) said : 		#5

If you need to use the PROPER function, then you can make entries in Column A, and in every cell in Column B you can have the PROPER function. Do this by putting PROPER(A1) in cell B1, then copy that down into Cells B2 and below.

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Rodney (rciwan) said : 		#6

I just now upgraded to Ubuntu 12.04 which has Libe Office and I can now do what I wanted to do with the capitalization so my question is no longer in need of an answer. Thanks to all who responded. Rodney