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We’ve all done it before. We’re typing fast and then realize that we had the Caps Lock key on and the case on our text is bACKWARDS. That’s easy to change in Microsoft Word, but what if you use the free alternative, LibreOffice Writer?

No worries. It’s also easy to change the case on text in Writer and we’ll show you how.

Related: How to Easily Change the Case on Text in Microsoft Word

There are two ways to change the case of text in a LibreOffice Writer document. The first method changes it for the selected text only, but does not change the style of the text. This is the method you'll normally want to use. The second method actually changes the character style of the text, so further text you type has that style (all caps, for example).

Method One: Change the Case Without Applying Character Formatting

To change the case of some text in your document without changing the character style of the text, select the text you want to change. In our example, we want to reverse the case on the text we selected.

01_selecting_text

In the toolbar, head to Format > Text > Change Case > tOGGLE cASE (or whichever case option you want).

02_selecting_toggle_case

The tOGGLE cASE option changes all lowercase letters to UPPERCASE and all UPPERCASE letters to lowercase in the selection.

03_case_toggled

Method Two: Change Case by Applying Case Effects Character Formatting

Now, we’ll show you how to apply character formatting to text with Capitals (UPPERCASE), Lowercase, Title, or Small capitals (all letters are capitals, but the “capital” letters you type are bigger capitals than the rest of the letters, or the "lowercase" letters). To format more than one word with one of these four case effects, select the text you want to format. If you’re only formatting one word, you can simply place the cursor in that word. Then, select “Character” from the “Format” menu.

04_selecting_character

On the Character dialog box, click the “Font Effects” tab.

05_clicking_font_effects_tab

Select an option from the “Effects” drop-down list. To turn off the case formatting for the selected text or the current word, select “(Without)”, which is the default option.

06_selecting_caps_effects

A sample of how your text will look with the chosen effects displays at the bottom of the dialog box. Click “OK” to accept the change and apply the character formatting.

07_clicking_ok

NOTE: When you apply formatting to your text using the Character option on the Format menu (the second method), and then continue typing right after, the new text you type is formatted with the case you chose in the Effect drop-down list on the Character dialog box. However, when you use the Text > Change Case option on the Format menu (the first method), any text you type right after that goes back to normal text.

You can also press Shift+F3 to rotate through three of the case options for the selected text or the word currently containing the cursor: Title Case, UPPERCASE, and lowercase. Note that using Shift+F3 only changes the case of the selected text or current word (the first method), it does not apply character formatting to the text.