How to Apply Small Caps in Word

To apply small caps in Word, select the text and press Ctrl+Shift+K on Windows or Command+Shift+K on a Mac. You can also open the Font dialog box, check Small Caps under Effects, and select OK. Both routes are for the desktop versions of Word. Word for the web does not have a small caps option, so that version needs a workaround.

Small caps is a font effect that shows lowercase letters as short capital letters. The letters you typed as capitals stay full height, so a heading still shows which words start with a capital. The steps below follow Microsoft’s Change the capitalization or case of text article and its list of keyboard shortcuts in Word.

What You Need Before You Start

• A desktop version of Word. Microsoft lists its case and small caps instructions for Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2024, Word 2021, Word 2019 and Word 2016, on Windows and on Mac.
• Text typed in lowercase or mixed case. Small caps only changes how lowercase letters look. Text typed entirely in capitals will look the same after you apply it.
• A document you can edit. If Word opened the file in a read-only or protected view, turn on editing first. Otherwise the formatting controls stay unavailable.

How to Apply Small Caps in Word on Windows

1. Select the text you want to change. Drag across it, or double-click a single word.
2. Select the Home tab.
3. In the Font group, click the small arrow in the lower-right corner. This is called the dialog box launcher. You can also press Ctrl+D to open the same Font dialog box.
4. Under Effects, check the Small Caps box. The Preview area at the bottom of the dialog shows how the text will look.
5. Select OK.

The dialog closes and the selected text shows in small caps. Text you did not select keeps its original formatting.

How to Apply Small Caps in Word on a Mac

1. Select the text you want to change.
2. In the menu bar at the top of the screen, select Format, then Font. Microsoft also lists Command+D as the shortcut that opens the Font dialog box.
3. Under Effects, check the Small Caps box.
4. Select OK.

The selected text changes to small caps when the dialog closes. The rest of the document is not affected.

Small Caps Keyboard Shortcut

The shortcut skips the dialog box. If the Font box ever stays open or hides behind another window, see how to close a dialog box in Word. Select the text first, then press the keys for your computer.

Action	Windows	Mac
Apply small caps	Ctrl+Shift+K	Command+Shift+K
Change text to all caps	Ctrl+Shift+A	Command+Shift+A
Open the Font dialog box	Ctrl+D	Command+D
Switch between lowercase, UPPERCASE and Capitalize Each Word	Shift+F3	Fn+Shift+F3

You can also press the shortcut with nothing selected and then start typing. In that case the effect applies to the new text from the cursor onward. Pressing the shortcut again on the same selection normally turns the effect back off. Microsoft’s list only describes the shortcut as applying small caps, so if a second press does nothing, clear the Small Caps box in the Font dialog instead.

Small Caps vs. All Caps

These two effects are easy to confuse. Small Caps keeps a height difference between the letters you typed as capitals and the letters you typed in lowercase. All Caps shows every letter as a full-size capital. A name typed as John Smith shows a tall J and S with shorter capitals after them in small caps, and JOHN SMITH at one height in all caps.

Both are different from the Change Case button on the Home tab. Change Case rewrites the letters themselves as Sentence case, lowercase, UPPERCASE, Capitalize Each Word or tOGGLE cASE. Small caps is a display effect that sits on top of whatever you typed.

Small Caps in Word for the Web and the Mobile Apps

Microsoft’s small caps instructions cover only the Windows and Mac desktop apps. Its feature comparison for Word in a browser lists bold, italics, underline, strikethrough, subscript, superscript, font, size, color and highlighting as the font formatting you can apply there. Small caps is not on that list. Microsoft does not publish small caps steps for the Word mobile apps either.

You have two options.

• Open the document in the desktop app. In Word for the web, use the command that opens the file in the desktop app, apply small caps there, and save. This gives you real small caps. Reopen the document in your browser afterward and check that the text still looks right.
• Imitate the look. Retype the words in capital letters, select everything except the first letter of each word, and choose a font size a few points smaller. This is plain resized text, not the small caps effect, so you have to redo it by hand if the wording changes.

One note on the second option. Microsoft’s case article says Word for the web does not support the Change Case command and tells you to change the letters manually or use the desktop app. If your Home tab in the browser does show a Change case button, you can use its UPPERCASE option instead of retyping.

How to Confirm It Worked and How to Undo It

Click inside the formatted text and open the Font dialog box again. The Small Caps box is checked when the effect is applied to the text at the cursor.

To remove small caps, use any of these.

• Undo. Press Ctrl+Z on Windows or Command+Z on a Mac right after applying it.
• Clear the box. Select the text, open the Font dialog box, uncheck Small Caps, and select OK. Your original capitals and lowercase letters come back exactly as you typed them.
• Clear all formatting. On Windows, select the text and choose Clear All Formatting in the Font group on the Home tab. Be aware that this also removes bold, italics, color and every other format on that text, not just small caps.

Reuse Small Caps With a Style or Your Own Shortcut

If you use small caps for every heading or caption, a style saves you from repeating the steps. A style is a saved set of formatting you can apply with one click.

1. Format a piece of text with small caps, plus any font and size you want.
2. Right-click that text.
3. In the mini toolbar that appears, select Styles, then Create a Style.
4. In the Create New Style from Formatting box, type a name such as Small Caps Heading and select OK.

The new style appears in the Styles gallery on the Home tab. Microsoft covers the details in Customize or create new styles.

On Windows you can also give small caps a different key combination. Go to File > Options > Customize Ribbon and select Customize at the bottom of the pane. Pick a category in Categories and the small caps command in Commands. Click in Press new shortcut key, press your keys, check Current keys to make sure the combination is free, and select Assign. Reassigning a combination that is already in use removes its original job, so check before you assign. See Microsoft’s Customize keyboard shortcuts article for the full procedure.

Troubleshooting

• Nothing changed. The text was probably typed in capitals, for example with Caps Lock on. Select it, go to Home > Change Case > lowercase, retype the capitals you want to keep tall, and apply small caps again.
• Some letters are taller than others. That is how small caps works. Letters typed as capitals stay full size. Change them to lowercase if you want every letter the same height.
• Numbers and punctuation look the same. Small caps changes lowercase letters. Digits and symbols have no lowercase form, so do not expect them to change.
• The shortcut does nothing. Make sure text is selected and that you are in the desktop app, not a browser. Another program or a custom Word shortcut may also be using the same keys. The Font dialog box works either way.
• You cannot find Small Caps. It is not on the ribbon. Open the Font dialog box with Ctrl+D or Command+D and look under Effects. If the Home tab itself is hidden, show the ribbon first.
• The Font dialog is grayed out. The document is likely read-only or protected. Enable editing, or save a copy you are allowed to change.
• The small capitals look thin next to the full capitals. Try another font or make the text bold. The result varies from one font to the next.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the shortcut for small caps in Word?

Press Ctrl+Shift+K in Word for Windows or Command+Shift+K in Word for Mac after selecting the text. Microsoft lists both in its Word keyboard shortcut reference.

Does small caps change what I typed?

No. Small caps is formatting, like bold or italics. When you clear the Small Caps box, the text returns to the capitals and lowercase letters you originally typed.

Can I use small caps in Word for the web?

Not directly. Microsoft does not list small caps among the font formatting available in Word for the web. Open the document in the desktop app to apply it, or imitate the look with capital letters in a smaller font size.

Can I make small caps the default for new documents?

The Font dialog box has a Set As Default button on Windows and a Default button on Mac, and Microsoft says it makes your text default to the choices made in that dialog. Doing this for small caps would affect all ordinary text, which is rarely what you want. A style is the safer choice. If you only want a different everyday typeface, see how to set a default font in Word.

When should I use small caps?

Small caps suits short pieces of text such as headings, titles, names and acronyms, where you want emphasis without the heavy look of full capitals. Long paragraphs in small caps are harder to read, so keep it to a line or two.

Can I combine small caps with bold or italics?

Yes. Small caps is a separate check box from the font style settings, so you can add bold, italics or a color to the same text.

Next Steps

Once your headings are in small caps, you may want to position them. See how to center text in Word. More Word guides: how to insert a square root symbol in Word and how to search for a word in Word.