Title case converter (AP and Chicago)
Paste a headline or title and get it in Title Case by AP or Chicago rules. Switch styles to see exactly which small words change.
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AP style: articles and conjunctions or prepositions of three letters or fewer (a, the, and, or, for, if, in, of, on, to…) stay lowercase. Words of four letters or more, like With, From and Into, get a capital. Words with capitals inside, like iPhone or NASA, are kept.
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How to put a title in title case
- Paste the title. One title or a list with one per line. Each line is treated as its own title.
- Choose AP or Chicago. Title Case is already selected. The note under the style buttons lists the words that stay lowercase.
- Copy the result. Check names, brands and phrasal verbs, then copy it or download it as a .txt file.
AP vs Chicago: where they differ
Both styles capitalise the first and last word, every noun, verb, adjective and adverb, and the word after a colon. They disagree about short prepositions and a few conjunctions. These rows are real output from this converter:
| Typed | AP | Chicago |
|---|---|---|
| a walk with the dog from home | A Walk With the Dog From Home | A Walk with the Dog from Home |
| jumping into the sea | Jumping Into the Sea | Jumping into the Sea |
| small yet mighty | Small yet Mighty | Small Yet Mighty |
| what if we tried | What if We Tried | What If We Tried |
| life between the wars | Life Between the Wars | Life Between the Wars |
The words each style keeps lowercase
AP: the articles a, an and the, and conjunctions and prepositions of three letters or fewer: and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet, if, as, at, by, in, of, off, on, per, to, up and via. Everything of four letters or more gets a capital.
Chicago (18th edition): the articles; the conjunctions and, but, for, or and nor; the words to and as in any role; and prepositions of four letters or fewer, such as at, by, from, in, into, of, on, onto, over, upon and with. So, yet and if get capitals. In hyphenated compounds, small words after the hyphen stay lowercase, as in “Out-of-Print”.
Any of these words is capitalised when it starts or ends the title or follows a colon: “From Here: With Love” in both styles.
What to check by hand
Phrasal verbs. “Set Up”, “Log In” and “Turn On” use the small word as an adverb, so both styles capitalise it. The converter only does this when the word ends the title.
Infinitive “to”. Chicago lowercases to in every role. Guides to AP disagree about the to in “How to Apply”; this converter keeps it lowercase, so change it if your editor prefers a capital.
For other cases, such as sentence case or UPPER CASE, use the full case converter.
Frequently asked questions
Which style should I use, AP or Chicago?
Use the one your publication or client follows. AP style is the usual choice in news, PR and marketing writing in the US. Chicago is common in book publishing and much academic writing. If nobody has told you, pick one and use it for every heading so they match.
Why is “With” capitalised in AP but not in Chicago?
AP capitalises prepositions and conjunctions of four letters or more, so With, From, Into and Over get capitals. Chicago lowercases prepositions of four letters or fewer, so with, from, into and over stay lowercase. Both capitalise longer ones like About, After and Between.
Did Chicago change its title case rules?
Yes. The 18th edition (2024) capitalises prepositions of five letters or more, such as Between, Through and Without. Earlier editions lowercased every preposition, whatever its length. This converter follows the 18th edition.
My title came out wrong after a phrasal verb. Why?
Words like up, in and on are prepositions in one title and adverbs in another (“Log In to Your Account”). Both styles capitalise them when they work as adverbs, but a converter can't tell the difference reliably, so it treats them as prepositions unless they're the last word. Check phrasal verbs by hand.
Does it fix titles typed in capital letters?
It starts from lowercase when the whole title is in capitals, because there is no way to know which capitals were intended. Names in the middle of the title, like Paris or NASA, then need their capitals put back. In mixed-case text, words with inner capitals like iPhone are kept as typed.