PROPER
Supported, behaves as documentedCategory: Text · Last tested 2026-09-01
Real compatibility results for the PROPER function: executed in Excel for the web, Google Sheets and LibreOffice Calc, with desktop Excel behavior from Microsoft’s official documentation (we do not run desktop Excel — Excel for the web is a different application and is executed separately). Syntax and links to that documentation are below.
Support matrix
| Engine | Documented | Live-tested | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excel (desktop) | Yes | No — documented only | n/a |
| Excel for the web | — | Yes (recalc, 2026-09-01) | Supported, behaves as documented |
| Google Sheets | Yes | Yes (Drive import, 2026-08-29) | Supported, behaves as documented |
| LibreOffice Calc | Yes | Yes (25.8.7.3, 2026-07-29) | Supported, behaves as documented |
LibreOffice version history
We executed the same test cases under each LibreOffice release to show exactly when PROPER’s support changed — not documentation claims, real results.
| LibreOffice version | Verdict | Tested |
|---|---|---|
| 24.2.0.3 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-08-29 |
| 24.8.7.2 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-08-29 |
| 25.2.0.3 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-08-29 |
| 25.8.7.3 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-07-29 |
Executed test cases
Excel for the web (executed 2026-09-01 via OneDrive recalculation)
These values come from Excel for the web, not from desktop Excel. They are two different implementations of the calculation engine, and this run measured only the web one: the corpus was uploaded to OneDrive as .xlsx, recalculated by Excel for the web on open, and downloaded again for readback. Excel for the web is a rolling service with no pinnable version, so the run is identified by its date. Where a value here disagrees with the Expected column — which is Microsoft’s documentation of the desktop product — we cannot tell you whether the web engine diverges from the desktop one or the documentation is wrong about both, because we do not run desktop Excel.
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =PROPER("this is a title") | Basic multi-word capitalization: the first letter of each word is capitalized, the rest lowercased | This Is A Title | This Is A Title | Matched |
| =PROPER("76BudGet") | Microsoft's own documented example: PROPER treats any non-letter (including a run of digits) as a word boundary, so the letter immediately following the digits is also capitalized and treated as a new word-start | 76Budget | 76BudgetProvenanceSource: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/proper-function-52a5a283-e8b2-49be-8506-b2887b889f94 - documented example '76BudGet' -> '76Budget' |
Matched |
| =PROPER("o'brien") | PROPER treats an apostrophe as a word boundary too, capitalizing the letter that follows it -- so a name like o'brien becomes O'Brien. Widely reproduced/documented real PROPER behavior (the same non-letter-is-a-boundary rule Microsoft documents for the digit case above), though this exact example isn't on Microsoft's own reference page | O'Brien | O'Brien | Matched |
Google Sheets (executed 2026-08-29 via Drive import)
Google Sheets is a rolling service with no pinnable version, so this run is identified by its date. The corpus was imported to Drive as .xlsx, recalculated by Sheets, and exported back for readback.
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =PROPER("this is a title") | Basic multi-word capitalization: the first letter of each word is capitalized, the rest lowercased | This Is A Title | This Is A Title | Matched |
| =PROPER("76BudGet") | Microsoft's own documented example: PROPER treats any non-letter (including a run of digits) as a word boundary, so the letter immediately following the digits is also capitalized and treated as a new word-start | 76Budget | 76BudgetProvenanceSource: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/proper-function-52a5a283-e8b2-49be-8506-b2887b889f94 - documented example '76BudGet' -> '76Budget' |
Matched |
| =PROPER("o'brien") | PROPER treats an apostrophe as a word boundary too, capitalizing the letter that follows it -- so a name like o'brien becomes O'Brien. Widely reproduced/documented real PROPER behavior (the same non-letter-is-a-boundary rule Microsoft documents for the digit case above), though this exact example isn't on Microsoft's own reference page | O'Brien | O'Brien | Matched |
LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-07-29)
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =PROPER("this is a title") | Basic multi-word capitalization: the first letter of each word is capitalized, the rest lowercased | This Is A Title | This Is A Title | Matched |
| =PROPER("76BudGet") | Microsoft's own documented example: PROPER treats any non-letter (including a run of digits) as a word boundary, so the letter immediately following the digits is also capitalized and treated as a new word-start | 76Budget | 76BudgetProvenanceSource: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/proper-function-52a5a283-e8b2-49be-8506-b2887b889f94 - documented example '76BudGet' -> '76Budget' |
Matched |
| =PROPER("o'brien") | PROPER treats an apostrophe as a word boundary too, capitalizing the letter that follows it -- so a name like o'brien becomes O'Brien. Widely reproduced/documented real PROPER behavior (the same non-letter-is-a-boundary rule Microsoft documents for the digit case above), though this exact example isn't on Microsoft's own reference page | O'Brien | O'Brien | Matched |
Docs & syntax
- Excel (desktop): official documentation
- Google Sheets: official documentation
- LibreOffice Calc: official documentation
Related how-to recipes
- How to change text to uppercase, lowercase, or Title Case
- How to capitalize the first letter of each word (proper case)