Use the Excel LOWER function to convert letters in a text string to lower case.
It is a text function in the list of Excel functions and along with the PROPER and UPPER function in Excel, is used to convert text.
The LOWER function requires only one piece of information – the text string you want to convert.
=LOWER(text)
This text string could be a single value, text returned by another function, or an array of text strings.
Let’s see some LOWER examples.
Download the sample file to practise.
How to Use the LOWER Function
The following formula uses the LOWER function in Excel to convert the names of fruit to lower case.
=LOWER(A2)A simple reference to the text string in cell A2 was given to the LOWER function.
The fruit names in column A are in a myriad of cases to demonstrate the LOWER worksheet function correcting their case. And if the text is in lowercase letters already, like “grapes” in the second row of the range, it is unaffected.
With Other Excel Worksheet Functions
The LOWER Excel function can be used to convert text strings returned by other Excel functions.
In this example, the LOWER function takes the text string returned by an XLOOKUP function and converts to lower case text.
=PROPER(XLOOKUP(A2,tblFruit[ID],tblFruit[Name]))
This LOWER formula uses text data that is formatted as a table named tblFruit. Therefore structured references such as tblFruit[ID] have been used along with the cell reference to A2.
LOWER Function with an Array
For a final example, we will use LOWER with the UNIQUE function in Excel to demonstrate LOWER returning a dynamic array of values.
The UNIQUE function returns a distinct or unique list of values and requires one argument – the range or array of values to work with.
This formula converts all the distinct list of text values returned by UNIQUE to lower case using the LOWER function.
=LOWER(UNIQUE(tblColours[Name]))
In the above formula, you can see the blue outline of the spill array. This is one formula, a dynamic array formula, returning multiple results.
Wrap Up
The LOWER function in Excel is used to change the case of text to lower case. It is not as commonly used as the UPPER function or PROPER function in Excel, but when you need lowercase text, its the Excel function you require.
Learn more than 150 of the best functions in Microsoft Excel with Advanced Excel Formulas. Over 500 formula examples are explained with downloadable practise files.
