Any freeware to change the case (capitalization) of clipboard text on the fly?

[garbanzo]

I'm looking for a freeware app that works similarly to the shareware program ChngCase:

A program that reads existing text in Windows clipboard, converts the case of the text to one several different options (UPPERCASE, lowercase, Sentence case, Initial Capitals, tOGGLE cASE) then pastes the text back to Windows clipboard.

Any ideas? I have to change the case of a few hundred little bits of text, so I need to make the process as simple as possible.

Thanks!

[mouser]

lots of different programs can do this.

my Clipboard Help+Spell includes such functionality, but is way overkill if that's all you ever want to do.

[garbanzo]

Thanks mouser. I just tried it out and it works fine, just a few keystrokes and the text is perfect

Looking around at the other features I'm already convinced I'll use it for more than just this project. Thanks for the tip!

[mouser]

im going to try to add hotkeys to the formatting presets soon -- once i do that you'll be able to configure it so you can just hit a single hotkey to apply the transformation without having to deal with menus, etc.

[garbanzo]

That would be great, I'll have to keep an eye out for an update. Save a keystroke!

By the way, the titlecase formatting turns all letters after an apostrophe (') into uppercase...

This: it's i'm mouser's they're
Becomes this: It'S I'M Mouser'S They'Re

[mouser]

oops! you're right.. expect a fix this week.

[cranioscopical]

im going to try to add hotkeys to the formatting presets soon -- once i do that you'll be able to configure it so you can just hit a single hotkey to apply the transformation without having to deal with menus, etc.

-mouser (February 24, 2009, 06:12 AM)

[rjbull]

A program that reads existing text in Windows clipboard, converts the case of the text to one several different options (UPPERCASE, lowercase, Sentence case, Initial Capitals, tOGGLE cASE) then pastes the text back to Windows clipboard.

Any ideas? I have to change the case of a few hundred little bits of text, so I need to make the process as simple as possible.

-garbanzo (February 24, 2009, 05:41 AM)

Clippy.  You can set it up with one particular action as the default, and assign a hotkey to that action.  Then in your app, mark text, press Ctrl-C, press Clippy hotkey, press Ctrl-V, and your old text is instantly replaced by your new text.  It's the most streamlined app of this type I've seen.  I think Boxer Software's TextMonkey Lite can do it too (I have the Pro version, which certainly can), but you have to Alt-Tab back and forth.  And, as observed above, mouser's CHS can do it, but again needs several keystrokes in its present form.

[garbanzo]

Thanks for the reply, rjbull!

Clippy is fantastic. A slim, no-install app with lots of features - perfect! Too bad it doesn't do sentence case

Text Monkey looks great, it seems to have a really nice set of features, but it would wipe out my software budget for the year (setting some aside for Windows 7, just in case), so I have to pass on it.

[rjbull]

Text Monkey looks great [...] but it would wipe out my software budget for the year

-garbanzo (February 24, 2009, 01:13 PM)

I can't remember the full feature set of the Lite version, but suggest you check it out, as it's free.  Also, the Pro version has been featured as a discount offer on Bits du Jour.  They sometimes repeat offers, so it would bear watching.

[Edit]
You might try freeware TextMorph.  Warning - I have not tried this one myself!

Capitalize 1st Letter of Sentences
This tool will capitalize the 1st letter of each sentence it finds.  Sentences are found by periods, exclamation points, and question marks.

You might want to look at its command-line options and make a short cut to a batch file, activated by a hotkey, to make operation as smooth as possible.
[/Edit]

[garbanzo]

Thanks again for the ideas, rjbull.

I tried the free version of Text Monkey, but it has very few options, and can't do what I need.

I also tried TextMorph. What a mess! The installer wouldn't work, so I unpacked it, and threw an .exe extension on the biggest file in there. The app worked fine, but with no hotkey support, it's really not hlepful.

I have actually been using notepad2 today and it's working pretty well. It's speedy and it does a good job. It's a bit of extra work alt-tabbing around, but once I get a rhythm down, it goes pretty quick

[rjbull]

I also tried TextMorph. What a mess! The installer wouldn't work, so I unpacked it, and threw an .exe extension on the biggest file in there. The app worked fine, but with no hotkey support, it's really not hlepful.

-garbanzo (February 26, 2009, 08:01 AM)

I think I had to use the alternative TextMorph23big.exe download.  Don't forget it has command line options, so you could probably write a batch file and invoke the .BAT with a system hotkey (<erm> blue sky idea).

I have actually been using notepad2 today and it's working pretty well. It's speedy and it does a good job. It's a bit of extra work alt-tabbing around, but once I get a rhythm down, it goes pretty quick

I'd have suggested TED Notepad as a swiss army knife text editor, but you'd still have the Alt-Tabbing.  Had you considered either (a) automating that with, say, AutoHotkey (AHK), or (b) even making a custom AHK script to do the entire task, i.e. a custom sentence-case utility?  AHK is very popular (to say the least) on DonationCoder and you'd have plenty of help.

[wperkins48]

OK, here comes a suggestion for a program that will do exactly what you want. It may seem like like an odd recommendation, but the program is HotKeyz (http://www.skynergy.com/hotkeyz.html) - it has all of ChngCase capabilities built in. And you don't have to use the Clipboard; just highlight the text and change it.

Want to have WIN-U convert text to UPPERCASE, have WIN-L convert text to lowercase and have WIN-S convert text to Sentence Case - consider it done. Are those key combinations taken? Chnge the combination to whichever you wish. (I don't use the Title Case or tOGGLE cASE abilities, but I could just by assigning a key combination...)

HotKeyz also has a lot more tricks up its sleeve than just working with text. I make use of this programs for many more hotkey-related actions than this, but it does this very well (even after apostrophes…;>)

[Doppelganger]

I tried a number of clipboard managers looking for the best combination of:

-Copy formatted text, paste as plain text (as two steps: 1.copy & 2.paste, no in-between step)
-Paste from clipboard history (as either formatted text or plain text)
-Small memory footprint, minimal performance drag

I liked ArsClip on the first two fronts, but not on the 3rd.  I eventually turned to the clipboard management built into my favorite multi-purpose app (launcher, sys info, window management, hotkey manager, sticky notes, etc): Windows PowerPro.

I then decided that it would be nice to add the ability to change text case easily.  PowerPro has functions for converting text to upper, lower, title, sentence case and more.

Two other tools that can handle this sort of thing are AutoIt and AutoHotKey. 

[KamyKaze]

People please...! A good candidate for best freeware for on-the-fly capitalization lives right here on Donationcoder.com !
Skrommel's CAPshift

I also use a clipboard extender with capitalization capabilities but I prefer CAPshift's highligth&change approach.