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LOWER

The LOWER formula converts all letters in a specified text string to lowercase. It takes one required parameter, which is the text string to be converted. This formula is commonly used to standardize text data for easier analysis and comparison.

Usage

Use the LOWER formula with the syntax shown below, it has 1 required parameter:

=LOWER(text)
Parameters:
  1. text (required):
    The text string to be converted to lowercase.

Examples

Here are a few example use cases that explain how to use the LOWER formula in Google Sheets.

Standardizing text data

By converting all text in a column to lowercase using the LOWER formula, you can standardize the data for easier analysis and comparison.

Comparing text data

The LOWER formula can also be used to compare text data in a case-insensitive manner. By converting two text strings to lowercase using LOWER, you can use an IF statement to check if they are equal, regardless of case.

Cleaning up data

Sometimes text data may contain uppercase letters that are not necessary. The LOWER formula can be used to convert all text to lowercase and make the data easier to read.

Common Mistakes

LOWER not working? Here are some common mistakes people make when using the LOWER Google Sheets Formula:

Forgetting the required parameter

The LOWER formula requires one parameter: the text string that you want to convert to lowercase. If you forget to include this parameter, or if you reference an empty cell or range, the formula will return an error.

Nesting the formula incorrectly

If you are using the LOWER formula as part of a larger formula, it is important to make sure that it is nested correctly. For example, if you are using =IF(LOWER(A1)="yes", "True", "False"), the LOWER formula needs to be inside the IF statement as shown, rather than outside of it.

Related Formulas

The following functions are similar to LOWER or are often used with it in a formula:

  • UPPER

    The UPPER formula in Google Sheets converts all the letters in a given text string to uppercase. It takes one required argument, the text to convert. This formula is commonly used to standardize text data or to make it easier to compare text values.

  • PROPER

    The PROPER formula capitalizes the first letter of each word in a given text string. This formula is commonly used to format names and titles.

  • CONCATENATE

    The CONCATENATE function in Google Sheets is used to combine text strings from different cells or inputted directly in the formula. It takes one or more text strings as input and returns a single concatenated string. This function is commonly used to combine first and last names, or to merge data from multiple cells into a single cell.

Learn More

You can learn more about the LOWER Google Sheets function on Google Support.