Microsoft Word includes an extensive AutoCorrect dictionary designed to instantly fix common typographical errors as you type. One of the specific rules programmed into this dictionary forces the automatic capitalization of the days of the week. If you type the word “monday” and press the spacebar, Word will instantly replace the lowercase “m” with a capital “M”.
While this is grammatically correct in standard English prose, it can be extremely irritating if you are using Word for coding documentation, drafting variable names (e.g., next_monday), or writing in specific stylized formats (like poetry) where you deliberately want everything in lowercase.
You can modify the AutoCorrect ruleset to prevent Word from forcing capital letters onto weekdays.
How to Stop Word from Capitalizing Days of the Week
You must turn off the specific weekday rule in the AutoCorrect options.
- Open your document in Microsoft Word.
- Click on File in the top-left corner of the ribbon.
- Click on Options at the bottom of the left sidebar.
- In the Word Options window, select Proofing from the left-hand navigation pane.
- Click the AutoCorrect Options… button in the main pane.
- A new dialog box will open. Ensure you are on the AutoCorrect tab.
- Look down the list of checkboxes for the rule labeled Capitalize names of days.
- Uncheck this box.
- Click OK twice to close both windows and save your changes.
Microsoft Word will now respect your exact keystrokes when typing days of the week. If you type “tuesday”, it will remain lowercase on your page, allowing you total control over the capitalization of your text.