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I assume the title is self explanatory. Just want to change the look of the Visual Studio 2012 not to show menu title in all capital letters.

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    If you have a large widescreen monitor with a very high resolution to maximize the amount of code you can see, the all caps menu is actually quite nice. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
    – Code Maverick
    Commented Aug 30, 2013 at 13:22
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    I've posted the workaround (for regedit and PowerShell) to connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/775717/…
    – Grault
    Commented Dec 7, 2013 at 7:55
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    Looks like they are reverting to title case in Visual Studio 14 and making this an environment option in Visual Studio 2013 Update 3. visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio/…
    – patridge
    Commented Jul 31, 2014 at 19:04
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    for newer versions (like Visual Studio 2013 Update 4 or probably VS 2015) there is an option for this. go to Tools > Options > Environment and select Turn off upper case in the menu bar option
    – S.Serpooshan
    Commented Aug 29, 2016 at 6:44

12 Answers 12

Reset to default
619

Richard Banks posted about a registry key for just such a tweak.

Visual Studio 2012 (Full)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\General
DWORD: SuppressUppercaseConversion
Value: 1

In PowerShell, you can run this to set that registry key and the uppercase goes away.

Set-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\General -Name SuppressUppercaseConversion -Type DWord -Value 1

Visual Studio Express 2012

The above registry key is not the one that will affect Visual Studio Express 2012 RC. A comment by FormatC showed up on Banks post about the key for Express. You can find that key mentioned in Mike Gleason's answer or run the following PowerShell command to set it.

Set-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\VSWinExpress\11.0\General -Name SuppressUppercaseConversion -Type DWord -Value 1

Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web

Set-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\VWDExpress\11.0\General -Name SuppressUppercaseConversion -Type DWord -Value 1

Visual Studio 2013

Replace 11.0 with 12.0 in the registry keys above.

Visual Studio 2015 Developer Preview

Replace 11.0 with 14.0 in the registry keys above.

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    And it's probably obvious, but for VS Express 2012 for Web, use VWDExpress instead of VSWinExpress.
    – G. Lombard
    Commented Jul 22, 2012 at 12:02
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    For VS Express 2012 for Windows Desktop, use WDExpress instead of VSWinExpress
    – jumpinjackie
    Commented Sep 14, 2012 at 4:34
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    For cmd: reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\General /v SuppressUppercaseConversion /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
    – Kevin Smyth
    Commented Apr 23, 2013 at 14:40
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    Why... just why did we need SHOUTING capital letters in all new MS products?
    – Paul C
    Commented Oct 30, 2013 at 11:23
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    Note that Visual Studio 2015 release candidate has Title case by default.
    – Blake Mumford
    Commented Apr 30, 2015 at 8:34
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I have written an extension which will do this for you.

You can download it from the Visual Studio Gallery:

It can also hide main menu altogether and have it appear only on mouse over or alt key press (like in IE)

enter image description here enter image description here enter image description here

enter image description here

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  • This Hide Main Menu extension is extremely light-weight, if you don't want all the functionality that VSCommands gives you.
    – Jarrod Dixon
    Commented Aug 16, 2012 at 4:27
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    @Jarrod Dixon Hide Main Menu doesn't change letter case so it is not really useful and even with menu hidden it can only show it with keyboard shortcut and does not support mouse...
    – user503386
    Commented Aug 17, 2012 at 13:24
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    while VSCommands has some great features, which I use often, the way it implements the 'Sentence Case' is somewhat buggy. Eg the ".NET Reflector" menu gets rewritten as ".net reflector", all lowercase. So imo the registry key is still the way to go even if you use VSCommands.
    – stijn
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 10:08
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    @stijn great find about the sentence case issue, thanks for that. It should be fixed in latest build dl.dropbox.com/u/65031070/… It will also be availabe from Visual Studio Gallery soon.
    – Jarek Kardas
    Commented Sep 11, 2012 at 8:01
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    When you recommend an off-site resource, you need to disclose your relationship to it. Even if the cost is $0.
    – Ben Voigt
    Commented Apr 5, 2014 at 15:12
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After years Microsoft has changed their mind on this feature. As of Visual Studio 2013 Update 3 RC, an option has been added to change between mixed case and upper case: Tools -> Options -> Environment -> General -> Turn off upper case in the menu bar
Obviously this is not for VS 2012 but going forward this option will be there.

Here is the notification from Brian Harry of Microsoft:

Mixed Case Menus – I know I’m going to get some feedback on this one :) This is a long standing request by a vocal portion of the VS user base since VS 2012 to change the “ALL CAPS” menus. In VS 2013 Update 3, we have added a Tools –> Options setting to control whether you see ALL CAPS or Mixed Case. The default is still ALL CAPS but, if you change it, it will persist across upgrades and will roam across your IDE instances using the VS Online roaming settings feature (if you log into VS so it knows who you are).

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    In 2014 CTP2 it is set by default to Mixed Caps :D It seems, that the feedback done what it should. Now waiting to remove this option at all from VS. It seems, that Microsoft again will have to learn the "don't fix it if it ain't broken" rule...
    – Spook
    Commented Jul 9, 2014 at 9:44
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    @Spook i prefer the all caps menus myself. What harm is there in leaving the option that you feel it needs to be removed?
    – Andy
    Commented Aug 1, 2015 at 19:45
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    @Andy I was originally mildly irritated at the all-caps menus, got used to it years ago, just happened across this (wasn't really looking for it), implemented it and I'm almost stunned at how friggin' strongly I prefer the mixed-case menus. So I'm firmly in the camp of leave it alone if it isn't broken (by which, like Spook, I mean they shouldn't have made the menus all-caps in the first place, nobody was asking for that).
    – Craig Tullis
    Commented Oct 3, 2015 at 22:06
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    @Craig That's fine, but they did change it, got blowback and made it configurable, so why not leave it where it is now and give users a choice?
    – Andy
    Commented Oct 4, 2015 at 15:27
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    @Andy I'm okay with you disagreeing. :-) They also forced the Windows 8 full-screen "metro" UI down everybody's throats and that has been pretty much universally rejected. Windows 8.x was not a success and nobody used "modern UI" apps. Now, modern UI apps on Windows 10 are in resizable windows and it's possible to side-load them. Regardless, I can't think of too many reasons to develop Windows Store apps for business. When 98% of the market hates something you did, it's a clear sign you shouldn't have done it and shouldn't do it again. Peace. ;-)
    – Craig Tullis
    Commented Oct 5, 2015 at 5:31
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And for

Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WDExpress\11.0\General
DWORD: SuppressUppercaseConversion
Value: 1

I guess the reason MS omitted any mention of Visual Studio from the keyname is that such a mention might help someone identify the key :)

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12

The VS Commands extension can do this and is one of the most popular on the gallery. Worth checking out!

enter image description here

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/a83505c6-77b3-44a6-b53b-73d77cba84c8?SRC=VSIDE

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8

Now that Visual Studio 2015 has changed the default back to Title Case, for those crazies like me who had gotten used to ALL CAPS, you can change it back by disabling the following option:

  • Tools -> Options -> Environment -> General -> Apply title case styling to menu bar
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  • Same for vs 2017
    – aman girma
    Commented Jun 17, 2019 at 12:13
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Visual Studio 2015 Community Edition does not respond to the SuppressUppercaseConversion registry value.

The answer is to enable the option boflynn identified:

• Tools -> Options -> Environment -> General -> Apply title case styling to menu bar

In my case that setting was not on by default, perhaps since I ported my VS 2013 settings.

-Noel

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For express use:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VSWinExpress\11.0\GeneralSuppressUppercaseConversion

Credit to FormatC

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I have been using the following reg files to enable/disable the lowercasing in Visual Studio 2012 and Visual Studio 2013:

http://erwinmayer.com/dl/VS2012_ALLCAPS_Toggle.zip http://erwinmayer.com/dl/VS2013_ALLCAPS_Toggle.zip

Just double click on VS201x_ALLCAPS_Disable.reg inside the archive to disable all caps menu titles, and VS201x_ALLCAPS_Enable.reg to re-enable them.

You can easily edit the reg files before with a text editor to see what they contain.

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    The only solution worked for my premium version. Lost half an hour for solving this...
    – Alex Blokha
    Commented Nov 5, 2012 at 13:29
  • As with Alex, this is the only solution that worked me - I have Premium as well.
    – fre0n
    Commented Dec 23, 2012 at 18:30
  • Make sure there's no space following SuppressUppercaseConversion if you're not using the .reg file!
    – user146043
    Commented Apr 16, 2013 at 20:41
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For Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows Phone, use

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VPDExpress\11.0\General\SuppressUppercaseConversion
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I think "VSCommands for Visual Studio 2012" is the best option for this.

Grab this plugin from here: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/a83505c6-77b3-44a6-b53b-73d77cba84c8

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Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2019

Check the option Apply title case styling to menu bar

which can be found in Tools > Options > Environment > General

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