bcquality/microsoft/knowledge/ui/caption-capitalization-noun-phrase-vs-sentence-phrase.md

bc-version	domain	keywords	technologies	countries	application-area
all	ui	caption capitalization sentence-case title-case action noun-phrase false-positive	al	w1	all

Sentence-phrase captions use sentence case, not title case

Description

Business Central caption capitalization depends on whether the caption reads as a noun phrase or a sentence/verb phrase. Following the Microsoft writing-style guideline, a caption that reads as an imperative sentence — most action captions, such as 'Show source document', 'Post and print', or 'Copy from last inspection' — uses sentence case: only the first word and any proper nouns are capitalized. Title case ('Show Source Document') is the older convention and is not required for these captions.

Noun-phrase captions (object names, field labels such as 'Source Document No.') follow their own capitalization; that is a separate case and is not what this article covers. Reviewers sometimes see a lower-cased word in an action caption ('Show source document') and flag it as inconsistent title case, but a sentence-phrase action caption is correct as written.

Best Practice

For an action Caption that reads as a sentence or verb phrase, capitalize only the first word and proper nouns (sentence case). Do not require every significant word to be capitalized. Before flagging a caption as "should be title case", confirm it is a noun phrase; leave imperative/sentence-phrase action captions in sentence case.

See sample: caption-capitalization-noun-phrase-vs-sentence-phrase.good.al.

Anti Pattern

Reporting a sentence-case action caption such as 'Show source document' as a style defect and recommending title case ('Show Source Document'), or calling it inconsistent with BC conventions. Sentence case is the current guideline for sentence-phrase captions.