Using Drop Caps In Word Documents


Word enables you to add drop caps to your documents. You control how the drop cap falls on the line and how it is formatted. Drop caps look cool, but as with any formatting feature, don’t overuse drop caps. Use them sparingly when the document deserves them.

Determine a Drop Cap Character
Select the letter in your document that you wish to convert to a drop cap letter. Usually, this will be the first character in your document’s text.

Request a Drop Cap
Click to display your Insert ribbon. Click the Drop Cap button to display the drop cap options. The pictures on the drop-down button show you two of the available drop cap formats. You can insert a dropped letter that aligns with your left margin or offset the drop cap so that all text in the rest of the paragraph aligns to the right of the drop cap letter.

Insert the Drop Cap
Click to select the drop cap you prefer. The selected letter (or word if you selected an entire word for the drop cap) expands and fills the drop cap space.

Adjust the Drop Cap Size
Sizing handles appear around your drop cap letter. You can drag to adjust the size of the letter so that it suits your needs. For example, if the drop cap spans three lines and you want it to span only two, you can drag the lower right corner of the drop cap up and to the left to shrink its size to span only two lines of the text.

Modify the Drop Cap Settings
If you click Advanced from within the Drop Cap drop-down list available to you when you click the Insert ribbon’s Drop Cap button, Word displays the Drop Cap dialog box, with which you have more precise control over the placement of your drop cap. You can specify the number of lines the drop cap is to span as well as the distance from the surrounding text and the font used.