Creating a Drop Cap

Summary: Drop caps can be a nice finishing touch for some types of documents. Word allows you to create three types of drop caps, and to adjust how those drop caps appear. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, Word 2003, and Word 2007.)

Drop caps are a decorative touch, done through typographical means, that you can apply to your document. Drop caps are traditionally done with the first letter of a chapter or some other major section of a document. To create drop caps, do the following if you are using a version of Word prior to Word 2007:

Type your paragraph as you normally would.
Select the first letter of the paragraph.
Choose Drop Cap from the Format menu. Word displays the Drop Cap dialog box. (Click here to see a related figure.)
Choose the position for your drop cap, according to your preference.
Change any other options to format your drop cap.
Click on OK.

Here's how you create a drop cap if you are using Word 2007:

Type your paragraph as you normally would.
Select the first letter of the paragraph.
Choose the Insert tab of the ribbon.
In the Text group, click Drop Cap. Word displays some common options for drop caps.
Choose Drop Cap Options. Word displays the Drop Cap dialog box.
Choose the position for your drop cap, according to your preference.
Change any other options to format your drop cap.
Click on OK.

Tip #1818 applies to Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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Creating a Drop Cap