Add drop caps to your documents



Tip
All current word processors can automatically insert an enlarged capital letter (or letters) at the beginning of a paragraph. Drop caps, as they are called, can give your documents that professional typeset look. Here's how to create drop caps in Word, WordPerfect, and Word Pro.
Word 95 and 97. To create a drop cap for the first letter of the first word in a paragraph, position the cursor anywhere in the paragraph and select Format--Drop Cap. To enlarge an entire word (or words), select the text before you select Format--Drop Cap. If you're not already in Page Layout view, Word 95 will ask you if you want to switch to that view. Click Yes, and the Drop Cap dialogue box appears.
In the Drop Cap dialogue box, select a Position for the dropped cap. Your best bet is the Dropped option. If you choose In Margin, make sure your margins are set wide enough to allow the drop cap to print.



Add a drop cap in Word 95 and 97 by selecting Format--Drop Cap from the menu


In this dialogue box you can adjust the drop cap's font, size (number of lines to drop), and distance from text, but it's usually best to use the current or default settings.
WordPerfect 7.0 and 8.0. Position the cursor at the start of the paragraph, then press <Ctrl>-<Shift>-C. WordPerfect automatically inserts a default drop cap, then displays the Drop Cap toolbar (in Version 7.0, top [see below]) or the Drop Cap property bar (in Version 8.0) so that you can change the drop cap's style, size, position, font, border, and colour, as well as the number of characters included in the drop cap. In WordPerfect 8.0, if you don't see the property bar, select View--Toolbars and check the Property Bar box.






WordPerfect 7.0 and 8.0 provide the greatest number of options for styling drop caps


Word Pro 97. Position your cursor at the beginning of the paragraph (or select the text that you want to), then select Create--Drop Cap. From the Drop Cap dialogue box you can choose the position and size of the enlarged text. Note that Word Pro 97 creates a frame and then inserts either the paragraph's first character or your selected text into the frame, automatically sizing it according to your specifications. Note that if you delete this frame, the text it contains will also be lost.
- George Campbell

Category: Word processing
Issue: Apr 1998

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