202 Chapter 6 Add Simple Graphic Elements
Formatting the First Letter of a Paragraph
Many books, magazines, and reports begin the first paragraph of a section or
chapter by using an enlarged, decorative capital letter. Called a dropped capital,
or simply a drop cap, this effect can be an easy way to give a document a finished,
professional look.
The Drop Cap gallery provides two basic drop-cap styles:
● Dropped Sits in the text column and displaces paragraph text
● In margin Hangs in the margin adjacent to the paragraph text
In either case, the drop cap is as tall as three lines of text and uses the same font as
the rest of the paragraph.
To insert a drop cap:- Click anywhere in a paragraph of text, and then on the Insert tab, in the Text
group, click the Drop Cap button. - Point to each thumbnail to display its live preview, and then click the one you want.
Word inserts the first letter of the paragraph in a box. If you selected Dropped,
Word rewraps the text to the right of the graphic.
For more options, click Drop Cap Options at the bottom of the Drop Cap gallery
to open the Drop Cap dialog box. You can choose a font that is different from the
paragraph and adjust the drop cap’s height and distance from the text.
If you want to make the first word of the paragraph stand out, you can click to the
right of the drop cap and type the rest of the word. If you do this, don’t forget to
delete the word from the beginning of the paragraph!