PDF (adobe.com)

Use drop caps



You can add drop caps to one or more paragraphs at a time. The drop cap’s baseline sits one or more lines below the baseline of the first line of a paragraph.

You can also create a character style that can be applied to the drop‑cap characters. For example, you can create a tall cap (also called a raised cap) by specifying a 1‑line, 1‑character drop cap and applying a character style that increases the size of the first letter.

One-character, three-line drop cap (left), and five-character, two-line drop cap (right)

Create a drop cap

  1. With the Type tool  selected, click in the paragraph where you want the drop cap to appear.
  2. In the Paragraph panel or Control panel, type a number for Drop Cap Number Of Lines  to indicate the number of lines you want the drop cap to occupy.
  3. For Drop Cap One Or More Characters , type the number of drop cap characters you want.
  4. To apply a character style to the drop cap character, choose Drop Caps And Nested Styles from the Paragraph panel menu or the Control panel menu, and then choose the character style you created.
    You can also use the Drop Caps And Nested Styles dialog box to align the drop cap to the text edge, reducing the amount of space on the left side of the drop cap, and adjust for drop cap letters with descenders, such as “g” and “y.” If you want to resize, skew, or change the typeface of the drop cap letter for added effect, select the letter or letters and make the formatting changes.

Remove a drop cap

  1. With the Type tool  selected, click in the paragraph where the drop cap appears.
  2. In the Paragraph panel or Control panel, type 0 for Drop Cap Number Of Lines or Drop Cap Number Of Characters.