How to Do a Drop Cap in Google Docs — Step-by-step Guide

Ooh! Why does the first letter of that paragraph appear larger than the rest of the text?

Is that a glitch or something?

Well, worry not, as that large letter you’re seeing that spans at least 2-3 sentences of the text is what we call a drop cap.

And, from the name itself, the drop cap is a capital letter. Hence, it’s a great way of emphasizing a particular part of the text — or simply to add style to it.

So, if you want to learn how to create incredible drop caps in Google Docs, better read on.

 

How to Do a Drop Cap in Google Docs

Currently, there’s no one-button feature to do a drop cap in Google Docs. But, you can click on Insert, select Drawing, and choose New. On the Drawing pop-up, select Actions and choose Word Art. Type in the letter and format it accordingly before you click Save and close.

 

Drop Cap in Google Docs — How Best to Do it

If you’re a keen observer, you’ve already read that there’s no one-click button feature that allows Google Docs users to create drop caps.

But, while such a feature isn’t available yet, there’s a workaround that you can use to achieve a similar feat.

Step 1: On the Google Docs file you opened, place the cursor before the first word of the paragraph you want to add a drop cap into before heading to the menu bar and selecting Insert.

You’ll then see a dropdown menu. Click on the Drawing option.

Step 2: On the Drawing option you selected, click on it again to activate another dropdown menu. Choose the New button.

This step will then activate the Drawing pop-out screen.

Step 3: In the Drawing pop-out that appears, click “Actions.” Then, in the dropdown menu that appears, choose Word art.

Step 4: After selecting the Word Art option, a blank box appears. Encode the letter in the box before pressing the Enter button on your keyboard.

After typing the letter, you can continue to format it — change its font style, border color, and size accordingly.

Step 5: If everything’s to your liking, just select the Save and close button to insert the letter to your document.

Step 6: After inserting the newly-created drop cap on the file, click on it again. You’ll then see a dropdown menu showing you the text wrapping options available.

Choose the second option, the Wrap Text button. This will make the rest of the text surround the drop cap.

You can also adjust the margin or the spacing between the drop cap with the rest of the text. Just click the margin button and select what margin value you want to use.

Step 7: To adjust the size of the drop cap, click and drag on one of the blue boxes surrounding the letter outward (to make it bigger) or inward (to make it smaller).

You can even move the drop cap by clicking and dragging it across the document until you achieve the look you’re aiming for.

After which, proceed with editing the rest of the text on your file before saving it accordingly.

So, do you still think creating drop caps in Google Docs is a challenging task? 

If you still do, then just go back to reading this text so you’ll understand how to go about with the process.

 

Frequently Asked Questions about How to Do a Drop Cap in Google Docs

 

What is the purpose of a drop cap in a text document?

Drop caps are used mainly for 2 purposes. First, drop caps emphasize a certain part of the text, hence, they’re primarily placed at the beginning of a paragraph. Another reason for adding drop caps is simply to add style to the text.

 

Can you edit the look of a drop cap like how you edit regular text in Google Docs?

Editing a drop cap’s look is similar to how you edit the look of regular text in Google Docs. You can adjust its font style, font color, as well as whether it appears in Bold or Italic. All these options you can find after you activate the Drawing pop-out.