If you are writing a novel, a magazine article, or a highly stylized report in Google Docs, you might want to use a “Drop Cap”—a massive, stylized first letter at the very beginning of a paragraph that spans multiple lines of text. Historically, doing this in Google Docs required messy workarounds like inserting tables or custom drawings. However, Google has finally implemented a native, one-click tool to automatically format a flawless drop cap.
How to Insert the Drop Cap
The native Drop Cap tool mathematically resizes the first letter of your paragraph and automatically wraps the surrounding text around it perfectly.
- Open your Google Docs document.
- Place your blinking cursor anywhere inside the specific paragraph where you want the drop cap to appear. (You do not need to highlight the first letter).
- In the top menu bar, click on Format.
- Scroll down and hover over Text.
- From the slide-out menu, click on Drop cap.
Customizing the Style
Once you click the button, the first letter of your paragraph will instantly expand to fill the vertical space of three standard lines of text. A small, floating settings menu will also appear right next to the letter.
- Lines: By default, the drop cap spans three lines of text. You can use this dropdown to make the letter smaller (2 lines) or massive (up to 5 lines).
- Font: By default, the drop cap uses the exact same font as the rest of the paragraph. However, standard editorial design often mixes fonts. You can click this dropdown to change the drop cap to a highly stylized serif font (like “Merriweather”) while keeping the rest of the text in a clean sans-serif font (like “Arial”).
If you ever need to remove the styling, simply click the floating menu again and select Remove drop cap to instantly revert the letter to normal text.