WD: Text Formatted with "Drop Cap" in Wrong Place on Page

ID: Q165675

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

When you format the first letter of a sentence as a large initial (or "dropped") capital letter, the letter is not aligned correctly to the left of the paragraph. The large initial letter may appear at the top of the page or in some other unexpected location away from the paragraph.

NOTE: To create a large initial capital letter, click Drop Cap on the Format menu.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs when you have changed your document's section vertical alignment to center or justified.

Large initial capital letters are inserted with the use of frames. Frames are not affected by center or justified vertical alignment.

WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, change the Vertical Alignment of the section to Top. To do this, use the appropriate method for your version of Word.

Word for Windows

1. On the File menu, click Page Setup.

2. On the Layout tab, change the Vertical Alignment box to Top, and then 

   click OK.

Word for the Macintosh

1. On the Format menu, click Document Layout.

2. On the Layout tab, change Vertical Alignment to Top and then click OK.

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   ARTICLE-ID: Q110628
   TITLE     : WD: Drop Cap (Framed Paragraph) Causes Unwanted Behavior

   ARTICLE-ID: Q144534
   TITLE     : WD: Drop Cap Jumps to Previous Column

   ARTICLE-ID: Q113627
   TITLE     : DropCap Adds Right Spacing If Paragraph Indented
Additional query words: dropcap 
Keywords          : wordnt winword ntword macword word6 word7 word95 kbformat macword6 
Version           : MACINTOSH:6.0,6.0.1,6.0.1a; WINDOWS:2.0,2.0a,2.0a-CD,2.0b,2.0c,6.0,6.0a,6.0c,7.0,7.0a; winnt:6.0
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS winnt
Issue type        : kbhowto kbprb

Last Reviewed: March 18, 1999