How to use drop caps in Pages to make your documents pop

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Pages-drop-caps
Drop caps can make almost any document look better.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Create documents that grab a reader’s attention by taking advantage of the newly-added drop cap tool in Pages for Mac and iOS. It’s easy to use and offers a whole bunch of customizations options.

Here’s how to make the most of it.

Drop caps are large capital letters that are used to add style and emphasis to a piece of writing. They are commonly found at the beginning of a newspaper or magazine article, or a new chapter in a book.

Apple’s most recent Pages update makes using drop caps easier than ever on Mac and iOS. You no longer have to mess around with font sizes to create them manually; they can be placed automatically and customized to your liking.

How to use drop caps in Pages

You can find the Drop Cap option by clicking or tapping the Format button, which has a paint brush icon, in the top-right corner of the Pages app. Enable it by clicking the checkbox on macOS or tapping the toggle on iOS.

A drop cap will automatically appear at the beginning of your paragraph as soon as you start typing. To add a drop cap to the beginning of an existing paragraph, simply place your cursor before the first letter, then enable the Drop Cap feature using the same method outlined above.

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Insert your drop cap, then customize it.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Apple provides six default drop cap styles — we recommend trying them all to see which best fits your document — and allows you to change the size of the drop cap letter. It’s also possible to drop cap more than one letter if you wish.

These options can be found beneath the Drop Cap checkbox on Mac, or by tapping Drop Cap Options on iPhone and iPad.

Customizing your drop caps

There are some other style options you may want to try out, too. In the Drop Cap Options menu on Mac and iOS, you can add or edit a background for your drop cap, outdent it, apply a border, and more.

Pages-drop-cap-styles
Apple provides a number of default styles to choose from.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

You can also save your own drop cap style. To do this, simply follow the instructions above to insert a drop cap and customize it, then open the Drop Cap Styles menu, scroll or swipe to the next page, then select the + button.

Pages is free to download and use on Mac and on iPhone and iPad.

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