by Barb Binder 
Adding a drop cap in FrameMaker is easy, right? Just activate the Apply Drop Cap checkbox and specify how many lines to drop down, right? Ha! I wish. Sadly, there is no drop cap feature in FrameMaker, but that doesn't mean you can't have one. You just need to know how to create the drop cap manually.
- Place your cursor at the beginning of the paragraph where you'd like to have a drop cap.
- Delete the first character in the paragraph.
- Choose Special > Anchored Frame.
- Change the Anchoring Position to Run Into Paragraph.
- Set the Alignment to Left.
- Set the Gap to 3 or 4 pts. (The Gap is the space between the edge of the frame and the edge of the text to the right and below the frame.)
- Set the size to about 1 in x 1 in to start.
- Click on the New Frame button to add the frame to the paragraph.
- Open up the toolbox, if necessary via Graphics > Tools.
- Select the Text Line tool.
- Click inside the frame and type the character to be used as the drop cap.
- Format the character using the Character Designer. (If you plan to use more than one drop cap, I'd recommend making a character format.)
- To finish, drag the letter to the top left of the frame with the Select Object tool and adjust the frame edge to match the size of the letter.
Note:
For more interesting and/or ornate drop caps, consider creating them in Photoshop or Illustrator, and then importing them into the frame.
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If you are new to FrameMaker and want to get up to speed quickly, join IconLogic's instructor-led, online Introduction to Adobe FrameMaker class. Hope to "see" you there.
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About the author: Barbara Binder is the president and founder of Rocky Mountain Training. Barbara has been a trainer for nearly two decades and has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide.