How to have a word in documents where the first letter appears to be positioned lower?

Almighty1 · Jul 14, 2024

Does anyone know how the W and C are done in word processing software where the first character seems to be lowered position than the rest of the word?

pseymour · Jul 14, 2024

That appears to just be a larger font size, since it’s above and below the other letters. Or maybe you’re referring to a drop cap?

Insert a drop cap - Microsoft Support

Add and remove a drop cap to paragraphs in your document.

support.microsoft.com

Senecio · Jul 14, 2024

I produced the following in MS Word, by selecting each first letter then increasing the font size quite a lot, then selecting the lower case setting (

)

John

Kees · Jul 14, 2024

In MS Word you can do that by changing the character options. I use a very old version of MS-Word, but I am sure it will be included in all modern versions of almost all wordprocessors. You just mark the characters you want to change the position and select what option you want to use. Like you can select bold, italic etc.

Because my system and MS-Word are in Dutch, I dont know what the axect names for higher and lower the characters will be in English.

Made a rough imitation, not knowing what font that is and what character sizes are used:

Font: Times New Roman
Charactersize of W and C: 48 pt
Charactersize of EST and OAST: 41 pt (I see now it could have been a slightly smaller font)
The characters W and C are lowered with 1 pt.
Done in MS-Word 2003.

Senecio · Jul 14, 2024

It's easier in a DTP application.

hsehestedt · Jul 14, 2024

Select the text you want to modify.
Go to the Home tab.
Click the launcher (small arrow) in the bottom-right corner of the Font group.
In the Font dialog box, select the Advanced tab.
On the Position row, use the Byarrows to adjust the value:
- Increase the By value to switch to Raised, making the text sit higher than its natural position.
- Decrease the By value to switch to Lowered, making the text sit lower than its natural position.

Kees · Jul 14, 2024

@hsehestedt
It might be useful to mention what wordprocessor (and version) you are using.
Not in all wordprocessor apps the same methods are used.

Kees · Jul 14, 2024

Senecio said:
It's easier in a DTP application.

It certainly is, but the last time I used a DTP application (being QuarkXPress) was about 22 years ago when I was working in a printing company. The real DTP programs are quite expensive and you have to get used to use them.

For this purpose I think a wordprocessor can be used very well!

hsehestedt · Jul 14, 2024

Kees said:
@hsehestedt
It might be useful to mention what wordprocessor (and version) you are using.
Not in all wordprocessor apps the same methods are used.

The question was for Word so my response was for Word. I use the very latest version at all times (Microsoft 365).

EDIT: Apologies. You were correct. One of the later posts said MS Word, not the original. My mistake. Thanks for pointing this out. My response was for Word and I erroneously thought that the original question targeted Word. It did not.

MisterEd · Jul 14, 2024

There have been some speculation but we will only know for sure after the OP comes back and checks the document to see for themselves. For example, the OP can check to see if this is true if the word processor is MS Word. However, if it is not Word then I am sure something similar will be possible in other word processors.

Not Myself · Jul 14, 2024

I have only been using Word Perfect since March, 1983, and don't know when this simple method of inserting a drop cap was added, nor if drop cap is available in any other word processors: Format > Paragraph > Drop cap

hsehestedt · Jul 14, 2024

Slightly off topic, but helped me with this question...

The absolute best way to get answers to a question like this is to get used to making use of the tools available to you today. I simply asked copilot and it was kind enough to give me step-by-step instructions. I'm sure that I could have gotten the same from Google or Bing, etc.

It's the rare issue that I cannot find answers to online these days.

MisterEd · Jul 14, 2024

Not Myself said:
I have only been using Word Perfect since March, 1983, and don't know when this simple method of inserting a drop cap was added, nor if drop cap is available in any other word processors: Format > Paragraph > Drop cap

MS Word has Add drop cap in the Insert group but I found that would not help with the OPs question. Drop cap only works for the first character in a paragraph. The OPs sentence has a larger W and C. The only way I could duplicate the OPs example was to use the method I showed in Post #10.

glasskuter · Jul 15, 2024

web search or ask co-pilot:
How to use drop caps in (name_of_ your_word_processing_ application_here)

MisterEd · Jul 15, 2024

glasskuter said:
web search or ask co-pilot:
How to use drop caps in (name_of_ your_word_processing_ application_here)

Drop cap only works for the first letter in a paragraph. That does not help with the question the OP asked.

jimbo45 · Jul 15, 2024

@Almighty1
As an Engineer I often used the Latex editor (good for theorem's etc with fancy math signs, equations, powers e.g x to the n etc.

It can also create fancy Drop Caps e.g :

Adding fancy drop caps in Latex documents

Adding fancy drop caps in your LaTeX documents, like the one shown above, isquite easy! You only need to use the package lettrine. To do that, simply add this to your preamble:

physica.dev

Cheers
jimbo

Almighty1 · Jul 15, 2024

pseymour said:
That appears to just be a larger font size, since it’s above and below the other letters. Or maybe you’re referring to a drop cap?

Insert a drop cap - Microsoft Support

Add and remove a drop cap to paragraphs in your document.

support.microsoft.com

I tried a larger font size in PDF editors which I thought would still do text similar to a word processor except the text did get bigger but the bottom of the character still starts from the same point as the rest of the text. Drop Cap seems to be different as the text next to the character appears to be multiple lines.

jimbo45 · Jul 15, 2024

Hi there

@Almighty1
Just give Latex a go -- tricky to start with but it can do THE LOT !!!!.

LaTeX - A document preparation system

LaTeX is a high-quality typesetting system; it includes features designed for the production of technical and scientific documentation.

www.latex-project.org

Free too !!!!

Cheers
jimbo

Rollback_Jockey · Jul 15, 2024

Almighty1 said:
Does anyone know how the W and C are done in word processing software where the first character seems to be lowered position than the rest of the word?

View attachment 101361

I'm guessing that's a specific font where lower case are displayed as you'd expect an upper case appearance and kerning shows vertical centering

Almighty1 · Jul 15, 2024

jimbo45 said:
Hi there

@Almighty1
Just give Latex a go -- tricky to start with but it can do THE LOT !!!!.

LaTeX - A document preparation system

LaTeX is a high-quality typesetting system; it includes features designed for the production of technical and scientific documentation.

www.latex-project.org

Free too !!!!

Cheers
jimbo

That won't work because the question is really two fold... the first was because I scanned something which OCR and ofcourse it changed the first character of each word and aligned the bottom regardless of what font size was used when I used a larger font as this was a PDF file. The word processor question was more how to do it in general. I tried using Google or AI but I didn't know what it was called so the results did not answer what I was asking which was why I posted the question more out of curiousity. This is what it looked like when I tried just enlarging the font, it basically aligned the bottom of all the text but this was in a PDF Editor and I rarely use word processors other than Google Docs. Doesn't LaTex have a big learning curve? Tried using it back in 1993-94.

How to have a word in documents where the first letter appears to be positioned lower?

Well-known member

My Computer

Windows developer and admіn

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

aka Mama Glass

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer