Microsoft Publisher 2003

Text Options

Publisher offers options for creating special effects with text. A drop cap can be used to distinguish the beginning of a paragraph. Reverse text can be used to emphasize text such as a heading or label.

Working with Drop Caps
Formatting Reverse Text

Working with Drop Caps

You can quickly and easily enhance the appearance of a document by adding interesting design elements to text such as drop caps. A drop cap is a large initial character, often used at the beginning of a paragraph. In Publisher, you can choose from pre-formatted drop cap styles, or you can customize a drop cap.

Example of text with a drop cap

If you edit the lines around a drop cap, you may have to delete the tabs and line breaks Publisher inserted to create the drop cap and insert new ones yourself. Therefore, it is better to create your drop cap after all editing is completed.

NOTE: You cannot create drop caps in paragraphs where the first character is a graphic, tab, space, bullet, or a similar character.

Using Publisher's Pre-formatted Drop Caps

Place your insertion point in the paragraph in which you would like to add the drop cap
From the Format menu, select Drop Cap...
The Drop Cap dialog box appears.
Select the Drop Cap tab
From the Available drop caps scroll box, select a drop cap style
The result of your selection appears in the Preview pane.
Repeat step 4 until you have the desired style
OR
Refer to Creating a Custom Drop Cap
Once you have made a final selection, click OK
The drop cap is applied.

Creating a Custom Drop Cap

Place your insertion point in the paragraph in which you would like to add the drop cap
From the Format menu, select Drop Cap...
The Drop Cap dialog box appears.
Select the Custom Drop Cap tab

In the Select letter position and size section, choose the desired settings

Setting	Description
Dropped	Creates a drop cap that extends below the first line of text
Up	Creates a drop cap that extends above the first line of text
Lines	Allows you to set the number of lines you want your drop cap to extend above or below the first line
Size of letters	Allows you to enter the height you want your drop cap to be in number of lines
Number of letters	Allows you to choose the number of letters you would like in your drop cap

In the Select letter appearance section, select the desired font, font style, and color from the respective pull-down list
Your selections are reflected in the Preview pane.
Click OK

Removing Drop Caps

Place your insertion point in the paragraph which contains the drop cap you wish to remove
From the Format menu, select Drop Cap...
The Drop Cap dialog box appears.
On the Drop Cap tab, click REMOVE
The drop cap is removed.

Editing Drop Caps

Select the paragraph which contains the drop cap you wish to edit
From the Format menu, select Drop Cap...
The Drop Cap dialog box appears.
Select the Custom Drop Cap tab
Under Select letter position and size, change the desired settings
Under Select letter appearance, from the pull-down lists, select the newly desired font, font style, and color
Click OK

Formatting Reverse Text

Instead of the usual black text on white background, you might want to emphasize a portion of your document by using reverse text (i.e., white text on black). The process of creating reverse text is a simple one, requiring two main steps: creating the black background and changing the type style to reverse.

Changing the Text Color

Select the text box you wish to reverse
From the Edit menu, select Select All
On the Formatting toolbar, click the down arrow to the right of the FONT COLORicon
A Quick menu appears.
From the Quick menu, select More Colors...
The Colors dialog box appears.
Select the Standard tab
Select White
Click OK
NOTE: Your text is no longer visible but is still present.

Changing the Background Color

Select the text box you wish to reverse
On the Formatting toolbar, click the down arrow to the right of the FILL COLORicon
A Quick menu appears.
From the Quick menu, select More Fill Colors...
The Colors dialog box appears.
Select the Standard tab
Select Black
Click OK
The text box now contains reverse text.