Adding drop caps to text in Adobe Indesign is straight-forward, and can either be added on the page or applied as part of a Paragraph Style. We show you how in our Indesign classes. 
In the example shown here the first letter of the paragraph drops down two lines. This is fairly common practice in introductory paragraphs, and serves to draw the reader’s attention to a new new heading or subject.
If you are simply adding it on the page you would select the letter and go to the Paragraph options on the top Control/Options panel – by default Drop Cap Number of Lines is set to zero – change this to 2 or 3. Note the button to the right – Drop Cap One or More Characters – this is a less commonly used feature – experiment with it though.
If you wished to add this to a Paragraph Style, go into the options for that style, or create a new one named Drop Cap Style. In the list of functions on the left of the dialog box click Drop Caps and Nested Styles. Drop down 2 lines and keep the number of characters set to 1 > hit OK. This style is now saved with the document and can be applied to any paragraph of text. It’s a good idea to write the style into your template files.
More tips can be found at the Sydney Indesign User Group which meets regularly in the city, and is a free forum for designers to discuss topics and the latest Indesign features. See many examples of our own clients’ work on our Facebook page.
Other related Indesign Blog Posts:

• Indesign images and text
  
• Indesign workflow
• Indesign templates
• Indesign page numbers
• Indesign add hyperlink