Changing font size without changing line spacing.

[rpbilleaud]

Hi all, I have what I think is a relatively easy to fix issue (I jus
don't know what the fix is). I'm in Word 2007 and am trying to make th
first letter in a line of text larger than the remainder of the line
like in a story book - but when I just increase the font size of cours
it changes the line spacing. I tried going into the paragraph dialog an
fiddling around with the line spacing but with no result because i
changes the spacing for the entire paragraph. I'd appreciate whateve
help you can give me. Thanks

 

[Stefan Blom]

You have to set a fixed value for the line spacing. In the Paragraph dialog
box, choose "Exactly" for line spacing, and specify some appropriate value.
(Some trial and error may be required to make it look good.)

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Or you can use the "Drop Cap" feature, which puts your big letter a line or two or three ... below the line the rest of its word is on. You'll find it on the
Insert tab, Text Group (6th from the left), 5th item.

 

[Stefan Blom]

In this situation, that is the better option, of course.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

I've never had an occasion to use it -- how does it interact with flexible spacing vs. Exactly spacing? (OP didn't say whether s/he wants the big
letter raised or dropped.)

 

[Stefan Blom]

Drop caps work with both fixed and variable line spacing, but if you change
the line spacing after you have inserted a drop cap, it won't automatically
adjust to the new spacing. You will have to "confirm" the settings (for
example by right-clicking the drop cap, selecting Drop Cap from the context
menu, and then re-select the option you originally chose).

 

[rpbilleaud]

Thanks folks - used the Drop Cap option and it worked perfectly.

 

[iamsatu]

Hi. I have the same problem, but I don't want to use a drop cap. I just want to use a larger first letter font on the same line without the line belowincreasing. I start some paragraphs flush left with a larger first letter.This make the next line increase, so throws the whole paragraph off. How can I get it to not do that?
Using EXACTLY just decreases the font size to fit the line spacing, or increases all the lines in the paragraph to fit the larger font.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Either that's a weird change later than Word2007, or you have some other choice
selected that's overriding the Exactly command. Go into WordOptions, scrollto
the very bottom, and check the box on the very last line. This opens up an immense, alphabetized list of additional items, through which you can search --
there's one called "don't add extra line spacing" in various circumstances,but
that extra spacing usually appears only for the specific line the larger or
raised character is in.

 

[Stuart Land]

Thanks for the answer, Peter. However, didn't work. I have Word 2003 and 2010, and both do the same thing. I fiddled around with everything that had the word LINE in it and nothing changed. Try making a simple paragraph in 12pt font, flush left. Make the first letter 18 pt. The space below that line will increase even though the letter is flush with the line it's on. Using EXACTLY brings the space back to normal, but also bring the larger font down just slightly larger than the 12 pt font. Increasing the font size thenjust make the font wider, but not taller. I'm at a loss.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

I can't duplicate your problem. In an ordinary paragraph, 12 pt with line
spacing set to Single, I selected the first letter and shot it up to 36.
The leading below the first line grew to accommodate the lower part of
the letter (where a descender would have been), but the leading of the
other lines wasn't affected. I then changed the spacing to Exactly 12 pt,
and all the leading shrank to 12 (including after the first line) -- but
the top of the 36 pt letter was cut off. So I went back into Paragraph
and gave it a Space Before of 18 points, and it was fine.

 

[Stefan Blom]

You will have to experiment a little to find the (fixed) value for line
spacing that looks best with your font.