Word: Automated tables of figures | CyberText Newsletter

N o t eb o o k :

Evernote Server

C r eat ed :

7/11/2013 1:00 PM

U R L:

http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/word-2003-automated-tables-of-figures/

Word: Automated tables of figures

April 27, 2008

If you create long Word documents with lots of captioned diagrams, tables, or figures in them, then you
may be faced with the nightmare of having to update the numbering whenever you add a new figure or
table to the document. And if you refer to this number within the text (e.g. See Table 4), thats another
place you have to remember to keep up to date.
You can automate this processand produce automated Tables of Figures as well, just like an automated
Table of Contents .
These instructions apply to any captioned tables, figures and diagrams. I will use figure to refer to each
of them.

Labeling a figure in Word

1. Position your cursor beneath the figure.
2. Open the Caption window:
* Word 2003: Select Insert > Reference > Caption from the menu.
* Word 2007: Go to the References tab > Captions command group, then click Insert Caption.
3. Select Figure from the Label drop-down list.

Caption default settings for Figure

4. Optional: If you use headings with Outline Numbering, you may want to add a Chapter number. To
do so, click Numbering and select the Include chapter numbercheck box. You can also specify the
number format, style, and separator.

Caption with chapter numbering included

Caption settings for chapter numbering

5. Add any extra caption information after the caption number (e.g. Figure 3: xxxx).

Caption complete
6. Click OK.
The caption is added, using the Caption style (you can modify this default style on the Styles and
Formatting task pane in Word 2003, or the Styles floating window in Word 2007). The number is
automatically sequenced even if you add another figure between two existing figures with captions
inserted like this.
NOTE: If the number doesnt update automatically, or if youve copied an earlier caption and pasted it in
another place then modified the captions text, update the field by selecting it and pressing F9. Update
ALL the auto captions [and all other fields such as the TOC, List of Figures etc.] by pressing Ctrl+A, then
F9.

Referring to a figure in the body text

The caption must exist (see above)you cant reference something that isnt there.
1. In the body text, place the cursor when you want the cross-reference text to be inserted.
2. To insert a cross reference:
* Word 2003: Select Insert > Reference > Cross-Reference from the menu.
* Word 2007/2010: Go to the References tab > Captions command group, then click Crossreference.
3. Select Figure from the Reference Type drop-down list. All figures that have been inserted as a
caption are listed in the bottom half.

Cross-reference settings
4. Click once on the figure that you want to refer to.
5. In the Insert reference to drop-down list, select how you want the information displayed (e.g.
select Only label and number to just display Figure x and not the entire caption; select Entire
caption to display Figure x: yyyyyy).

6. Click Insert, then click Close. The reference is added to the documentif you click in it, you
should notice the gray shading indicating that its a field.

The cross-reference is inserted as a field

Creating the Table of Figures

1. Position the cursor where you want the Table of Figures to be placed (it usually goes immediately
after the Table of Contents).
2. Insert the Table of Figures:
* Word 2003: Select Insert > Reference > Index and Tables from the menu.
* Word 2007/2010: Go to the References tab > Captions command group, then click Insert Table
of Figures.
3. Click on the Table of Figures tab, if its not already selected.
4. From the Caption Label drop-down list, select the type of table you want to createFigure in this
example.

Table of Figures settings

5. Make any other changes as required.
6. Click OK.
7. Add a title (e.g. List of Figures) above the list just like you do for Contents.

A table of figures
Update February 2012: Really long captions: Several people have asked questions in the comments about
dealing with really long captions, and there have been some excellent suggestions. Take a look at the
comments from March 29, 2010, June/July 2011, and especially August 8, 2011 one of these may solve
your problem.
See also:
Table and figure numbering: http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2009/04/28/table-and-figurenumbering/
[This article was first published in the March 2003 CyberText Newsletter ; steps last checked and updated
for Word 2007, 21 August 2008; screen shots added February 2009]
Posted in Word | Tagged cross references |

149 comments

1.
I have created a large word07 document containing a lot of figures, using the reference caption
system. If I change position of the figures (swap or move the figure further up/down in the
document) the number of the figures does not change according to the new position, nor does the
cross-reference figure number.
Is it really for real that I have to update each single one of the figures and the corresponding crossreference?
Thanks.
by Thomas Alsted June 28, 2009 at 5:40 pm

2.
Have you tried selecting the entire document (Ctrl+A) then pressing F9? If that doesnt work or
only works partially do it again. Ive seen a Word 2003 template (yes, I know its not Word 2007)
that wont update everything on the first pass. On the first pass, only the caption numbers update;
you have to do the F9 thing a second time to get the numbers for of the cross-references to those
captions to update.
BTW, Ctrl+A selects the entire document and the F9 key updates all fields in the document
(including the TOC etc.). You can do one field at a time using F9 (not recommended unless youre a
masochist or theres a legitimate reason you dont want to update ALL fields), but my preferred
method is to update them all at once.

Hope this helps.

by Rhonda June 28, 2009 at 6:16 pm

3.
I have the same problem with word 2007 and am looking to do in Mr. Gates. The autonumbering
does not understand the legends. It seems incapable of renumbering captions. No matter how many
times I do Ctrl+A and F9 they dont renumber. How can you make a program with autonumbering
that cant be changed.
If you make the figures without text wrap and the captions as text beneath them, not in graphics
boxes, then it will renumber with F9.
If then start wrapping the text around the figures from the beginning you can do battle with
placement. Weirdly, the tools to say I want to have the figure on this page in this spot are in an
obscure menu in, believe it or not, at the bottom of the text wrap menu!!!! As, More layout
options. The location of a graphic on the page is a subset of text wrap. It shows that there is little
feedback at MS or the code is all written by programmers who can write it but dont have to use it.
Even then, when you are in the More layout options menu, there is no help as to the meanings of
obscure check boxes such as Layout in table cell.
While you might think if you use absolute position and select Page and click Lock anchor that
the figure will stay on the page you set. No. It is easily pushed off by a caption. Does lock
anchor refer to absolute positioning or to some paragraph? If it is to a paragraph, then what is the
meaning of absolute position? I do know that lock anchor with absolute positioning will not keep a
figure on a given page.
You would think that MS would concentrate on on the basics like positioning a figure on the page
and not fuss with modifying the contrast, etc.
I still do not know how to renumber the figure legends and cross references that have been made
using auto numbering and insert caption options.
by Frederick Sachs June 30, 2009 at 5:29 am

4.
I have had many problems over the years with captions and cross referencing. Recently I found a
Macro that seems to fix all the problems by scanning through the document updateing fields etc. It
does not interfere with Change Tracking.
See http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-3715892.php
by David Torrens October 11, 2009 at 9:22 pm

5.
A separate problem today has been that the Caption for Tables when inserted as a caption below
the text is inserted in a text box. This can be cured by clicking on the text box and selecting
Remove Frame. I cannot find the option anywhere to stop it putting the caption in a frame.

by David Torrens October 11, 2009 at 9:35 pm

6.
I am having problems with cross referencing long documents. When I try to cross reference a table
or a figure this is fine up to a certain point. However, once several tables and figures have been
created only a few of them actually appear in the box when I cross reference. Any tables or figures
created after a certain point do not appear to be available in the cross reference box. Any help
would be appreciated.
by brenda davies November 5, 2009 at 11:46 pm

7.
Hi Brenda
If youre not seeing the new captions in the Cross reference dialog box (or conversely, youre
seeing doubles), its possible you have Track Changes on. See this later blog post for how to
accept Track Changes for fields without accepting anything else:
http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/word-macro-to-fix-track-changescross-referencesissues/
Its a bit convoluted, but it works a treat.
by Rhonda November 6, 2009 at 6:10 am

8. [...] Word: Automated tables of figures (6,758) [...]

by Revisiting another year of blogging CyberText Newsletter December 31, 2009 at 10:31 am

9.
Thanks to Rhonda for the Ctrl+A F9 trick :-)
by kotpierdzibonk January 2, 2010 at 7:06 am

10.
A couple of years ago I am sure discovered a way to only show the initial part of the caption in the
Table of Figures, but I cant remember where or how. For instance in your example Figure 1:
Splendid Fairy Wren (male) I would like to know if there is a way of adding: This is an example of
a tiny bird. on the caption without it appearing in the Table of Figures?
by Doug February 10, 2010 at 12:22 am

11.
Hi Doug
Not as far as I can tell. You can in HTML, but not Word at least, not using the standard
commands. Maybe you could use a macro for this, though I cant see how that would work either.

Rhonda
by Rhonda February 10, 2010 at 5:31 am

12.
Ive a long MS word doc full of figures and tables. At some point the program (or me I guess)
changed all auto captions to figures. If I change one table caption back to tables then all (figures
and tables) become tables. Is this some sort of link that I can turn off?
by damian February 22, 2010 at 12:34 pm

13.
I was struggling with putting the table reference into the text of the document for my 70,000 word
PhD. Thank you for your explanation which sorted the problem out in minutes.
Phil Richardson
Thoughtcrew
by Phil Richardson February 24, 2010 at 10:25 pm

14.
Hi Doug
Try this. Place the caption in a table (1 row x 2 columns). Place the caption in cell 1. Place the
second part of the text (that you dont want appearing in the Table of figures) in cell 2. Format the
2nd cell the same as the first (so it looks the same), but make sure it is not styled with Caption.
Remove the table borders, so that it looks like one line.
cheers
Natalie
by Natalie Gimm March 29, 2010 at 10:56 am

15.
I am trying to use the caption feature to generate a list of tables where the tables 4 have two parts:
namely table 4a and table 4b. The caption always generate the next numerical order (5, in this case)
without allowing me to specify 4b as the next table to appear in the List of Tables. Any idea on
how I can handle this? Much thanks.
by Tom Lee April 6, 2010 at 6:40 am

16.
I doubt you can do this. If you are using Words automated table of figures/tables, then I suspect
Word will want to use the automated captions. Word seems to use just basic numbering for its auto
captions (exception is a chapter number added as a prefix e.g. Table 4-2). So I doubt theres any
way you can specify 4a, 4b etc. I suspect youve manually added the a and b bits to the caption,
which is why Word isnt picking them up, and is converting them to the next sequential number.

by Rhonda April 6, 2010 at 6:55 am

17.
In pre-2007 versions of Word, I could create a TOC, a Table of Figures for charts and so forth, and
another Table of Figures for tables. But in 2007, I cant create the separate list of tables. I can do a
list of figures, a list of figures AND tables, butn not a separate list of tables.
by Bernie April 17, 2010 at 3:32 am

18.
Im not sure why you cant create a list of tables. I just opened up a blank Word 2007 doc, inserted
some auto captions for tables and then could create the List of Tables just fine. Heres how I got it
to work:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Open a blank Word 2007 document (it doesnt have to be based on any template).
Press Enter a few times to add some blank lines.
Go to the References tab.
Click Insert Caption (in the Captions group).
Change the label to Table, clear the Exclude label from caption check box, and click
Numbering to make sure Chapter numbering isnt turned on. Then click OK.
Press Enter a few more times, then repeat steps 4 and 5. Repeat as much as you want to
insert several Table captions.
Position the cursor at the beginning of the document, then click Insert Table of Figures (in
the Captions group of the References tab).
Select Table from the Caption Label drop-down list.
Click OK. My list of tables inserted correctly.

by Rhonda April 18, 2010 at 9:57 am

19.
Your instructions on cross-referencing figures in body of text were very helpful.
Thank you,
Ephraim
by Ephraim April 23, 2010 at 11:58 pm

20.
Anyone know an easy way to change all the Figure captions in a report from above the figure to
below the figure? Someone else put the captions in for me and put them all above, not below.
by Martha May 11, 2010 at 11:03 pm

21.
Another thanks to Rhonda for the F9 trick amazed that MS still allows silly little bugs like this
through.

I hope theyve improved captions for the 2010 edition it needs a serious overhaul.
by Bill August 8, 2010 at 8:52 pm

22.
Im a grad student trying to finish my thesis. Can you please explain how to make a table of figures
with the following one? The figures must read Figure 1.1, Figure 1.2, etc and NOT the default 1, 2
etc given by word. And secondly the figures need to transition for the next chapter so they must
read
Figure 2.1, Figure 2.2 etc. Ive searched for hours and cannot find one single help site that
addresses this with a step-by-step procedure and example.
by tom August 14, 2010 at 9:05 pm

23.
Hi Tom
Step 4 in the first set of instructions above does what youre looking for. I use it all the time on long
documents.
Rhonda
by Rhonda August 15, 2010 at 8:13 am

24.
Hi
Im having difficulty in getting Word 2007 to update the Figure numbers as I insert or delete others
prior to it.
For instance, if I delete a Figure 3, old Figure 4 continues to display Figure 4. I have to manually go
to it, and right-click to get it to update to Figure 3. The Table of Figures (correctly) updates to not
show the Figure I have deleted, but the ones after continue to display the wrong Figure numbers (ie
it skips from Figure 2 to Figure 4). I now have over 20 Figures in my dissertation, and its a lot of
work to do this manually each time I add/delete a Figure.
Does anybody know how to deal with this?
Many thanks,
Claudia
by Claudia August 20, 2010 at 6:56 pm

25.
The quickest way to update a field (and thats all the auto caption numbers are) is to select it and
press F9. Or you can update all the fields in the entire doc by pressing Ctrl+A, then F9.
by Rhonda August 21, 2010 at 7:18 am

26.
Thank you, Rhonda!

I see you had already suggested that above. Sorry to have inconvenienced you.
Many thanks,
Claudia
by Claudia August 21, 2010 at 6:12 pm

27.
Using Word 2007, I have inserted some text between figures and their captions. For crossreferencing and table of figures purposes, this text is now treated as part of the caption, even
though the Caption box at Styles has no border. How do I tell Word not to treat it as part of the
caption?
by Bill Chilcott August 28, 2010 at 6:12 pm

28.
Just so Im clear You have something like this, right?
[figure]
text text text
[figure caption]
Assuming you do, then the main reason I can think of for the text to be treated as part of the
caption is if it has the Caption style applied to it. Yet you say that the text doesnt have this style
applied. Do you see any other box around a style in the Styles pane when you click in the text part?
If not, then I assume that this text has the Caption style applied, but your settings for what styles
you see listed doesnt show such a style if it has manual formatting.
Heres how to check. Select the text between the caption and the figure and apply Normal or
Body Text to it. Now update the cross-reference. If that text disappears from the cross-reference,
then you had some sort of Caption style applied to it, even though you couldnt see it.
Another possibility is that the text between the figure and its caption is not a complete paragraph in
its own right. Turn on your paragraph marks (that backwards P symbol on the Home tab). Is there a
pilcrow (the backwards P) at the end of the figure AND the end of the text, or is there a left turn
arrow? A pilcrow indicates that each element is styled as a paragraph; a left turn arrow is a soft
line return and all the so-called paragraphs are actually one paragraph. If you have these soft line
returns, delete them and replace them with a hard line return (press Enter). Once everything is a
separate paragraph, check the styles applied to each paragraph.
Text between a figure and its caption if it uses a different paragraph style should never
appear in the cross-reference. Unless youre using bookmarks, which is a whole other story.
by Rhonda August 29, 2010 at 6:58 am

29.
Thanks for your message. Yes, you have understood correctly. And yes, the text between the
figure and the caption is in complete paragraphs. To be precise, it is 1 paragraph, 1 table and

another paragraph. I always have the paragraph marks visible (didnt know they were called
pilcrows, though). I should have said that I had already changed the style to Normal, or so I
thought. Looking at it now, in every case I looked at 5 the style of the two paragraphs is
Normal, but the style of the table is 8 pt, which is the correct font size. Honestly, I didnt set the
style to that. Thanks again for your message, and thanks in advance for your next message if any,
but I probably wont have time to reply to it.
by Bill Chilcott August 31, 2010 at 4:07 am

30.
I have a problem with embedded links in the table of contents for figures and tables: Most of my
thesis figures are inside text boxes (it is easier to handle). When I control-click on the TOC item, it
takes me to the figure, no problem. (It shows the file address file///C:\users\, when I hover the
mouse).
The problem is when I convert the word file to PDF. Upon control+clicking, the PDF tries to open
the external docx file, instead of navigating to the figure inside the document. The links to figures
and tables that are not inside text boxes seem to be working fine though.
Has anyone else ever had this problem with Word-2007?
by paym November 2, 2010 at 12:15 am

31.
Edit: OK, I solved the issue by editing the hyperlinks in the TOC: Changed it to the current
document.
by paym November 4, 2010 at 2:40 am

32.
Hi paym
Im pleased you found the solution and that youve posted it here to help others caught in the
same situation.
Thank you
Rhonda
by Rhonda November 4, 2010 at 5:26 am

33.
What about the cross-references linking to figures. I have my captions under my figures. When I
click on a reference I see the caption at the top of the screen instead of the figure. Is there a way to
define the references to the figure instead of the caption? That way when I click on them I see the
figure and not the caption itself.
by Salo November 16, 2010 at 3:30 am

34.
I think the only way you could do this would be to insert a bookmark around the figure, then create
the x-ref to the bookmark name. As youve discovered, a standard x-ref to a figure or table is to the
caption for that figure or table.
by Rhonda November 16, 2010 at 6:06 am

35.
Hello.
Ive a problem with the caption number for my figure. Im including the chapter number in the
caption (Fig. 4.1). My chapter number is in heading 1 and it is already in a multilevel list. The
problem is, when I insert the caption for a figure, in the Caption box (like in Step 4) it shows Fig. 4.1,
but when I click Insert, it comes to be Fig. 0.1. Ive checked my chapter number in heading list and it
seems to be correct. I cant figure out why this happens. Hope anyone can help. Thanks.
by N.I December 1, 2010 at 4:12 am

36.
I dont know the answer, but here are some things to try:
* Update all fields select the entire document (Ctrl+A), then update all fields (F9)
* Turn on field shading (http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/word-show-those-fields/ ) then
go to any numbered Heading 1 and select the number part of the heading it should turn to gray
indicating that its a field and the tab should automatically get selected too. This should confirm
that you have automatic heading numbering.
* Have you had track changes on? Is it possible that you deleted the section 4.0 heading or moved
it? If so, it could be that the document still thinks its where it was and so is reporting it as Section
0. Ive seen this in Word 2003 documents, in particular it seems to have improved somewhat in
Word 2007. If you have had track changes on, then run a macro to accept all field changes
(http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/word-macro-to-fix-track-changescross-referencesissues/ ).
I cant think of any other possibility at this stage.
Rhonda
by Rhonda December 1, 2010 at 6:19 am

37.
Thank you very much Rhonda!
The Ctrl+A & F9 thing works.
by N.I December 1, 2010 at 11:11 am

38.
Rhonda,

How to apply auto format to caption of all the tables, figure,

title and headings?
Thanks,
Alevine
by alevine December 8, 2010 at 8:08 pm

39.
Hi Alevine
Im not sure what you mean. Do you mean how to format the captions style, or how to get Word to
autoformat the words in a caption? And are you using Word 2003, 2007 or 2010?
Rhonda
by Rhonda December 9, 2010 at 6:35 am

40.
How to number the figures 1a, 1b in MS Word. Also how to generate the same in List of Figures..
by Arun December 14, 2010 at 6:01 pm

41.
To automatically get figure numbers such as Figure 1.a, Figure 1.b etc. you need to be using outline
numbering for your headings. Then, when you insert a caption, click Numbering, then change the
number Format to a, b, c, and select the Include chapter number check box. By default, the style
selected for the chapter heading is Heading 1; only change this if youre using something else.
Unfortunately, you need to include a separator between the 1 and the a you cant butt them up
against each other. Click OK to close the Caption Numbering dialog box, then make sure that the
Exclude label from caption check box is not checked before clicking OK.
Assuming youve created autonumbered captions, your List of Figures should reflect that
numbering without any further work from you. If you already have a List of Figures when you make
this change to how the captions are numbered, click inside that list and press F9 to update it (select
Update entire table).
by Rhonda December 15, 2010 at 6:06 am

42.
Tom Lee,
The solution to your problem is very simple (not built into Word though).
If you want to group similar figures by alphabet suffixes (e.g., Figure 4-3a, Figure 4-3b) then apply
the base caption to the first one (e.g., Figure 4-3), then simply add an a to make it look like Figure
4-3a.
Now for the remaining figures use cross references to the original caption as their captions.

You will have to manually add b, c, and so on to each. However the base caption will remain
consistent and save you a lot of hard work.
Ive been doing this for year with no problem. Hope this helps.
Regards.
by Vihar December 16, 2010 at 12:22 pm

43.
Hi! I hope you still come back to check this.
I have tried to find out how to links page number in different file. When I auto generated list of
figures or tables and copy it to antoher file, it got errors saying error bookmark not define. Do
you have any idea how to solve that. I have tried to find the way but cannot solve it yet.
I simply wonder whether we can auto generate such list of one file in another file???
by Jin January 11, 2011 at 5:00 pm

44.
Simple answer you cant.
I asked the Microsoft Forums about linking to a table, figure, section etc. in another file just the
other day. Heres the thread of that discussion:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/wordcreate/thread/b8e23c62-ebef-4b11-8c576f828e3da538/
by Rhonda January 11, 2011 at 5:15 pm

45.
Wow!!Thats what Ive benn looking for for a long time~!!
Thanks for sharing this post~~.
by eric javits handbags January 16, 2011 at 11:07 pm

46.
I have a chapter with a number of figures in it. When I make a table of figures it includes the actual
figure for some (but not all) of the figures! I saw one post elsewhere which suggested removing a
return from the end of the figure, which I have done, but it hasnt helped. Any thoughts? Id be
most grateful.
by Lesley Moss January 27, 2011 at 8:52 pm

47.
It sounds as though the paragraph figure where the figure is, has a heading (or other) style applied
to it and its picking up that style and therefore showing the figure.

Check these two posts of mine for how to show the style the figure is using and how to fix this sort
of thing in a Table of Contents:
Try reinserting the List of Figures, butt before you click OK, look at the Web Preview box and
check if anything is listed there other than Figures.
by Rhonda January 28, 2011 at 6:14 am

48.
I wonder if anyone can help me. I am still using word 2003 until i finish my thesis and have all of a
sudden lost all my caption numbers and cross references. They still appear in the cross referencing
box but I cant insert any captions or do anything. Can anyone help?(
by Diana February 14, 2011 at 6:53 pm

49.
Hi Diana
Are you using Track Changes? If so, that may be the cause of your problem, though Ive never
seen anything as bad as what youre describing. If it is Track Changes, then try this solution:
http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/word-macro-to-fix-track-changescross-referencesissues/
Rhonda
by Rhonda February 15, 2011 at 5:54 am

50.
Imagine that you cut the figure and the label/legend and paste it some sheets before. How can you
update all the number of legends at same time?
by Fneves March 2, 2011 at 11:39 pm

51.
If you cut/paste a figure and its automated caption and place it somewhere else in the document,
just select the caption and press the F9 key to update its number. Alternatively, wait until the
document is finished and update ALL fields (including figure and table captions) by selecting the
entire document then pressing F9. You may have to do this twice to ensure you get both the
captions updated AND any automated cross-references to those captions updated.
by Rhonda March 3, 2011 at 6:27 am

52.
Hello.
Ive a problem with the caption number for my figure. Im including the chapter number in the
caption (Fig. 4.1). My chapter number is in heading 1 and it is already in a multilevel list. The

problem is, when I insert the caption for a figure, in the Caption box (like in Step 4) it shows Fig. 4.1,
but when I click Insert, it comes to be Fig. 0.1. Ive checked my chapter number in heading list and it
seems to be correct. I cant figure out why this happens. Hope anyone can help. Thanks
I had the same problem, the issue I found was that word had put in some Heading 1s where there
was no text, this meant the automatic numbering system assumed there was no number. If you go
through and find the point where it switches and change it to normal from heading 1, the figure
numbers should then update.
by Will April 21, 2011 at 6:55 pm

53.
Dear Sir:
i came across a problem on the table of figures.
when the table of figures is produced, the caption length is very long, usually occupying several
lines. How can i define the caption for each figure in one line? In this case, some words in the
caption must be dropped
can you help me ,thanks a lot~
by Wang Yuzhan April 25, 2011 at 6:11 pm

54.
The table of figures (TOF) represents the exact words in the figure captions, so if you have long
captions under the figures, youll get long captions in the TOF.
Another possibility is that you may have styled other paragraphs with the Caption style and thats
getting picked up when the TOF is created. Check the styles applied to all you text and make sure
that Caption style is only applied to the actual captions. See this blog post for a quick way to see
all paragraph styles applied to text: http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/word-display-stylesfor-each-paragraph/
Rhonda
by Rhonda April 26, 2011 at 7:51 am

55.
I am having an issue with Captions and Headings. I have a large document with different Heading
Levels. When I am adding captions it bases the captions on one particular heading level and it will
change the other captions. For example Heading Level 1 (4) has a figure and I insert a caption based
on Heading Level 1. Then I have Heading Level 2 (4.1) and it has a figure. If I insert a caption based
on Heading Level 2 it changes the Heading Level 1 caption format to Heading Level 2 format. Help,
please.
by Joe May 3, 2011 at 12:26 am

56.

Caption numbering either picks up chapter numbering or it doesnt, depending on whether you
check that box. It sounds like you have Chapter numbering checked, and thats fine. So its unlikely
being caused by that setting. That means you have to look further afield.
Check your Outline Number settings (in the Paragraph dialog box) for your Heading 1 style it
should be Level 1; then check your Heading 2 style settings it should be Level 2.
Assuming those settings are as described, then you need to look at your numbered list settings.
How you get to these settings depends on whether youre using Word 2003 (Format > Bullets and
Numbering > Outline Numbering tab, select the number format, then click Customize), or Word
2007/2010 (click the multi level numbering icon, then select Define New Multilevel List to get to the
dialog box [see http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/word-2007-taming-multilevel-listnumbering/ for info on how to get there]). Once youre at the dialog box, check that your Heading 1
numbering is set to Level 1, and your Heading 2 numbering is set to Level 2 I suspect that your
Heading 2 numbering may be set to Level 1.
If its not any of those, I cant help you any further as Im out of ideas!
Rhonda
by Rhonda May 3, 2011 at 5:42 am

57.
Hi I am trying to create a list of figures and a list of tables. I am having a problem seperating the
two. I try to create a list of figures and all my tables change to figures or vice versa. help. i am using
2007. thanks crystal
by crystal mann May 17, 2011 at 10:05 pm

58.
Hi Crystal
First, you must be using auto captions for your figures and tables, and you must have selected the
correct type Figure or Table when you added each caption.
1. Add a List of Figures title to a new paragraph, go to the next line, then follow all the steps in the
Creating a Table of Figures above. This should create your list of figures correctly.
2. Press Enter a couple of times after the list of figures to put some space between that list and the
next, add a List of Tables title to a new paragraph, go to the next line, then follow all the steps in
the Creating a Table of Figures above, but this time you select Table at Step 4. This should
create your list of tables correctly.
Rhonda
by Rhonda May 18, 2011 at 6:30 am

59.
Copying references to figures

Renumbering figures is a troublesome area. Word assumes that you have linked the reference to
the right picture, but if you have not, I find no way of changing the number. However, if you have
referred to the right picture somewhere else: copy that reference and paste it to to wherever youd
like it. You might want to copy a larger part of the line in order to keep the formatting of the picture
For instance:
Figure 6 shows (blah)
Here, Id like to change 6 to 5.
I have referred to figure 5 later in the text
as figure 5 showed..
This string can be copied into the first line, and delete whatever you do not need. Make sure that
you do not change the formatting of the string figure 5! When you click it, it should seem
different. Note that the F in figure will not be capital if you copy it from a reference which is not
capital.
by Hydmeganne June 22, 2011 at 3:18 pm

60.
One other thing if youve copied a caption to another place, you might need to do two field
updates for the entire document.
by Rhonda June 22, 2011 at 4:00 pm

61.
Apologies if you have already answered this question, but i havent seen it above.
I have a scientific document with long figure captions resulting in very long figure titles in the table
of figures. I tried to format the latter parts of the caption (e.g. second sentence and onward) as
body text instead of caption style. This had no effect. I also tried reinserting the figure captions and
typing in the first part as the label. This doesnt work either, as the rest of the caption text
(regardless of formatting) is still inclunded in the table of figures. It seems to me that Word is
reading until it finds the paragraph mark (pilcrow) and includes all as the figure title. How can i
shorten the titles in the table of figures? Is there a way of inserting a pilcrow that does not cause a
line return?
As a work around i can make figure titles and then folow up with a similarly formatted paragraph
that contains the rest of the caption. This necessarily has a carriage return, which i dont want, and
involve some more formatting than id like to do (because it can get messy when things change). It
would be most convienient if there was a field code that i could insert where i want the title to end.
Any help is most appreciated. Thanks!
by David June 24, 2011 at 11:42 pm

62.
Hi David
As youve found out, there doesnt seem to be a solution to very long captions except shortening
them by rewriting. Your workaround sounds good, even though you find it a little clunky.
The Chicago Manual of Style (14th ed.) has this to say under item 11.24: A caption is a title or

headline never a grammatically complete sentence, even when extending, as it sometimes does, to
more than one line. Further on, Chicago also states that A legend is an explanation consisting of
one or more sentences.
So perhaps you go with a short caption, followed by a legend (I would typically preface this
material by the word Note or Notes, make the font size smaller than the body text and perhaps
italicize it, and place it directly below the figure caption.
Rhonda
by Rhonda June 26, 2011 at 8:07 am

63.
I have discovered an easy solution to too-long captions being included in the table of figures.
Simply insert a carriage return at the end of the caption you want to be included in the table of
figures; anything beyond the carriage return does not show up there. Im working in a long
document in word 2008. Hope this helps.
by Marty G July 18, 2011 at 1:18 am

64.
In my long document with many figures, some of the pages with more than one figure reverse the
numbers, so the fig. at the bottom of the page has a lower number than the fig. at the top of the
page. Im using word 2008 for macs. The select all and F9 does not change this. Is there any way to
easily rearrange the numbers (the captions are correct for the images they are with) other than by
setting up a caption on another page and manually moving it to its correct position?
Thanks for any help you can offer.
by Marty G July 18, 2011 at 1:26 am

65.
Ive seen situations where selecting all then pressing F9 had to be done twice once fixed the
caption numbers, the second time fixed the x-res to those caption numbers. So try selecting all, then
pressing F9, then, when its finished the first update, do it again.
Also, take a look at this blog post and see if this macro is something you can do in Word 2008 for
Mac: http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/word-macro-to-fix-track-changescross-referencesissues/ In Word 2003 at least the x-refs could get mixed up because of track changes, and this
macro sorts that out.
Rhonda
by Rhonda July 18, 2011 at 7:41 am

66.
I finally found a solution to the problem of long Figure captions showing up in table of contents. I
works like a charm, at least in Word 2007. In short, use the Style separator between the title of
figure and the rest of the stuff that you want in Figure caption but not in TOC.

See the link below:

http://superuser.com/questions/287829/how-can-i-include-only-part-of-an-image-caption-in-atable-of-figures-in-microsof/320006#320006
by Shiv August 8, 2011 at 7:03 am

67.
Thanks Shiv! I learn something new every day and today it was the existence of the Style
Separator. That link explains it very well. Thanks for sharing it.
More on the style separator and its uses: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/285050
It was introduced in Word 2002.
Rhonda
by Rhonda August 8, 2011 at 7:14 am

68.
Im using Word 2007. My document contains Tables, Figures and Equations all autonumbered. Is
there any way to generate separately a List of Tables, a List of Figures, etc. When I Insert a List of
Figures I get everything, so I might have a Table, then 3 Figures, etc.
by Edna Buday August 15, 2011 at 10:05 am

69.
Hi Edna
See my comment on 18 April 2010.
Basically, if your automated captions are set up correctly for referring to tables and figures and
equations, then you can create a separate list of each by selecting that matching type of Caption
Label step 4 in the Creating the table of figures section.
If youre getting them in a mixed list, either you havent applied the correct automated caption to
each, or you need to update all the fields in your document twice (press Ctrl+A then F9 and then
do it again). You might also have track changes turned on if so, TURN IT OFF while you are
doing this.
If they are still mixed up, try reinserting the lists again, making sure you choose the correct Caption
label for each one.
Rhonda
by Rhonda August 15, 2011 at 10:17 am

70.
Thank you, Rhonda, for the reminder to Update Fields in the document. Works just fine now.

by Edna August 15, 2011 at 11:08 am

71.
Excellent! Im pleased it was something as simple as that.
Rhonda
by Rhonda August 15, 2011 at 11:30 am

72.
Has anyone had a problem with figure number order in Word 2007? My figure numbers revert to 7
and then 6 when I hit the F9 key. They are listed backwards in the list of Figures as well, even
though the figures themselves are in the correct order in the document.
by Brad August 24, 2011 at 5:49 am

73.
Hi Brad
Very strange. Have you been using Track Changes? If so, they can mess up captions/cross-refs.
Try this macro to accept all field tracked changes: http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/wordmacro-to-fix-track-changescross-references-issues/
Rhonda
by Rhonda August 24, 2011 at 7:05 am

74.
Im using Word 2007. Have very long document with 250 pages, 70 tables and 50 images. Today I
just open it, but I should go somewhere and closed a document without doing anything. Program
asked me to save changes, I was in the hurry, so I clicked yes (wondering what kind of changes).
After two hours I opened it again, try to update Table of images and Table of tables, something
strange started to happen, first I had much more tables then images, then all images without tables,
and after updating several times now I have only Tables! :(( I tried to manually change one table to
image again, but it was converted to table again. Dont know what to do. Any advice?
I can do everything again manually, but dont now how to be sure that my label Image will stay
Image always
by jadranka September 5, 2011 at 11:53 pm

75.
Hi Rhonda,
After reading every thread, I actually want a reference table that combines all of my tables and
figures, not all called tables and not all called figures. I want one reference table listing them all
correctly. Can this be acheived using Word 2007
by Keri Little September 14, 2011 at 11:29 am

76.
Hi Kerri
This is easy enough to do providing youre using a unique style for your table and figure captions
(by default, Word uses Caption as the style when you insert an automated caption).
Youll need to create your own TOC (References tab > Table of Contents group > Table of
Contents button, then select Insert Table of Contents). Click the Options button on the dialog box,
then type a level number (e.g. 1) in the field next to Caption. This will set the level in the TOC for
the figures and table if you type 1, then the figures and tables are aligned with Heading 1; 2 and
they align with Heading 2, etc. If you only have three heading levels reported in the TOC, then try
putting 4 next to Caption as I think this looks neater. Click OK to close the dialog boxes and Yes to
replace the existing TOC.
Rhonda
by Rhonda September 14, 2011 at 11:52 am

77.
Good day!
Please help me.
I dont wanna see the Table caption or Figure caption In my list of tables or figures. All I want are
the table number and page number. Dont like redundancy.
I still want them on the actual captions but dont like them to appear on the list of tables or figures.
What should I do?
by dk jj September 19, 2011 at 10:14 pm

78.
Hi dk jj
Take a look at the comment above from Shiv on August 8, 2011 that style separator might do the
trick to separate the table/figure number from the caption text.
Rhonda
by Rhonda September 20, 2011 at 6:14 am

79.
Hello,
I have a strange problem with the cross-reference in Word 2007. When I insert a cross-reference to
a figure in my document and click on it (ctrl+) it opens a website with my standard/home site. How
can I repair this, so it links to the caption of my figure.

by J October 10, 2011 at 7:03 pm

80.
Thats very strange. I cant see any setting in the cross-reference settings that allows you to set
the focus of the link to something other than the caption (or variations of it, such as the page
number, caption/heading title etc.).
Take a look at what you see when you right-click on the cross-reference and select Toggle Field
Codes you should have something like { REF _REFnnnnnnnnn \h } (where n is a numeral and \h
indicates that its a clickable link). Is that the case?
Rhonda
by Rhonda October 11, 2011 at 11:56 am

81.
Hello,
A good overview of all the possibilities with captions. Reading the page and the comments, I still
have 2 questions:
1. I am making a special Caption to donate specific numbers in a document. The build-up is: SD
4.1 with the 4 being the chapter number and the 1 being the sequence number. So I have included
chapter numbering, but I want to have the next number sequentially across the chapters. Somehow
Word (2003) does not like that. When I copy this caption to chapter 5 I get 5.1. When I remove in
the field the \s 1-part it works for the moment (making a page review turns it into 5.2. But when I
make a ToC of this label all (47!) labels are again labelled for each chapter starting again at 1. Does
anybody know how to resolve this?
2. Is there any way to make a table ToC of captions in a table? So lets say I want a Table with on
row 1 descriptions, row 2 cel 1 the caption label and number, row 2 cell 2 the label text, and then
going on on row 3 untill the last caption.
Any help is appreciated!
Ferdinand
by Ferdiannd October 28, 2011 at 6:06 pm

82.
Hi Ferdinand
I cant help you with item 2, but I think Ive found the solution to item 1.
1. Insert your first caption as usual. When you check the field codes, youll see that the
number after the chapter number is set to { SEQ Figure \* ARABIC \s 1 }.
2. Copy this caption for the second one, then change the field code for the number after the
chapter number to { SEQ Figure \* ARABIC \n } (you remove the \s 1 bit and replace it
with \n (for next number in the sequence.
3. Next, copy the SECOND caption (the one with the \n in the field code to all the other places

where you need a caption. DO NOT put this caption before the first one in the document as
that first one sets the numbering for the others.
4. Update the captions with F9 (or update them all at once when youve finished by selecting
the entire document then updating them (Ctrl+A then F9).
5. Update the List of Tables you should find that the number sequence you want now
applies.
by Rhonda October 29, 2011 at 7:29 am

83.
Hi Rhonda,
Thanks for your quick answer! The solution for item 1 worked flawlessy, thanks so much. Item 2 I
have left behind, I just inserted all the cross references by hand in the table.
One additional question though. Is there anyway to include a cross-reference to a caption which
shows the paragraph number in which that caption resides? So lets say I have caption SD 6.13
(Now that this works!) in Paragraph 6.2. So I want a cross-refence to the caption 6.13 but showing
6.2, being the paragraph number.
I have already tried putting in the \W switch (from: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/wordhelp/field-codes-ref-field-HP005186139.aspx ), but that returns 0, apparantly it wants an entire
paragraph.
Any thoughts on this? Or am I asking the impossible?
Thanks, Ferdinand
by Ferdinand October 31, 2011 at 6:35 pm

84.
Hi Rhonda
Im using Word 2007, with properly captioned and cross-referenced tables and figures and after
having inserted two tables, I would like to reference them both simultaneously in my text.
So, basically what I have is Table 4 and Table 5 and I would like to reference them in my text by
saying, in Tables 4 and 5 etc. Is there a way to do this without having to insert the two
references separately and say in Table 4 and Table 5?
Hope I managed to explain that adequately and thanks in advance!
Mhairi
by theramblingquirk November 30, 2011 at 6:09 pm

85.
Hi Mhari
I absolutely agree. Often I have to cross reference several tables/figures at once and in Table 4.5
and Table 4.6 just sounds awkward. If youve got a range, its easy enough (e.g. see Figure 3.1 to

Figure 3.9) though it would still be good to write see Figures 3.1 to 3.9).
Ive tested all possible insertion options and there just isnt any way to do this that I can see.
Maybe a macro? Consider asking your question on the Word forum at Microsoft Answers.
And feel free to add this comment to my wishlist for the Cross-reference dialog box:
https://cybertext.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/message-to-microsoft-fix-words-cross-referencedialog-box/
Rhonda
by Rhonda December 1, 2011 at 6:05 am

86.
Thanks Rhonda Ill have a look at asking that question on the Word Forum and will definitely add
it to your wishlist.
Thanks for your help! :)
by theramblingquirk December 1, 2011 at 2:42 pm

87.
Dear Sir
This guideline is very helpful
I am now in the last stage of my PhD before submitting my thesis to the university. However, I have
the problem in arranging my List of figures and list of tables.
Following guideline from my university, Table tittle should be consist of two parts, namely, table
number and table tittle. And both of them must be arranged in separate line of my writing as below.
Table 4.2
Manufacturing performance (in italic)
My question is: How to arrange the two part of table tittle in the list of table by following this
format:
Table 4.2: Manufacturing performance
Thanks for the helps
by Gusman Nawanir December 27, 2011 at 7:10 pm

88.
Hi Gusman
Ive just tested some possible options for this and cant see any way that you can do it, other than
creating the List of Tables manually. Everything I tried worked, but as soon as I updated the entire
table, it all reverted back to a single line.

One option is to wait until the thesis is finished and ready for submittal, then manually adding a
soft line break between the table number and the table title in the list of tables (position the cursor
after the table number, then press Shift+Enter). If you later need to update the list of tables, just
choose the update page number option only, NOT entire table (selecting entire table puts
everything back on a single line again).
One other thing. I couldnt see any way to manually apply italics to ONLY the table title in the list
of tables. However, if you italicise the tables caption title (and this may be against your
universitys style guide for captions), the italics will apply when you update the list of tables.
It sounds like the universitys guidelines need to be revised to take into account what Word can
and cant do
Rhonda
by Rhonda December 28, 2011 at 6:49 am

89.
Hi Rhonda
I am happy to receive your comments
I have tried many times to solve the problem. Finally, I have to follow your suggestion; finish
everything first, and type the tittle of table/figure manually..
It is surprisingly, I just refer to the latest APA style (APA 6th), this style is same as my universitys
guideline My university followed this style in fact It means, APA 6th style needs revising
before revising my universitys guideline Hahahahah
Gusman
by Gusman Nawanir December 29, 2011 at 8:24 pm

90.
How to create a list of figures APA style using microsoft word style?
APA style is when there are 3 columns consisting of Figure, Description and Page no. for each
column respectively. TQ
by EL Huda December 31, 2011 at 12:24 pm

91.
Hi EL Huda
As you can see from my comments to Gusman (28 December 2011) and his response back, there
isnt any way you can do this that I can find, without doing it manually. Painful.
Also, are you SURE the APA style is as you describe, or is that your universitys variation of
APA? The reason I ask is because of this: http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2010/09/dearprofessor.html (you might like to ask your question of them too).

Rhonda
by Rhonda December 31, 2011 at 4:00 pm

92.
Thanks Rhonda. Its my universitys variation of APA. Really appreciate your answer.
by el huda December 31, 2011 at 4:59 pm

93.
Hi Rhonda I hope you can help. I am working a long doc with Chapters that go to the 4th level.
When I change a Table or Figure caption to go to a level different from the previous one, it
renumbers the previous caption in a separate level to the new level. I cant get the Tables or figures
to actually represent the level theyre associated with. Example: I have a label in Chapter 4.1
(heading 2) that correctly reads Figure 4.1-1. Good so far. In the sub-section, if I go to 4.1.1(Heading
3) and have another table, and change the chapter level to heading 3, it makes the label 4.1.1-1
(good), but then mysteriously goes to the previous figure caption (heading 2) and changes it to a
heading 3 (instead of leaving it as a heading 2 caption).
I cant get them to stay fixed with the heading level they belong to. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks, Patti
by Patti January 31, 2012 at 12:14 am

94.
Hi Patti
I did a quick test and I get what you get. It looks as though when you set a heading level for a table
or figure caption, it applies to ALL table or figure captions. Whether this is by design or is a bug, I
dont know.
Why are you going to 2nd and 3rd level headings for tables and figure captions anyway? Do you
have hundreds of them? Wouldnt Table 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 suffice? Or even one long sequence (Table 1,
2, 15)?
Until you mentioned this issue, I wasnt even aware that you could set lower heading levels for a
caption. Ive been working in Word for ~20 years, and have never been asked for this. Some of the
Word documents I work on now have hundreds of figures and tables, but my client only wants
Heading 1 level numbering (i.e. Table 4.1, 4.2 etc.) even if the table is in section 4.3.2.1.
Rhonda
by Rhonda January 31, 2012 at 6:52 am

95.
Thanks Rhonda. At least I know Im not incompetent and that its a Word thing . Thats actually
quite helpful to know. I appreciate your time and knowledge.
by Patti February 1, 2012 at 2:11 am

96.
Hi Rhonda, Im hoping you can help, Im working with a document where the figure legends will be
quite long, at least 4 or 5 lines. When I come to create my table of figures I dont just want figure 1
but I also dont want the entire 5 lines and all the detail coming up. Each figure has a strap line, for
example Figure 1-3. The effect of TNF on cell proliferation. and is then followed by more detailed
information. Id quite like the first part to come up but the more detailed information to be left
behind. Ive tried inserting a continuous break in between the sections I dont want included but
it puts quite a big hole in the document. Any ideas?
Yvonne
by Yvonne February 7, 2012 at 7:10 pm

97.
Hi Yvonne
There are some suggested solutions to this in the comments above. Check March 29, 2010,
June/July 2011, and especially August 8, 2011. You should find that one of these solutions may
solve your problem.
Rhonda
by Rhonda February 8, 2012 at 8:13 am

98. [...] ContentsWord 2007: Taming multilevel list numberingWord 2003: Create an automatic Table of
ContentsWord: Automated tables of figuresInches to pixels converterWord 2007: Create a
numbered Appendix heading styleWord: Show table grid [...]
by Table and figure numbering CyberText Newsletter February 28, 2012 at 5:54 am

99.
Hi Rhonda
I have some question regarding the cross-reference function.
I follow your step to Labeling the figures in word (btw I am using word 2007)
After I labeling the figure, I want to cross-reference the figure, but not the complete caption.
for example:
[[[[[....]]]]]
Figure 1. A lot of dot.
The dot is always have a round shape (see Fig. 1)
but I can make the cross-reference to become Fig. 1, it is always shown (see Figure 1) instead of
(see Fig. 1), is it possible to make it happen?
Angga
by Angga March 3, 2012 at 5:36 pm

100.
Hi Angga
As far as I know, the only way you could do this is to make the caption Fig. 1 by changing the text
in the Insert Caption dialog box to Fig.. The cross-reference should then pick that text up.
Im pretty sure you cant have Figure for the caption and Fig. for the cross-reference.
Rhonda
by Rhonda March 3, 2012 at 6:25 pm

101.
Hi Rhonda,
I found something interesting, and I have used it, it is for all the people who have the same problem
with me.
You can check it by your self, here is the link:
http://wordfaqs.mvps.org/CombineXrefs.htm
-Angga
by Angga March 5, 2012 at 6:13 am

102.
Hi Rhonda,
I am working on a document with many tables and figures located at the end of the document. I
have created a List of Figures and a List of Tables with page numbers for easy referencing separate
from the Table of Contents.
The page numbering used at the end of the document begins with F-pagenumber or T-pagenumber
depending on the section. When I use the automated table of figures, the F- and T- do not show in
the table as part of the page number.
Initially, I manually typed the F- or T- into the List. However, when I update the List (F9), I lose the
manual additions.
How can I include the F- and T- in my page numbers and have them reflected in the list of tables
and figures?
Thanks for your help!
Sissy
by Sissy Smith April 3, 2012 at 11:09 pm

103.
Hi Sissy
I dont know of any way to do this using Words standard commands and options. I tested it by
manually entering a T and F in front of the page numbers in the sections, and tried to enter it via the
field code as well, but neither method worked.
I suggest you ask this question on the Microsoft Answers forum for Word as someone there may
have a macro that can do it for youor a trick I don;t know about.
If you find an answer, could you please share it here?
Sorry I couldnt help further.
Rhonda
by Rhonda April 4, 2012 at 6:14 am

104.
I have a large 80,000 document. I need to include many tables AND figures. However, when I type
them everything is fine apart from all my Tables become Figures OR all my Figures become Tables.
I cant have both tables and figures in my document.
Please help.
by Belinda G April 7, 2012 at 4:04 am

105.
I have figured it out. In case anyone in the future has this problem the answer is very easy.
Tables are labeled ABOVE the table while
Figures are labeled BELOW the figure
As young people say duh. Ill never forget this now.
Sorry for posting something to simple. Im just glad nobody spent any time on it.
by Belinda G April 7, 2012 at 4:49 am

106.
My chapter starts with my own created list number.Can anybody tell me how can i number my
equations using the list number??
Please help in this regard,
by wasiq243 April 11, 2012 at 12:55 am

107.
My document has TOC, List of Figures and Appendices.When I Update the TOC the List of
Figures and Appendices section disapper. Please suggest.
Maggie
by Maggie May 24, 2012 at 8:27 pm

108.
please please help , I am writing my thesis and today when I open my word file I couldent find table
of figures it seems they are all gone I couldent find them .
by fahime July 4, 2012 at 2:00 am

109.
Hi Fahime
Try re-inserting your table of figures. See the Creating a Table of Figures section in this blog post.
Rhonda
by Rhonda July 4, 2012 at 6:41 am

110.
actually I am in chapter 5 of my thesis and I caption 65 figures but today 2hen I went to
reference/Caption and click on figure to reference my figure 66 I found that there is nothing there
and when I click on cross reference it was empty I do not know what happen for my existing 65
figures. should I redo everything again .
please help me
by fahime July 4, 2012 at 7:07 am

111.
Can someone help me? I have generated the list of figures but the problem is the numbering appear
to look like this -15-,etc. I want to change the format of the appearing number to be as .15 .
can someone please point me out how can I do that? Thank you in advance
by Sami Alkindi July 16, 2012 at 10:28 pm

112.
Hi Sami
It sounds like you need to turn off the chapter numbering and/or change the separator for the
numbering style.
Try this:

1. Insert an automatic caption (Word 2007/2010: Reference tab > Insert Caption).
2. Click the Numbering button.
3. Clear the Include Chapter Number check box. This automatically turns off the separator.
Alternatively, if you use chapter numbering and want to keep that, then change the separator to
one of the other options in the drop-down list on that dialog box.
Rhonda
by Rhonda July 17, 2012 at 6:39 am

113.
Good day! I simply would like to offer you a huge thumbs
up for your excellent info you have right
here on this post. Ill be coming back to your website for more soon.
by Hmoriden July 20, 2012 at 1:50 pm

114.
Figure changes to Table, and Table changes to Figure. Is there a solution to this? HELP!
by lisabrewer September 6, 2012 at 4:18 am

115.
Hi Lisa
Ive only got two suggestions:
* Make sure you have the correct option (figure or table) selected in the Caption dialog box
* Make sure you have the correct option (figure or table) selected on the Table of Figures tab.
Rhonda
by Rhonda September 6, 2012 at 6:17 am

116.
Yes, both of those are correct, and the document looks fine for awhile. But after awhile they simply
switch. I had this problem on my old computer as well, so reinstalling Word doesnt solve it.
Thanks for your help though!
by lisabrewer September 9, 2012 at 9:28 pm

117.
Hi Rhonda,
Hope you can help me. I am finishing my thesis, and I have around 65 Figures and 4 tables, already
with legends, and I need to do a table of Figures. Is there any way of doing this table without the
Insert, Reference, Caption method? Any way to do this using the Table of Contents method, i.e.,

labeling legends as title 3, for example?

Thanks for your help.
Alberto
by Alberto September 14, 2012 at 1:54 am

118.
Hi Alberto
Sorry, theres no other way that I can think of, other than the automated method described above,
or doing it manually. To be honest, 65 figs and 4 tables is not a lot to convert to auto crossreferences and once its done, youll be able to generate and update your lists of figures and tables
really easily.
You can jump to each figure and table quickly using the Browse button (see here for instructions:
http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/word-jumping-to-next-table-graphic-or-field/ ). Do all
your figures first, then your tables and you should have it done in less than an hour, possibly less
than 15 minutes once youve got the hang of the first couple.
Rhonda
by Rhonda September 14, 2012 at 6:40 am

119.
Thank you for your kind and fast reply. Indeed, it took me 20 min. However, initially all figs and
tables showed up OK, but when I tried to update the illustration table, only the figs showed, and
not the tables. Any idea what is causing this?
Thanks again,
Alberto
by Alberto September 14, 2012 at 9:39 am

120.
Hi Alberto
Im pleased it didnt take you long to do.
You need two lists one of tables, one of figures. Update them separately. See the Creating the
Table of Figures set of instructions in the post create one for figures and one for tables.
Rhonda
by Rhonda September 14, 2012 at 12:41 pm

121.
Hello there
I actually face a problem on inserting the cross captions.

When I want to insert the cross caption for the equations in my word document, I am setting the
insert reference to to be only label and number; however, all the equation and the number
would be appeared in my sentence.
How can get the word to only insert the equation number instead (e. g. Equation 5.3) ?
Thank so much for your advice,
Fatemeh
by Fatemeh October 9, 2012 at 7:44 am

122.
Hi Fatemeh
I havent cross-referenced equations before, but they work just like cross-references to tables and
figures. The critical thing with any cross-reference is that the caption is inserted on a different
paragraph to the actual equation, table, figure etc. If you have the caption on the same line, then
you can get the whole thing inserted as the cross-reference.
Can you check that your caption is in a different paragraph to the actual equation?
Also, make sure that the paragraph style for the equation is NOT Caption. That can mess things
up too.
Rhonda
by Rhonda October 9, 2012 at 8:27 am

123.
Hello. Just found your very useful site.
I have separate lists of tables and figures in my document which I have edited a lot as I dont want
the entire caption in the table. Is there any way to stop the table from updating as whenever any
figure is moved onto a different page the entire table updates automatically and all the edits are
lost.
Thanks
Liam
by Liam November 25, 2012 at 5:31 pm

124.
Hi Liam
In Word 2010s Options (File > Options), theres a setting under the Advanced tab (General section
almost at the end of the list) for Update automatic links at open. Thats the only one I could
see that might be causing this behaviour, but my quick tests indicate that it has no effect on your
problem.
I also tested changing the text in a caption, moving the caption to another location, and inserting a
new caption. In all cases the corresponding list didnt update until I forced it to, either by updating

all fields in the document or updating just the table. Updating the table or figure numbers in the
captions didnt affect anything in the list of tables/figures.
I did my testing in Word 2010, but this is the same behaviour that Ive experiences in Word 2007.
Perhaps approach it in a different way use the shorter text for the caption and add any extra text
you need as a note below the caption. If you want it to still look the same as the caption, style it
accordingly. That way only the actual text in the caption will be reflected in the list of
tables/figures.
Rhonda
by Rhonda November 26, 2012 at 6:25 am

125.
I have a book in Word 2003 in which the automatic Table of Figures picks up some Figures and
Captions, but not all. When I did Insert>Reference>Caption, some Caption was inserted into a Text
Box with the Figure number, but not all. Others appear to be attached to the Figure. It does not
appear to be consistent and I cant determine why. I did Draw>Group to attach the Text Box with
the Figure to create an Object which allowed Format>Layout>Tight>Right, for example. When I do
a Table of Figures or update (F9), the program does not capture Captions that are in Text Boxes for
the List of Figures. I thought all Captions were Inserted the same way. Any thoughts?
by John Day December 5, 2012 at 1:24 pm

126.
Hi John
Ive never tried putting captions inside text boxes, and would probably advise against it my
experience is that text boxes can be flaky.
Have you tried putting the captions in the main body of the document? Do they work then? if so,
the text boxes are probably the reason not all get picked up.
One other thing are you using Track Changes? Track changes can definitely upset the list of
tables/figures. To test if track changes are the culprit, save the document under a new name, accept
all track changes then update the lists if they now all work fine, track changes is your culprit
even if the tracked change is apparently nowhere near the caption!
Rhonda
by Rhonda December 5, 2012 at 1:54 pm

127.
First, I did not knowingly insert Captions into Text Boxes. The program seems to have done that for
me automatically. And the program was apparently not consisetent. I have deleted and re-inserted
several captions, but the program always opens a Text Box. When you say, put the Caption in the
body of the document, I am not sure what you mean?

Chapters of the document have been sent out for review, and tracking was used for comments.
Upon return from the editor, all tracking comments were either accepted or rejected. The edited
chapter was then replaced in the master document.
I copied the entire document over to a new file as you suggested, and again tried to update. There
was no change in behaviour.
John
by John Day December 5, 2012 at 2:16 pm

128.
Hi John
Ive emailed you privately. Meantime, in case anyone else has this issue, what version of Word are
you using? and for Mac or Windows? (just in case it makes any difference).
Rhonda
by Rhonda December 5, 2012 at 2:19 pm

129.
Word 2003 (Version 11.8348.8341) SP3
Part of Office 2003 Professional
OS MS Windows XP Professional, Version 5.1 SP3 Build 2600
by John Day December 6, 2012 at 5:07 am

130.
Such a great article and certainly helped clear
my head a bit
by Henrietta February 22, 2013 at 8:42 am

131.
Hello,
I had two 2010 documents. Each had own Table of Figures and automatically generated captions. I
then combined both documents into one. Though caption numbers have been properly
regenerated, the Table of Figures only shows the figures from the first document. Example:
File 1: Figs. 1-5
File 2: Figs. 1-10
New File: Figs 1-15 but the Table of Figures still shows Figs 1-5 regardless of updating and
accepting all tracked changes etc. Please help. Thanks.
by Andy. April 9, 2013 at 2:01 am

132.

Hi Andy
Two things to try:
* Put your cursor in the Table of Figures, then go to References tab > Captions group > Update
Table; select the Update Entire Table option.
If that doesnt work, then:
* Put your cursor in the Table of Figures, then go to References tab > Captions groups > Insert
Table of Figures. Say Yes to replacing the existing table.
Hopefully one of those will sort it out.
Rhonda
by Rhonda April 9, 2013 at 5:36 am

133.
I have tired both options before. None of them work. Is there another way to import figure
generated in another DOC file?
by Andy. April 9, 2013 at 6:22 am

134.
Hi Andy
Not as far as I know.
One other thing is/was track changes turned on for one of these docs? There may be some
residual field tracking left over. You can accept all field track changes using the macro Ive listed
here: http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/word-macro-to-fix-track-changescross-referencesissues/ its worth a try.
Rhonda
by Rhonda April 9, 2013 at 6:27 am

135.
Tried the macro before too. No effect. I have just fixed by going to TOF Options and changing the
starting mark codeeverything shows up now. One minor issue stillthe new entries are bold
out of the blue.
by Andy. April 9, 2013 at 6:29 am

136.
Hi Andy
The new entries may be bold because bold has been manually applied to the Caption style for
those ones. Captions are normally bold, but if you also apply bold manually, then you can end up
with bold TOF items. Solution is to go to each caption thats reporting as bold in the TOF, then

select the paragraph and press Ctrl+ to revert to the base formatting of the Caption style.
Rhonda
by Rhonda April 9, 2013 at 6:36 am

137.
Did not work but that is ok. Thanks for trying. I have just gone to the TOF Options and made
everything bold..let it be. Microsoft will not fix all glitches in my lifetime even if its life
depended on it. Cheers.
by Andy. April 9, 2013 at 6:40 am

138.
I have carefully inserted figure and table numbers into a long document with lots of tables and
figures and for some reason they have all changed to table captions and I cannot get them to
change back to both tables and figures
by wendy April 22, 2013 at 6:22 am

139.
Ok heres my problem. I have a tables, figures and equations as captions. When I update my list of
tables in the beginning of the document it updates it with everything that is a caption. It gives me a
list of tables, figures and equations. How do I tell it to only list the tables in there? Thank you!
by Carolyn May 8, 2013 at 3:02 am

140.
Try reinserting the list and make sure you select Table as the option (see Step 4 above in
Creating the Table of Figures).
by Rhonda May 8, 2013 at 6:44 am

Leave a Reply Cancel reply