#UPDATING FIGURE NUMBERS IN WORD FOR MAC HOW TO#

Then, what if I want to move figures around? I assume you will say, this looks good, if you never used this before. This updates all the figure number automatically. Instead of searching and replacing all the figure numbers in the text, click 'Edit' -> 'Select All' (or, Ctrl + A), which select the entire document, then, press 'F9'.

Notice that, the original figure 1 is now figure 2. It is automatically inserted as figure 1. I inserted another figure named, 'This is the What happens if I want to insert another figure at the very beginning of the document. Now, we have Figure inserted in the text. In the dialog box, select 'Figure' as 'Reference type', then select 'Only labelĪnd number', pick 'Figure 1.

Then, we can insert the figure number into the text, as 'Figure 1'. Similarly, I created Figure 2, named 'This is figure two.'. Now, Figure 1 is created, named 'This is figure one.'. Click on 'Insert' -> 'Reference'Ī dialog box should pop up. What about references? I will show you how using 'cross-reference' in MS Word could save you a lot of work.įirst, lets insert a figure in a document. Through the entire paper to fix the figure numbers. Insert/deleate a figure, or even move your figures around, you will need to search If you make any subsequent changes to the captions, don’t forget to use the ‘Update Table’ option so that your lists of figures/tables remain accurate.Did it even happen to you that, when you write a paper, then you decide to To use your own captions instead, click on the ‘Options’ button and select your chosen caption style from the ‘Style’ menu in the pop-up dialog box.įinally, click the ‘OK’ button in the ‘Table of Figures’ dialog box and a list of the selected captions will appear where you placed the cursor. Once the ‘Table of Figures’ menu pops up, usually you would select either ‘Tables’ or ‘Figures’ to insert a list of the captions labelled as either ‘Tables’ or ‘Figures’. To do this, find the place you want to insert the table, go to the ‘References’ tab in MS Word and click on ‘Insert Table of Figures’ (n.b., on Mac, go to ‘Insert’, ‘Index and Tables’, then ‘Tables and Figures’). Once you’ve written your captions, you’ll need to create a list of figures/tables. If you name this ‘Caption 2’ or ‘Caption Tables’, you can then use it to distinguish between different caption types. If you want to list tables and figures separately using this method, click the ‘Create a Style’ or ‘New Style’ button in the ‘Styles’ menu and select ‘Caption’ for the ‘Style Based On’. Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter! Once you’ve selected ‘Caption’, place the cursor where you want your caption to appear and type it using your preferred numbering format. In here you will find a style called ‘Caption’ (hint: you might have to select ‘All Styles’ from the options). Instead, go to the ‘Home’ tab in MS Word and select the ‘Styles’ menu. The key here is not to use the ‘Insert Caption’ option typically used to label figures and tables.

#UPDATING FIGURE NUMBERS IN WORD FOR MAC HOW TO#

Luckily, it’s easy enough to override the automatic numbering as long as you know how to use MS Word’s ‘Styles’ options. Or you might not want to use numbered captions at all. the images in chapter one would be Figure 1a, Figure 1b). You might, however, want to use a different numbering system, such as chapter-specific numbering (e.g. Figure 1) and tables get a generic ‘Table’ caption (e.g. Instead, all images get a generic ‘Figure’ caption (e.g.

MS Word’s automatic captions, for instance, don’t let you choose a numbering style. It’s just that sometimes we want to do things our own way. This isn’t to say we don’t appreciate Microsoft Word’s automatic numbering system: it’s certainly a time saver. How to Override Figure and Table Numbering in MS WordĪs the Matrix franchise taught us, sometimes computers are a bit too clever for their own good.

Updating figure numbers in word for mac