Hidden Captions

Question

Hi,

I'm currently working in Word 2016. I regularly create multi-page reports which include a number of appendices. These appendices need to have titles which need to be reflected in a List of Appendices in the document (eg "Appendix A: Sales Data") but which we don't want to have appear in the actual report text (eg the report text should just say "This sales data is included in Appendix A attached to this report"). Ideally we would also be able to cross-reference the appendix numbers so that if we add an appendix before Appendix A we can just update all the captions and references and they'll renumber themselves.

Is this possible within the Word caption system? We're able to use captions with few issues for our tables, but the big difference is that for those the full table title is shown in both the report text and the list of tables. I'm also aware of the option to use captions to create the list of tables and then use cross-references within the report text, but I would rather have the captions be the first reference to an appendix within the text and have the table auto-generate itself, rather than needing to go back up to the list of appendices each time we need to insert a new appendix caption.

Thanks!!

Answer 1

Because you don't want the appendix titles to appear in the text, you should not use captions for them. This is what TC fields are intended for: text that appears in a table of contents (or in this case a list of appendices, which will be just a variation of a table of contents) but not in the text.

First, click the ¶ button on the Home ribbon to display nonprinting and hidden characters. That's because a TC field is automatically formatted as hidden, and you need to be able to see its code to edit it.

With the cursor at the beginning of Appendix A, choose to insert a TC field, using the Insert > Quick Parts > Field dialog:

In the Text Entry box, enter the text you want in the list of appendices, but leave two spaces for the appendix letter. Then click the Field Codes button at the bottom. This shows the advanced field properties. Click the Options button at the bottom to open the Field Options dialog.

With the \f switch selected, click the Add to Field button. Then type a space and the letter X at the end of the field code. (Any letter will do.) Click the OK buttons in both dialogs. The field code will appear in the document at the cursor location.

Next, click between the two spaces following the word Appendix in the field code. Again use Insert > Quick Parts > Field, and this time insert a Seq field. At the end of the field code, type the letter A and a space. (Again, any letter will do.) Click the Options button. On the General Switches page of the Options dialog, click the A, B, C formatting and click Add to Field.

Click OK in each dialog. The field in the document should now look like this:

The letter A here is the result of the Seq field.

Copy and paste this field to the other appendices, and edit the field code to change each one to the correct title.

To create the list of appendices, go to References > Table of Contents > Custom Table of Contents. Clear the Styles check box and the Outline Levels check box, and check the Table Entry Fields check box, then click OK in each dialog.

The field that this inserts will show an error message "No table contents entries found" because the field code is not yet complete. Right-click the error message and click Toggle Field Codes. After the \f switch in the code, type a space and the letter X (the same one you added to the \f switch in the TC fields). The code should now look like this;

Click on the code and press the F9 key to update the field. The list should now be correct.

If you add, delete, or move any appendices afterward, select the entire set of appendices and press F9 to update all the fields. The Seq fields will adjust to the new arrangements. Then click on the list of appendices and press F9 to update that.

Answer 2

My approach to this problem is to use two-part titles. See http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/TOCTips.htm#UnnumberedHeadings. Use one style for the appendix numbers (that should be a heading style so that you can easily cross-reference it. Use a second style for the appendix title (these can be combined in a single paragraph using a style separator). Then base the List of Appendices on the title style and apply Appendix # numbering to the TOC style used for that list (this will require mapping the Appendix Title style to an otherwise unused TOC level).

Answer 3

I could be wrong, but I think the OP doesn't want the appendix titles to appear in cross-references; they do appear as titles at the beginning of each appendix. I still wouldn't use captions for this but instead heading styles as described; cross-references can then be to a particular heading rather than a caption. If a heading style is used for the appendix title and a non-heading style for the appendix number (which can be auto numbered or use a SEQ field), then it would have to be bookmarked to be cross-referenced.

Answer 4

Hello,

My name is Charles Kenyon and I am an Independent Advisor in this forum . This forum is a user-to-user support forum. I am a fellow user with decades of experience using Microsoft Word. I have written extensively on using Word and have help articles on the Microsoft site.

It is difficult for me to figure out exactly what you want from your description.

Where do you want the captions to appear?

Where do you not want them to appear?

Here is my writing on Captions and the Table of Figures. This is for background and may not answer your question.

http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/complex_do...

http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/complex_do...

http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/complex_do...

http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/complex_do...

Here is Shauna Kelly's page on numbering figures in Appendices.

http://shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/numbering...

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The links are to different locations in my page on Complex Documents on my website and to Shauna Kelly's site. They are safe. I am providing them because I think those pages contain information that will help you. However, as an Independent Advisor I am required to add the following when posting here with a link to any non-Microsoft site, even my own site:

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I hope this information helps.

Please let me know if you have any more questions or require further help.

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