Caption number repeats by accident when inserting a figure caption

This is nothing new in Word 2016. What you're witnessing is due to adding Captions to floating graphic objects, especially if more than one object is anchored to the same paragraph. As long as you're dealing with floating objects it will require taking some additional steps. It's compounded by the fact that the Captions for floating objects are added in Text Boxes which, also, are floating objects. Fields in text boxes do not update instantly & when you move things around sometimes the Caption becomes anchored to a different paragraph than the object to which it pertains.

The easiest way to update the numbering is to switch to another view (such as Draft) then back to Print Layout view. That usually will update the numbering - again having multiple objects anchored to the same paragraph will interfere with the updating because the program doesn't always know what the preferred sequence should be. To force the updating, click on the figure number then press the F9 key [fn+F9 on a laptop] to update the field manually.

Also, as Daniel pointed out, the fields will update when you print [if the Update fields box is checked in Word> Preferences - Print] as well as when the document is reopened. (Actually, you don't have to print the document - just going to File> Print then Cancelling usually is enough.)

To keep the Caption text boxes with the graphic, select both the object & its Caption, then apply the Group command.

I found that if I right clicked on the same picture and selected "insert caption" again (as if to have 2 captions on the same picture); Word deleted the first caption and replaced it with a new one with the correct figure number!

So, weird bug, but this problem resolved.

Well, I thought it was fixed but Word changed it back so now two pictures in a row are using the same number.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

In my experience, Word is a little shaky when auto-numbering Figure captions:

• Sometimes all captions are inserted as "Figure 1."
• If I send to print and create a PDF Preview, the captions renumber, although not always in the proper sequence (Figure 3, Figure 1, Figure 2).
• I can't generate a Table of Figures, unless I move all captions to the text level (instead of leaving them in text boxes). To this end, I use an AutoText sequence called f* , which enters the sequence field { SEQ MyFigures } every time I type **f*.
• You can also use the menu item Insert > Caption with no figure selected. This will insert the next sequence at the text level (i.e., not in a text box).

According to some posts, some users have never experienced renumbering problems.

seems to be working for me on my end. what is version of Word in use. Make sure install updates for both office and os. Make sure you have version 15.22.1.