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How to reformat caption numbers

Anonymous
2023-02-22T22:57:39+00:00

I'm writing a document in word that has different chapters, and each chapter has a number of figures and tables.

Each chapter is numbered and I want the number of the chapter included in the title of the caption

eg., Chapter one - Figures 1.1, 1.2 etc, Chapter two - Figures 2.1, 2.2 etc.

I had this set up and it was working well until the last time I updated the cross references in my document .

The captions still have the chapter number but instead of starting at 1 at the start of each chapter the second number is now continuous through the document, eg., 1.1, 1.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.5 etc.

Just wondering if there is a simple way to fix this without having to go back and recaption and cross reference everything.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For education | Windows

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  1. Charles Kenyon 167.4K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-02-23T14:29:56+00:00

    The simplest way to update all of these is to:

    1. For your first caption, delete the caption.
    2. Re-insert that caption following the information on the page I linked as well as from Stefan and Suzanne.
    3. Press Alt+F9 to toggle display of field codes. (Fn+Alt+F9 on many computers) Dealing with Fields in Microsoft Word
    4. Take a look at this new caption's fields. It should have a STYLEREF field. Select and Copy that field.
    5. Go to the next Caption and replace the hard-coded number (like the 3 in your sample) with the pasted field.
    6. Repeat for the rest of the Captions. (With the codes revealed, you could search for SEQ to find captions.)
    7. Press Alt+F9 to toggle display of field codes. (Fn+Alt+F9 on many computers) This should hide the codes.
    8. Press Ctrl+A and then F9 (or Fn+F9) to update fields

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  2. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2023-02-23T12:25:44+00:00

    Note that the "chapter number" can be derived from an autonumbered paragraph in any one of Word's built-in heading styles; it's not limited to Heading 1, though this is the most common.

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  3. Stefan Blom 341.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2023-02-23T08:31:32+00:00

    In your sample document, the "X" part in "Figure X.Y" is static, that is, a typed number. The screen shot below shows the field codes in the document (field codes are toggled with Alt+F9 or with Alt+Fn+F9 on some keyboards).

    Image

    To automate the chapter/figure numbering, you will have to number your chapters using the Heading 1 style and then make use of "Include chapter number" in the Caption Numbering dialog box.

    Image

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  4. Charles Kenyon 167.4K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-02-22T23:12:23+00:00

    This Chapter Numbering of Captions is accomplished by combining StyleRef Fields that call for the Chapter number from heading numbering and the Seq field that is set to restart at the beginning of a new chapter.

    Image

    It looks to me like yours are not set up that way.

    Could you perhaps save one of your later figures with its caption in a new sample document save in OneDrive or Dropbox and post a link to it here so we could take a look at those fields?

    Why a sample file is important for troubleshooting - - - - - - - and how to do it.

    How many captions are we talking about?

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-02-23T01:05:38+00:00

    Thank you

    Here's the link Sample Doc_Captioning.docx

    There's about 50 captions in the whole document

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