Update figure numbers

Question

The directions for updating figure numbers fails for me.

A simple way to reproduce this is to create a caption for each figure.

Go to the third figure and add a caption again.  It will now become figure 4 and the number 3 will be skipped.

Repeat this again and it becomes figure 5 - the numbers 3 and 4 are now skipped.  The third figure will now be labeled as 5 and the fourth figure will be labeled as figure 6.    It seems the captions for 3 and 4 are now ghosted somewhere and can not be deleted.    Selecting update fields doesn't correct the error.  There seems to be no way to find these lost captions and delete them to correct the figure numbering.  How can this be corrected?

Answer 1

You can update the fields that Word uses for captions by switching to Print Preview (click File | Print) and then exit the preview (for example by pressing the ESC key).

That said, now that you have added excessive captions, you will have to delete them. If the captions have been added in text boxes (which happens when you add a caption to an object whose Text Wrapping is NOT "In line with text"), you will have to select and delete the entire text box(es).

Answer 2

Hi,

Captions to figures, equations, or other objects can be added and use in Office Word. A caption is a numbered label, such as "Figure 1", that you can add to a figure, a table, an equation, or another object. For us to identify the main cause of this issue, we just need to confirm some information. Please answer the following:

• When did you first encounter this issue?
• Any changes that took place in your computer before this issue occurred?
• Can you please check this link and let us know if the steps provided are the ones you tried in updating figure numbers?

If you can also provide us a screenshot about this case so we could have a better view of your issue.