March 31, 2014
Scenario:
You have a Word document that uses outline numbering for each chapter/section heading (e.g. 1.1, 1.2, 2.4.3 etc.).
You have table and figure captions in this document that are numbered in two long sequences – one for tables, one for figures (e.g. Table 1 through 53; Figure 1 through 26).
You want to convert the caption number sequences from a single number sequence to a separate sequence in each chapter/section (e.g. Table 3.2 for the second table in chapter 3).
You want to do this because your document is long and readers can’t easily find the tables/figures they want as numbers like Table 34 are meaningless unless you find the table captions before/after ‘Table 34’. By changing the numbering sequence to include the chapter numbers, your readers will have guideposts to aid their search – if they are in Section 5, they will know that Table 3.2 is back in Section 3 and is the second table in that section.
Ultimately, you want to help your readers find the information they want as quickly as possible.
Prerequisites:
This set of steps ONLY works if you use automated outline numbering for your heading styles. This post does not describe how to set that up (instead see the links in this post: https://cybertext.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/word-2007-outline-numbering/).
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There are three main steps in this procedure – updating the table and figure caption numbering, then updating any cross-references that refer to these tables (including any List of Tables of List of Figures you’ve inserted).
Step 1: Update the caption numbering for tables
Place your cursor in front of ANY automated caption number for ANY table.
Change the Label to Table.
Select the Include Chapter Numbering check box.
Optional: Change the Separator. It’s unlikely you’ll need to change the Format or the Style, so leave those as they are.
Step 2: Update the caption numbering for figures
Place your cursor in front of ANY automated caption number for ANY figure.
Change the Label to Figure.
Select the Include Chapter Numbering check box.
Optional: Change the Separator. It’s unlikely you’ll need to change the Format or the Style, so leave those as they are.
Step 3: Update all the cross-references to the figures and tables throughout the document
Press Ctrl+A to select the entire document.
When finished, all your cross-references should now reflect the new numbering sequences. NOTE: Sometimes you have to repeat these steps and update a second time to get them to all update correctly.
See also:
[Links last checked March 2014]