Hello, my name is Erin.
I’m a professional copy editor who shares writing tips for the real world on this channel
and on my blog at erinwrightwriting.com.
Today’s tutorial shows how to insert figure and table captions in Microsoft Word.
The benefit of using Word’s caption tool, as opposed to just typing the caption under each figure or table,
is that the caption numbers will automatically update as you add figures or tables.
In addition to inserting captions, we’ll also change the figure label
and change the numbering for new captions.
Note that the caption numbers only automatically update when you add figures or tables.
The numbers won’t automatically update if you move or delete figures or tables.
We’ll cover the steps for how to update caption numbering, as well as how to change caption formatting,
such as font, size, and colors, in separate tutorials.
I’ll be using Word for Office 365, which is currently the same as Word 2019.
The steps are the same in Word 2016, Word 2013, and Word 2010.
To begin right-click on the first figure you want to caption.
Then select Insert Caption from the pop-up menu, which opens the Caption dialog box.
Alternately, you can also open the Caption dialog box by selecting the figure
and then selecting Insert Caption from the References tab in the ribbon.
Now, select the Label menu arrow and choose the option you want from drop-down menu.
The options are Daily Occurrence, Equation, Figure, and Table.
The default option is Figure.
This option is appropriate for visuals such as graphs, charts, photos, illustrations, and maps.
Please note that each label type maintains its own number sequence.
For example, if you have a Figure 1 and then insert a table, it will be Table 1.
Next, select the Position menu arrow and choose the option you want from the menu.
The default option for Figure is "Below selected item."
The default option for Table is "Above selected item."
These defaults will be appropriate for most situations.
If you want to change the figure label from one of the preset options,
select the New Label button.
And then enter your new label in the text box in the New Label dialog box.
For this example, I am changing Figure to the abbreviation Fig.
Once you’re done, select the OK button.
If you want to change how your captions are numbered, select the Numbering button.
Then, select the Format menu arrow in the Caption Numbering dialog box
to choose numerals, letters, or Roman numerals.
Check "Include chapter number" if you want your figure numbers to start with the chapter number.
If you choose that option, you will have additional control over which headings indicate the start of a new chapter
and which separator appears between the numbers.
Select the OK button when you’re finished.
Now, type your caption after the label and number in the Caption text box.
Most of our primary style guides recommend placing a period after the figure or table number.
However, Word doesn’t provide a way to add that period automatically,
so remember to add it manually as you type each caption.
See my tutorial titled “How to Write Figure Captions,” linked below,
for more information on that topic.
Finally, select the OK button.
Your new caption will appear with your figure or table.
Repeat these steps for the any additional figures or tables added to your document.
The companion blog post for this video along with many other writing tips
appears on erinwrightwriting.com, which is linked below.
Feel free to leave me a comment if there’s a specific topic related to Microsoft Word
or Adobe Acrobat that you would like me to address in the future.
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Thank you so much for watching!