Figure Numberings Not Continuing in Word
If you want to make an intuitive reference to an image, you can insert a caption. You can quickly add a caption to a picture or photo in Word by using the Insert Caption function. Word will automatically number your captions of tables or figures. However, sometimes the caption numbering of the figure is incorrect in your Word document and not sequential, which can be a problem. You will find out that figure caption numbers do not show in the correct order. This article will show you how to insert a figure caption in Word and explain how the numbering works. Read about the solutions to fix the wrong numbering in figure captions.
Table of contents
- How to insert a caption in Word
- Create a new label
- Figure caption numbering incorrect due to errors in Seq field
- Solution of wrong figure caption numbering in Seq field
- Problem caption number for figures incorrect
- Check if a picture is in line with text or with text wrapping
- Solution for figure caption numbering incorrect due to With Text Wrapping
- Conclusion
How to insert a caption in Word
Open your Word document and add an image. You can add a caption to a picture by following the steps below.
- Right-click on the image
- Selection opens up > Click on Insert Caption > The Caption dialog box opens up
Or you can use the method below:
- Go to the References tab
- Click on the Insert Caption icon > The Caption dialog box opens up
Create a new label
In the Caption dialog box, you can choose from three different labels. A label is a text that appears before the picture numbering, which you can select by default, such as Equation, Figure, or Table. Note that these labels differ when you change your language settings in Word.
There is also an option to create a new label yourself. Click on New Label in the Caption dialog box underneath > This will open a new box called New Label where you can write your customized Label > Lastly, click OK.
In our example below, we have used the word Photo.
Once you have made your new label and clicked the OK button, you will automatically return to the Caption dialog box. Here, you will find the customized word (e.g., Photo) under Caption and the Label selection. You have to click OK in the Caption dialog box to confirm the changes.
Figure caption numbering incorrect due to errors in Seq field
Sometimes the captions don't follow the same order even though the numbering under the figure is correct. This is because when you add a caption to a picture, photo, figure, and other items in Word, it automatically sets the identifier in a Seq field.
{ SEQ Identifier }
Seq stands for sequence, and it numbers the captions. For more details on Seq fields, read the Microsoft article about Fields codes: Sequence field.
When you insert captions via References > Insert Caption, Word sets the Seq field equal to the label you have selected. You can view the field code in the Seq fields and other types of fields. Turn the field code display on by pressing Alt + F9. It will look like the example below.
{ SEQ Figure \* ARABIC }
All the Seq fields with the same identifier count as one series of consecutive numbers. Therefore, every time you add, delete or change an item with its Seq field, you must update the remaining items with its Seq fields to maintain a new sequence.
Remember that you will only see a Seq field if you add a caption to a picture or photo via References > Insert Caption in Word. If you add a caption manually, you will not get automatic numbering, and there is no Seq field. So a caption with the identifier Figure could look like the example below.
Figure { SEQ Figure \* ARABIC }
If you have copied content with captions from another document, the captions may not use the same identifier or label. The same problem happens if you create Seq fields manually in Word. For example, some captions use Figure as an identifier, while others use Table as an identifier. In this case, you will have two different series of captions that count separately, e.g., one numbering for Figure and another numbering for Table.
Solution of wrong figure caption numbering in Seq field
There is no problem with the caption itself, but sometimes Word won't let you delete the label or numbering in the caption. You can fix the wrong figure caption numbering in the Seq field.
In our example below, we have inserted four different captions without any pictures. Insert a figure caption in Word > Go to References > Insert Caption > Write your caption and click OK. Unfortunately, the order of the captions is wrong. If you change it manually, the automatic numbering will not work anymore. Follow the steps below to see how you can change it.
Step 1 – The numbering of the captions is incorrect in the below picture. It states Figure 1-2-1-3 instead of Figure 1-2-3-4.
Step 2 – Display the Seq field codes by pressing Alt + F9. Now, you should be able to see the Seq fields of all the captions. However, as you can see below, the third identifier of the Seq Field looks different from the others as it states SEQ Figur instead of SEQ Figure. It can occur when you copy a caption from another document or write captions manually.
Step 3 – Now, you should change the Seq field of the third caption. You can do this by copying the Seq field of the correct figure caption and past it instead of the third caption. Or you can correct it by writing the same Seq field as the other figure. Now the Seq field will look all the same.
Step 4 – Once you correct the Seq fields, you should press Alt + F9 to return. There is a chance that the order of the caption is still incorrect, like in the left picture. It is because you have not updated the captions.
- You can do this by selecting all the captions > Press Alt + A
- Then update the numbering of the captions > Press Alt + F9
Now the numbering of the caption figure should look like the right picture below.
If you did not fix the correct order of the caption numbering, please read about the following problem to find the solution.
Problem caption number for figures incorrect
If you have two pictures next to each other, you may want to label them correctly to make the readers understand. However, even if you start to label your pictures in the correct order, the automatic caption number for each picture shifts.
In our example, we will start to insert a caption for the left picture in Word.
- Go to the References tab
- Click on Insert Caption > The Caption dialog box opens
- The caption automatically states Figure 1 > Now you can write a caption > Click OK
- The caption under the picture looks correct
Let's say you want to add a caption to the right photo in your Word document, as Figure 2.
- First, click on the right picture where you want to enter the caption > Go to the References tab
- Click on the Insert Caption button
- The Caption dialog box opens up, but the figure numbering is wrong.
For example, in the picture below, you can see that it automatically states Figure 1 in the Caption dialog box. Also, the left picture automatically changes from Figure 1 to Figure 2. But why is this happening?
Check if a picture is in line with text or with text wrapping
The problem occurs when you have pictures set With Text Wrapping. For example, let's say that you have two images next to each other, and one of them is set something else than In Line With Text. In this case, each caption ends up in a text box. The right picture in the example below is set with text wrapping. You can check that by clicking on the picture or text box underneath it once. Now an icon called Layout Options appears. Click on the icon to see which layout you have selected for this particular picture.
You can also check it in the Picture Tools tab when you click on the picture. Finally, in the ribbon, you can either click on Position or Wrap Text, which will give you the same options.
Once you add a caption to a picture set with text wrapping in Word, the figure caption numbering becomes incorrect. The numbering of the captions depends on the positions of the text box anchors, which will be explained later. Read further to understand how to insert a caption of a figure in Word with the correct method.
Solution for figure caption numbering incorrect due to With Text Wrapping
Follow the steps below to fix the wrong order due to Pictures With Text Wrapping. You already know how to insert a caption of a figure in a Word document. For this example, we have inserted four pictures in a Word document with incorrect figure caption numbering.
- Go to the Home tab
- Press the ¶ button under the Paragraphs group. It displays object anchors as well as other non-printing marks.
- Or use the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + 8
Sometimes you will not see the object anchors immediately. It is because you have not clicked inside the text box under the picture.
- Click inside a caption to see its anchor. See the below picture for further illustration.
- Now click and drag the anchor so that it appears in the correct sequence.
- Click on an anchor and move it downwards if you want the numbering to come in second.
- Click on an anchor and move it upwards if you want the numbering to be first.
Sometimes you have to bring the anchor to the end of the document to change its caption numbering. Look at the picture below to see how to drag the anchor icon down. Please check the location of the anchor for the individual text fields with incorrect numbers. Then, please do the same steps for figure 3 and drag its anchor down.
The caption numbering does not always change immediately, but that is not a problem. Read the following steps to see how to update the caption numbering in your Word document.
- Update the caption numbers by switching to Print Preview > Use the shortcut Ctrl + F2 or shortcut Ctrl + P. Now you will see the correct order of your captions on the right side.
- Then go back to the current view by clicking on the arrow in the upper left corner > Use the Esc button.
These problems do not occur if your pictures are In Line With Text in Word, and therefore it is the safest way to add a caption to a picture. There is no need to move the anchors anymore.
Conclusion
You have learned how to insert a caption of a figure in Word. However, sometimes the figure caption numbering is incorrect in Word. If you have pictures set with text wrapping, there is a high chance of having the wrong order numbering in your captions. It could also be due to the wrong identifier in the Seq field, which can easily be changed manually. Now, you can add a caption to a photo in Word using the correct method.
Source: https://knowl365.com/caption-numbering-of-figure-incorrect-in-word/
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