When working in Microsoft Word, you have the option to caption the images used in the document and then create a list of figures.
The following files are available for download:
Adding captions to images
Our document has two images, the line chart of average temperatures and the photo of the Black-eyed Susans. We will add captions to each image and then create a list of captions. We will begin with the line chart.
- To open the Caption dialog box,
Right-click a blank area of the line chart, Click Insert Caption...
The Caption dialog box opens:
This dialog box gives us an area to enter the caption. There are options for which label we would like to use and where we would like the caption to appear. We can also modify the numbering applied to the captions.
- To place the cursor, in the Caption area,
Click after the label, "Figure 1"
- To add a caption, type:
: Average high and low temperatures by month
- To accept this caption,
Click
The caption appears below the line chart.
Let's add a caption to the photo of the Black-eyed Susans.
- To open the Caption dialog box,
Right-click the photo of the Black-eyed Susans, Click Insert Caption...
- To add a caption,
Click in the caption field, type: :Black-eyed Susans, Click
Now that the images are captioned, we can add a list of figures to the document.
Inserting a list of figures
The list of figures should be placed between the table of contents and author's note. We'll insert a new blank page after the table of contents and insert the list of figures there.
- To place the cursor,
Click before the A in "Author's note"
- To insert a blank page, on the keyboard, press:
Control key + Enter key
A blank page is now between the table of contents and the author's note. This new page should be numbered with the Roman numeral i. And the author's note page should be numbered ii.
- To correctly place the cursor,
Click at the top of the second page
- To add a heading, type:
List of figures
- To format the heading, on the Home tab,
Click
- To open the Table of Figures dialog box, on the References tab,
Click
- To correctly place the cursor,
The Table of Figures dialog box opens. This dialog box gives several options for customizing the list of figures. We're going to accept the defaults.
- To accept the Table of Figures default settings,
Click
- To accept the Table of Figures default settings,
The list of figures now appears on the second page of the document.
Let's update the table of contents to include the list of figures.
- To select the table of contents,
Click the table of contents
- To update the table of contents,
In Microsoft Word for Windows, Click
In Microsoft Word for macOS, Click
Click Update Table... - To update the entire table, if necessary,
Click the Update entire table radio button, Click
- Deselect the table of contents.
The list of figures is now at the top of the table of contents.