Condensing Figure Caption References

Chris Hulston wrote about problems having Word correctly refer to ranges of captions in his reports. For instance, referencing "Figures 1 to 6" instead of "Figure 1 to Figure 6," as is easily accomplished through the use of cross references. It seems that such proper wording is possible, if the following steps are followed:

1. Position your insertion point where you want the range reference to occur.
2. Type the words 'Referenced in Figures ' (don't forget the trailing space).
3. Insert a cross-reference to the first figure in the range, making sure the "Only label and number" option is selected.
4. Type the word 'to' followed by a cross-reference to the last figure in the range. (Again, make sure the "Only label and number" option is selected.) Your document will look something like this:

Referenced in Figures Figure 1 to Figure 6

Referenced in Figures { Figure 1 } to Figure 6

1. Inside the new field, to the left of the 'Figure 1' embedded field, type 'QUOTE ' (make sure you include the space).
2. Inside your new field code, insert ' \* "Arabic" ' between the embedded 'Figure 1' field and before the closing brace. Again, note the spaces.
3. Repeat steps 5 to 7 for the other cross-reference.
4. If you press Alt+F9 to show field codes, your document should look something like this:

Referenced in Figures { QUOTE {REF _Ref111111 \h } \* "Arabic" } to { QUOTE {REF _Ref22222 \h } \* "Arabic" }

Referenced in Figures 1 to 6

The trick is to use the QUOTE field along with the \* "Arabic" formatting switch. The QUOTE field de-references the REF field, making it seem as if it were simple text. The Arabic format tells Word to display the text in Arabic numerals. Serendipitously, Word ignores non-numeric characters when it applies the Arabic switch.