Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Changing Caption Numbering Styles.

Changing Caption Numbering Styles

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 15, 2014)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

If you use the captioning feature of Word, you can automatically number all your captions. For instance, all your tables and figures could be numbered using consecutive numbers. In addition, Word allows you to specify how you want the numbers to appear in the caption. To change numbering styles for your captions, follow these steps:

Display the Caption dialog box. (Choose Insert | Caption, Insert | Reference | Caption, or References | Insert Caption, depending on your version of Word.) (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Caption dialog box.

Click on the Numbering button. Word displays the Caption Numbering dialog box. (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2. The Caption Numbering dialog box.

Using the Format drop-down list, choose the format you want used for your caption numbers.
Click on OK to close the Caption Numbering dialog box.
Click on OK to insert your caption.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (624) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Changing Caption Numbering Styles.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Always Printing Drawing Objects

Add a bunch of drawing objects to your document, and you may wonder how to make sure they all appear on a printout. How ...

Discover More

Sticking with the Dashes

By default, dashes don't "stick" to the text that follows them. Here's one way around this normal formatting convention.

Discover More

Understanding Subroutines

The heart of creating powerful programs in VBA is to understand how to create subroutines. These structures allow you to ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Adding Caption Labels

When using the captioning capabilities of Word, you aren't limited to the three default caption labels provided in the ...

Discover More

Formatting Captions

When you add captions to elements in your document, Word allows you to modify how those captions are formatted. Here's ...

Discover More

Adding Captions

Need to add a caption after a document element such as a figure or table? You can add and format one manually, or you can ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is nine more than 3?

2017-02-10 06:32:24

GeordieLad

Hi Erika,

Unless I'm missing something, the logical way, surely, is to use Find and Replace. Inputting Fig. in Find and Figure in Replace and then selecting Replace all should achieve the desired result.

2017-02-10 03:09:22

Erika

In my thesis there are 77 figures that read as "Fig. x" under each figure. I would like to change all figure captions to read "Figure x" (instead of Fig.).
How can I make this universal change throughout the document?

2014-08-27 16:03:50

SE_2000

Any suggestions on how to create a figure title with the number in brackets as show below?

Figure [3]: High Level

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.