How number tables in Microsoft Word?

[peytontodd]

Hello. My 154-page document has a hierarchy of numbered sections, plus 116 numbered examples built on ListNum fields. I now realize that I have enough tables that it would be convenient to number them automatically also since they sometimes get moved around due to my continued editing. My question is how do I do that. Would it be another type of field? Which one? Or what?



Thanks for your help.

Peyton

[Stefan Blom]

You can add a caption below each table (References tab | Insert Caption).

[peytontodd]

That worked beautifully. Many thanks!

One little wrinkle, though: Whenever I insert a reference to one of these tables via Alt-S > RF, it always inserts as what appears to be Times New Roman, fontsize 10, even though the entire paragraph where the reference is inserted is Calibri fontsize 12.

[Stefan Blom]

Captions make use of the Caption paragraph style, which you can modify to suit your needs. Click inside a caption paragraph. Press Ctrl+Shift+S to display the Apply Styles pane. Verify that the style name is "Caption." Click the Modify button, make the desired changes, and click OK.

[peytontodd]

Unfortunately, in the place you mention, my captions already do say Calibri fontsize 12. I get the same Times 10 font even after I click 'Reapply' in the little Caption format dialog.

[Stefan Blom]

What happens if you select the text and press Ctrl+SpaceBar (to clear font formatting not in style)?

Also, when you look at the style definition and you see "Calibri," are you sure it doesn't say "Calibri (Body)"? If that it was it says, the font would change as you change themes or apply a different font via Home tab | Change Styles | Fonts.

[peytontodd]

Well, first off, in the 'Font...' dialog accessible within the list that appears when I press the "Format" button in the lower left hand corner: No, it doesn't say "Calibri (body)" but just "Calibri". Second, if I press Ctrl+SpaceBar to clear the formatting, that does work in that an inserted reference to a table (i.e. Alt-S > RF) does appear in the Calibri size 12 format of the paragraph into which it is inserted. However, when I looked back at the dialog after that, I found that the 'Calibri size 12' had been put back (which is what it said originally, of course, even though what got inserted was always 'Times 10'). I didn't make any changes in the dialog but just cancelled it. Nonetheless, when I tried to insert a table reference right after that (Alt-S > RF), it came out as 'Times 10' again.

[Stefan Blom]

This is strange. Could you share an example document (remove any sensitive information first)?

[peytontodd]

I don't mind at all, though the document is rather long. It turns out that the problem still occurs in the excerpt I have attached. If it doesn't happen to you, then perhaps the problem lies in my .dot? For what it's worth, I find that if some of the titles on my tables (the closest ones?) are in bold, the Times fontsize 10 insertion is in bold, but not when I change all of them to non-bold. Thanks for all the attention you're devoting to this.

Peyton

[Stefan Blom]

It looks correct when I open it. See the attached screenshot.

In your original document, see if "Automatically update document styles" is selected in the Templates and Add-Ins dialog box.

To display the dialog box: First display the Developer tab on the ribbon (File tab | Options | Customize Ribbon). Then click the Document Template button; you'll find the "Automatically update..." option on the Templates tab.

[peytontodd]

I don't seem to have a File tab; I have Office 2007...

[Charles Kenyon]

Use the Pizza (Office) button instead.
Developer Tab in Microsoft Word 2007 - 2013

[Stefan Blom]

Sorry. In Word 2007, use the Office ("pizza") button, and then click Word Options. Look for an option to display the Developer tab (I believe you'll find it in the Popular or General category).

[peytontodd]

Okay, thanks. I managed to get the Developer tab in the ribbon and verify that 'Automatically update styles' was not checked', and check it. That worked... sort of. But there were two problems: (1) Only the text of the caption switched to Calibri. The Label and number (e.g. Table 1) remained Times. And (2) The font size of the text was still 10, not 12. So I inserted a new caption, which seemed to solve the problem (as I recall), but then all my subsequent tables were re-numbered so I closed the doc without saving it. If I try to Modify the current 'Caption' style, it already claims to be Calibri with font size 12.

[Stefan Blom]

I'm wondering if a character style could be applied to part of the caption—or, more specifically, to the label and number.