I have a table of figures (TOF) in a long document, and I would like to have all of the figures in the TOF to have a concise description. However, in the figure caption itself in the body of the document, I want to have the concise figure caption, followed by some elaboration that I would not want in the TOF.

In the body of the document, I want have all of the figure caption text in one group without having to hit "return."



I created a "figure caption" style from which my TOF automatically updates. However, I can't change styles in the middle of my figure caption; if I highlight part of the text and select the "normal" style, the entire caption changes to "normal."

The feature you are looking for is called a 'style separator'.

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Thanks, Guessed.

Unfortunately I'm using Word for Mac 2011, and I've come to the conclusion from looking around online that you can't insert a style separator on a line for the Mac version of Word. I try "Ctrl+Alt+Enter" but nothing happens.

Does anyone have any possible workarounds that don't involve confusing others I share the document with or corrupting my file?

Mac Word doesn't support Style Separators. Instead, you can simply format the intervening paragraph break as hidden text.

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Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Thanks. After some research on hidden text, it seems that the problem has been solved.

Thank you!

This problem appears to be persistent in 2022, seven years after the initial question was asked on this forum. Can someone please expound on the solution because the answer "Instead, you can simply format the intervening paragraph break as hidden text" isn't very helpful. It's perplexing that "Style Separator" still isn't available for Word for Mac, but if this solution is the only one then i need help explaining what is meant. BTW this forum's answer appears to be the ONLY answer to the "Style separator not available in Word for Mac" problem on the ENTIRE internet, according to google anyway, which has even marked paul edelstein's response as the "official google answer" to the question! But i can't figure it out, i need the steps, maybe a screen grab, something written for the comprehension of an adolescent would be great!

P.S. Why did microsoft make this so difficult? Why haven't they fixed this oversight in 7 years?

The answer has not changed.

See Style Separator in my page on Understanding Styles.
Formatting your document in Word for Windows allows insertion of the Style Separator. On the Mac, the solution is to select the paragraph mark and set it as hidden text.
See also Creating Run-in Sideheads by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP.

Note, this is not the place to get any changes made in Word nor the attention of developers at Microsoft. This is an independent user-to-user support forum. MS does not see anything you post here. The way to get their attention is through the feedback mechanisms.

• How do I give feedback on Microsoft Office?
• Send Feedback to MS Developers
• Bonus Reading related to MS Feedback system

Really? So what do you propose would be more helpful when nothing better is available???

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Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Thank you Charles Kenyon. This was very helpful. However, for other Mac users out there, I found that (Ctrl+Shift+H) did not work with Word on my MacBook Pro M1. I highlighted (selected) the space right after the APA Level 4 heading, then clicked on the menu Format, Font, and under Effects, ticked "Hidden". This accomplished what you brilliantly suggested, Charles. Thanks a lot! I had to change from APA 6 to APA 7 style format while finishing my dissertation, and suddenly found all my Level 4 headings were messed up in my TOC (body text was in the TOC!). Grateful for this forum.

In my writing on the Style Separator I do point out that on the Mac, the shortcut is Cmd+Shift+H. Again, the only way this might be improved is if you and other Mac users use the feedback mechanisms.