I have a large document, multiple sections which are numbered "chapters". Within the chapters there a number of "figures" (captions) which I've set up to be numbered, "chapter number-number of figure within the chapter". For example, Figure 8-3 Logon Window is the third figure in the 8th chapter. When a (numbered chapter) section is removed from the document, the chapter numbering automatically re-sets, but the caption numbers in the following sections are not automatically updated. For example, if I delete chapter 7, what was chapter 8 is now re-numbered (automatically) to chapter 7 - but the figures in chapter 7 are still numbered Figure 8-1 XYZ, Figure 8-2 XYZ, Figure 8-3 XYZ ...
I know how to manually update the field (number) of the caption - but I can't figure out how to update all these fields at once. Updating the Table of Figures does not affect the numbering of the captions themselves - it adds new or deletes non-existent captions and updates the page numbers of the Table of Figures only.

As you mentioned, the numbered part of a caption is a field. You can update multiple fields by highlighting the part of the document you want updated, then pressing F9. (If you want to update the entire document, click Ctrl+A, then press F9. If it is a very large document, this could take awhile...in that case, it would be better to update chapter by chapter.)

See if that works!

-Sue