Figure captions on top of figures in a specific style

[nooneinparticular314159]

I want to create figure captions that reside ABOVE my figures, in 10 pt
Arial. They need to have the format Figure 3-2, where 3 is the current
chapter number, and 2 is the figure number, followed by my caption
text. They also need to show up in my table of figures. I need this
to be in a style. When I try this, the following bad things happen:

-The figure caption shows up in the wrong place
-Creating a style based on heading1 or heading 2 results in my chapters
and sections all being labeled as figures!
-The table of figures contains no figures.

My heading1 is customized for this document, as is my heading2. So I
can't change them.

How do I do this?

Thanks!

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

I want to create figure captions that reside ABOVE my figures, in 10 pt

Arial. They need to have the format Figure 3-2, where 3 is the current
chapter number, and 2 is the figure number, followed by my caption
text. They also need to show up in my table of figures. I need this
to be in a style. When I try this, the following bad things happen:

-The figure caption shows up in the wrong place
-Creating a style based on heading1 or heading 2 results in my chapters
and sections all being labeled as figures!
-The table of figures contains no figures.

My heading1 is customized for this document, as is my heading2. So I
can't change them.

I don't understand why you try to create the figure style based on a
heading style?

Word's caption functionality uses the style CAPTION. You need to modify
this to use the font you require.

I'm not sure how you managed to get things to do what they're doing (your
list of "bad things"), but I believe you should start again in a new
document.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or
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[Stefan Blom]

Insert the figures "In line with text" (use the Layout tab of the
Format | <Object> dialog box); this places the figure in an ordinary
text paragraph. Use Insert | Reference | Caption to create the
captions in the desired format in the paragraph above the figure.

If you need to position a figure and its caption in the document, just
select them both and, on the Forms toolbar, click the Insert Frame
button. You can drag the frame to the desired position or set detailed
placement options via Format | Frame.

To create a table of figures, use Insert | Reference | Index and
Tables, and click the Table of Figures tab. Pick the desired "Caption
label" ("Figure" in this case) and click OK.

 

[nooneinparticular314159]

Doesn't work. I get a frame longer than the page. When I resize the
frame, I get another box with thin solid lines and grabber handles
around it that can be scaled, but that can not have its proportions
change. If I attempt to insert a table with the reference following
those instructions, I get:

Error! No table of figures entries found.

When I try to insert the caption, the caption number begins with the
correct chapter number, but the wrong figure number (I get 3-2 instead
of 3-1.) I have not been able to get it to start with 1. If I delete
it and try again, the next one begins with 3!

 

[Stefan Blom]

Have you tried the steps I mentioned in a new document? If they work
there, then your existing document is probably corrupt and needs to be
recreated, as suggested by Cindy Meister.

 

[harvestman]

I want to create figure captions that reside ABOVE my figures, in 10 pt
Arial. They need to have the format Figure 3-2, where 3 is the current
chapter number, and 2 is the figure number, followed by my caption
text. They also need to show up in my table of figures. I need this
to be in a style. When I try this, the following bad things happen:

At the risk of being a pedant, I would suggest you place your Figure
captions beneath your Figure, rather than on top. Captions on top is the
standard format normally reserved for Tables, not Figures.

-The figure caption shows up in the wrong place

This would suggest that Word has not recognised your caption as being a
Figure caption. NOTE: Figure captions are usually positioned underneath
Figures.

If you select your text (i.e., highlight it), then go into your "available
styles" window, you should find a style that says "figure", so you select
that.

You can check whether in fact your caption is recognised as a Figure by
simply looking at the style shown in the dialogue box on your toolbar,
immediately to the left of where you see the type font (e.g., Times New
Roman) displayed.

-Creating a style based on heading1 or heading 2 results in my chapters
and sections all being labeled as figures!

If for some reason there is no available style for Figure and you want to
create a style based on another style such as Heading 2 or Heading 3, you
will need to select that style for your highhlighted text, then modify that
particular style and re-name it as Figure. However, this is not best
practice (see below).

-The table of figures contains no figures.

This would suggest that you don't have any styles that are "figures" or that
are recognised as Figures. Try placing your caption below your Figure and/
or re-jig your document so that the captions are listed as Figures. Then you
can select your TOC option (as described by Stefan Blom) to produce a list of
your Figures which will show the complete caption
..

My heading1 is customized for this document, as is my heading2. So I
can't change them.

You can use these heading styles or other styles to create another style,
but I although I have mentioned this above, I think that is a messy way. You
should be able to locate a drop down list of style types that includes a
basic style for Figure, so then if for example you choose to underline your
"Figure 3-2:" ("Figure 3.2:" is probably better), you should get a resulting
style that says"Figure plus underline".

How do I do this?

See above. Hope this helps...
Cheers,
harvestman