How do I do Auto Captions in Word 2007

[Herman A. Newman]

I am working with a document that I am attempting to help two little old
ladies publish a book from. The document was started in Word 2003 and went
along for over two years with no problems. Then my mother and aunt, who I
was the caregiver for, passed after a long illness. I just got started
again. When I started back with them the document started to have problems.
When attempting to insert a picture (.jpg) with caption the picture or
caption (text box) would move to some place far away. I mean sometimes 50 or
more pages from where I had the cursor at the time I selected insert. After
much frustration I decided to update to Office 2007 Pro. I really like the
new interface after using it for about three months. I have converted the
document over to the Word 2007 .docx format, done a complete cleanup of the
document as explained in another post here. I then removed the chapter that
was causing the problems and attempted to insert my pictures using insert
caption. I inserted the first picture, right clicked, hit insert caption,
new label, typed Photo as the label, then OK. The caption (Photo 1) showed
up below the picture as expected. Added second picture with insert caption
(Photo 2) showed up as expected. Added third picture with insert caption
(Photo 1) showed up - NOT WHAT I EXPECTED. Photo 2 remained Photo 2, Photo 1
became Photo 3. I then inserted eight pictures and always, the last picture
inserted became Photo 1 and all the other in order back to the first Photo
becoming Photo 8. I need help. Someone point me in the correct direction,
Please! Herman

 

[Cindy M.]

Hi Herman,

The caption (Photo 1) showed
up below the picture as expected. Added second picture with insert caption
(Photo 2) showed up as expected. Added third picture with insert caption
(Photo 1) showed up - NOT WHAT I EXPECTED. Photo 2 remained Photo 2, Photo 1
became Photo 3. I then inserted eight pictures and always, the last picture
inserted became Photo 1 and all the other in order back to the first Photo
becoming Photo 8.

Can you tell what type of "text flow formatting" these pictures have?

In a nutshell, the SEQ fields that manage the caption numbering update in the
order they appear in the document's text flow. If a caption is *not* inline
with the text, then the caption is inserted in a "text box". And where Word
preceives this textbox to be in the documents text flow may not correspond to
where you see it.

If you want to see text flow around the picture and caption, the better
strategy, usually, is to put them into both into the same Frame or Table
(cell), with the textflow formatting around that.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 17 2005)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

 

[Herman A. Newman]

Hi Cindy,

I guess I need to explain better. I took the chapter out of the book and
saved it in a new document. I then started with a new page, nothing on it,
and installed the first three pictures, with each one of them arranged "Text
wrapping: Tight". This is what I got at that point: "The caption (Photo 1)
showed up below the picture as expected. Added second picture with insert
caption (Photo 2) showed up as expected. Added third picture with insert
caption (Photo 1) showed up - NOT WHAT I EXPECTED. Photo 2 remained Photo 2,
Photo 1 became Photo 3." At that point I knew I had a problem. I went ahead
and installed eight photos, "Text wrapping: Tight", to see what happened: "I
then inserted eight pictures with the same and always, the last picture
inserted became Photo 1 and all the other in order back to the first Photo
becoming Photo 8."

All this is with no text on the page other than the caption "Photo x" under
the pictures. Page one of the document is the chapter title, then a page
break, entered by holding the ctrl down and hitting the enter key. The
pictures were then inserted starting with the cursor at the beginning of the
page break line at the top of the page. I always have "Show all formatting
marks" displayed in my documents so I know what is happening in the
document.

I really need to know how to do the Auto Captions as I have about a hundred
pictures to insert in the chapter. Using the procedures given in Word to
insert captions I get the above results.

Where do I find information on how to do this? "> If you want to see text
flow around the picture and caption, the better strategy, usually, is to put
them into both into the same Frame or Table (cell), with the textflow
formatting around that." It won't help with my question "How do I do Auto
Captions in Word 2007?" but it will be helpful in the future in other
documents that have pictures in them.

Help!!!

 

[Stefan Blom]

Note that for pictures in the drawing layer, Word places the captions inside
text boxes (which are also in the drawing layer), and the caption numbers
are calculated based on the location of the text box *anchors* in the
document.

For example, the caption inside the text box anchored to the first paragraph
in the document will be numbered 1, and the caption anchored to the second
paragraph will be numbered 2, no matter where the actual text boxes are
positioned on the page. And if more than one text box has the same anchor
paragraph, there is no way to predict which caption gets which number (as
far as I know).

Do the following to fix the numbering: Display nonprinting marks (for
example by pressing Ctrl+Shift+8), then select each object and move the
anchors so that they are in the correct order, and so that each anchor has
its own paragraph.

If you want to use a frame instead, as Cindy suggested, position the
pictures "In line with text," and place the caption inside an ordinary text
paragraph; then select the picture and its caption and add a frame around
them (which can be done by using the Insert Frame button at Developer tab |
Legacy Tools | Insert Frame). Note that if you want to add a table of
figures, and you want the document to be backward compatible, you must use
this approach, since TOFs and TOCs in older versions didn't recognize items
inside text boxes.

 

[Cindy M.]

Hi Herman,

I guess I need to explain better. I took the chapter out of the book and
saved it in a new document. I then started with a new page, nothing on it,
and installed the first three pictures

Oh, I understood more or less what the problem was, just not the details. What
you type here just confirms my guess. The problem is that pictures with text
flow formatting ("Tight" in this case) exist outside the document's text. Word
links them to the text by means of an "anchor". The order of the captions
reflects the order of the anchor points in the document.

As your document has only the single paragraph, all 16 (pictures + captions in
text boxes) anchors are getting in each other's way because they're all in the
same place.

If you were to start with a new document, press ENTER eight times, then insert
one picture+caption / paragraph, the problem would probably (I emphasize
"probably") go away because the order of the anchors would be clearer to Word.

Where do I find information on how to do this? "> If you want to see text
flow around the picture and caption, the better strategy, usually, is to put
them into both into the same Frame or Table (cell), with the textflow
formatting around that." It won't help with my question "How do I do Auto
Captions in Word 2007?" but it will be helpful in the future in other
documents that have pictures in them

Not helpful if you absolutely require "Tight" wrapping, no.

Table cells
1. Make sure the default for inserting pictures is Inline with text.
2. Insert a one-cell table, make sure the cursor is in the table.
3. Insert the picture. If Auto-Captioning is on, both the picture and the
caption will be in the table cell.
4. Using the "handle" at the top-left of the table, drag the table cell where
you want it on the page. The wrapping can be controlled by the Table
Properties.
5. If you don't want a line around it, you can turn it off using the "Borders"
commands.

Frames
Same basic approach as for tables. To insert a Frame, you need to go to the
DEveloper tab, Controls Group. You'll find the command in the "Legacy Tools".
Once the frame has content (the picture + caption) you can right-click it to
get to the Format Frame dialog box where you can set other options.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 17 2005)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

 

[Herman A. Newman]

Hi Cindy and Stefan,

Thanks so much for the help.

I have inserted eight pictures in frames on a page. I tried the tables but
it only allowed me to insert one picture per line. I need to insert two
pictures side by side to best utilize my pages. Now for the next problem.
How do I get to a new page to start with the next eight pictures? I have
tried a forced page break and when I try to insert another frame, it is
inserted on the previous page. I can't drag and drop it to the new page. It
just snaps back to the previous page. If we can solve this I will be up and
running for now. Help!

Since I would like very much to learn all I can about the inside workings of
Word 2007, what is the best book to acquire to help me along? If there are
none, where should I be reading to learn the most about Word 2007 other than
here on the newsgroup?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Wouldn't a two-column table do just what you want, to put pictures side by
side?

 

[Herman A. Newman]

Thanks Suzanne,

The problem with that is the pictures are not all the same size or
orientation. Using frames as suggested by Cindy and Stefan is great because
it allows placement of different size and orientation (ie - wide and short
or tall and narrow) pictures throughout the page. It also allows the orderly
placement of the pictures as well.

The frames solution works perfectly if someone can tell me how to get from
page present to page next and the frames stay on page next when they are
inserted. That's all I need now to be up and running.

Also I would like to know the following as well ("other than" should have
read "in addition to")

Thanks, Herman

 

[Stefan Blom]

Note that if you do place two picture side by side by putting them inside a
two-column table you can adjust the vertical alignment of each cell as
desired (use the buttons in the Alignment group of the Table Tools Layout
ribbon tab).

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

And of course the individual cells can be resized (horizontally) as well.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

When you insert a page break, make sure that there is an empty paragraph
following it and that the insertion point is in that paragraph when you
insert the next frame. This will be much easier if you display nonprinting
characters.

 

[Herman A. Newman]

Thanks Stefan,

I already attempted this. I can insert a four cell table, two accross and
two down. I can adjust the row height for the two cells but not just one. I
can adjust the cell width within a row. However I cannot adjust the cell
height seperately within a row. If I have to insert a picture in the left
cell that is 2 inches high by 4 inches wide and a picture in the right cell
that is 4 inches high and 2 wide, I have to have both cell 4 inches high.

If someone can tell me how to get to the second page of the document to
insert more frames, I can complete my work. It will also let me save a lot
of white space on the page by putting the picture closer together.

Thanks for all your suggestions, Herman

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I'd still be inclined to use a table, which you can save as an AutoText
entry for ease of insertion on a new page. Instead of using four rows, use
six or eight (or more), then merge cells in a single column vertically as
needed to accommodate pictures of different heights.

 

[Herman A. Newman]

Thannks Suzanne,

That's just what I needed to get me going. Sorry I didn't get back sooner,
had a friend stop by with questions and had a coffee break.

The frames work perfectly. Can be set to any size with the caption included
in the frame. Picture formating and all is included in the frame also.

Now one last request on this one!

Since I would like very much to learn all I can about the inside workings of
Word 2007, what is the best book to acquire to help me along? If there are
none, where should I be reading to learn the most
about Word 2007 in addition to here on the newsgroups?

Thnaks so much to Cindy, Stefan and Suzanne for all their help with this
problem.

Herman