MORE -Can't make the caption feature stop numbering

[rdrmand]

I'm trying to add a title to a table, and the program is
frustrating me at every turn.

When I ask the Help system how to do it, it directs me to
Captions. However, when I try to use Captions, the
program sticks a number on the end of my title and I
can't get rid of it. I asked the Help system how to get
rid of it, and I was told to go to
Insert/Reference/Caption/Auto and uncheck everything I
didn't want numbered. I went to
Insert/Reference/Caption/Auto, and there weren't any
categories checked to begin with.

So, I came here, and asked how to get rid of the annoying
number. Someone asked me what I was doing using Caption,
why not create a custom Table Title style? So, assuming I
was the stupid one, I went back to the Help system and
asked it how to create a custom table style. I followed
the directions, and could find no place to add a title to
my table.

So, I went back to the Help system, and typed in "table
title" -- and was directed to Captions!

So, the answer to the question, What am I doing using
Captions? is, the Help system seems to think that that's
what I need. And, truth to tell, that's what I thought a
caption was -- a title to a graphic.

Can someone please tell me how to add a title to a table?
I would think this would be a fairly common action.

Thanks!

 

[Bruce]

Microsoft needs to do some work on the functionality of
tables, and on the associated help topics. I have often
encountered the sort of runaround you describe. For your
situation, if I understand correctly, the thing I would do
is to add a row above the top row (Table > Insert > Row
Above). I would then type a title into that row, and
format it the way I want. Then I would click the Style
window in the task bar, type in a name such as Table
Title, and press Enter. Now you have a custom style for
titles, and can apply it to any text.
For more information on styles, go to
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/index.html and poke around
a bit. Styles are not easy to learn, but are well worth
the effort.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

One caveat about this approach, however. If you want your table heading rows
to repeat, then you have to include the top row, which would cause the title
to be repeated. If the table will always be less than one page and will not
be allowed to break across pages (see
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/KeepTableOn1Page.htm), then this
is not an issue. As a general rule, however, I prefer to use an ordinary
text style, formatted as "Keep with next," for the table title.

You can, if you like, apply the Caption paragraph style to text (and you can
modify this style to appear any way you like). This avoids the numbering
problem with Insert | Caption but allows you to generate a Table of Tables
easily using the Table of Figures set up, which automatically picks up
headings in the Caption style.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[JGM]

Hi rdrmand,

If I understand correctly, you want a title for your tables. Do you want the
same title to all tables (i.e. "Table").... I hope not, I do not think that
readers need to be told that what they are reading is called a table. I
think you want to add a unique title to each table, such as "Table of the
effect of such and such..." Then, if that is the case, Bruce's suggestion is
right on.
If you want to label all your tables with the same word or words, and to
have that happen automatically, use the caption feature, but create your own
(the New button in the Caption dialog) and click on the automatic button.
Unfortunately, you will have the numbering because, in Word, that is what a
caption is (i.e, the same word(s) under an object with a squential numbering
scheme, on the other hand a title is unique to each object). But, all you
have to do is delete it every time (Place the cursor to the left of the
number, hold down SHIFT while using the RIGHT arrow until the number is
highlighted, then press DELETE, or, place the cursor to the right of the
number and hit BACKSPACE twice, three times if you want to delete the space
that was inserted before the number).

So you have to decide, use styles and manually insert the title (same text
or not, if same, use autotext) every time you insert a table, but no numbers
(Or, you could have a basic table and its accompanying title built in an
autotext entry). Your other option is to have the"Title" (really a caption)
inserted automatically, but manually delete the number every time... which
one will be faster for you?

Finally, just to clear up some of your misunderstandings
Of course, none of the objects are automatically captioned by default (so
nothing is checked in the list). The Help was telling you to check the
object (or Objects) to which you wanted to automtically add a caption, then
format the caption (with the Legend and Numbering buttons) the way you want
it (but a number is always included, that is the nature of the caption
beast). Your problem stems from the fact that when you question the Help on
captions and numbering, your intention is to remove the numbering, But to
Word that is impossible because a caption means that there is a number,
i.e., if you enquire about captions it is because you WANT to add a
number... it is a bit like ordering a cheeseburger but asking that they hold
the cheese!You are supposed to create a style (Call it "Table title" if you want), then
place the cursor immediately before or after your table, apply the style to
that paragraph and type the title. Adding titles is not automatic unless you
work something out with macros or autotext entries.

So you see, Word can be frustrating on some issues, but not on this one...
Captions were designed to be used to number objects in a sequence... maybe
to you it should not be called a caption.... but hey, they had to call it
something! (They could not call it "Numbering," that would have been even
more confusing because of the Bullets and Numbers issues associated with
paragraphs...)

HTH
Cheers!

 

[rdarmand]

Thanks, Bruce!