Using only part of a figure caption in listof figures/list of tables

[HKM]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hi there,

Someone has already asked this question, but I haven't been able to get the solution to work, and the old thread is now closed to further comments.

I'm writing a PhD thesis, so unfortunately am required to include rather pointless things such as lists of tables and figures. I'm not a computer or a Word expert, so please be gentle with me!

On my supervisor's request, my tables and figures have quite lengthy explanatory labels, but I only want to include the first part of each in my lists (created using 'insert table of figures'). I type the labels, then change the style to 'figures' (for figures) or 'caption' (for tables). The previous answer to the problem of selecting only part of the label to go into the automatically created list, was to use a character style rather than a paragraph style, to select the required text.

My problem is that when I go to create the list, I can only tell the program to use one of a very short list of default styles, which are all paragraph styles and cannot be edited. I can create a new character style to use, but then am unable to see this as an option when choosing the style to use to create my list of figures or tables.

I hope that kind of makes sense....

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

 

[Clive Huggan]

Dear [whoever],

All Word's styles are able to be modified, and you should do so freely if
you are doing a PhD thesis. Taking a day off to really understand Word's
styles will be time best invested. I describe an approach from page 89
onwards in some notes on the way I use Word for the Mac, titled "Bend Word
to Your Will", which are available as a free download from the Word MVPs'
website (http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html). The
difference between paragraph and character styles is described on pages
93-94.

When I need to comply with directions such as the ones you are saddled with,
I create a new paragraph style for the overly-long captions. Then I use the
inbuilt Caption style for a paragraph immediately underneath it, but modify
it to add "hidden text" to its characteristics. I set Word to make hidden
text visible. I then compile the list from the truncated captions.

I save time after setting up the first instance by creating an AutoText item
from the two paragraphs. After that, a simple keyboard shortcut inserts them
(see the article 'Example ‹ creating and inserting a pre-formatted table via
AutoText' on page 124 and draw the parallels).

The alternative is to include the "expansionary" element on the caption on a
new line, which is actually a new paragraph with zero leading, in a style
you design that has the same appearance as the figure caption style.

Play around on a "Saved As" copy... ;-)

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================

 

[HKM]

PS. I've just seen another post elsewhere on this forum where one of the experts said he thought it was rude not to post under your real name. I'm sorry if you thought it was rude of me to post under just my initials at first, it's just that I've always been brought up to be careful about giving out my real name on the internet. Anyway, I'm Helen, and I'm grateful for your help.

 

[Clive Huggan]

Thanks, Helen!

Please be assured I didn't think you were rude! The "[whoever]" is what
AutoCorrect drops in for my salutation and if the poster has given a name I
substitute that manually. I just like salutations and sign-offs, and most of
the "old regulars" in this newsgroup like to observe the friendly courtesies
that are vanishing in this impersonal world. But it's no big deal really.

More importantly for the quality of answers: some of the volunteers here
answer queries in a number of newsgroups and when the original poster comes
back -- whether in that post or in a later post -- it's *much* easier to
remember a real first name and perhaps take into account previous posts.

Whether the poster uses her/his actual first name doesn't matter; but you
might guess my name really is Clive -- it's one of those names you're stuck
with, you don't *choose* it...

Posting with your real firstname+surname, plus your real un-obfuscated
e-mail address is of course an entirely different matter -- it's not a good
idea. Those of us here who give our real firstname+surname have heavily
protected e-mail set-ups and/or a completely bogus e-mail address, because
of the behaviour of some of our species whose parent(s) did not impart good
manners...

Anyway: I hope you get the results you want with those figure captions!

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Helen:

Oh, call us old-fashioned

We come in here for the personal to- and fro with the real people who also
come here.

Many of us have been doing this for a living for 30 or 40 years, and we're
happy to put a bit back into the industry.

It's just so much nicer if we can "meet" real people at the other end. Like
yourself!

Cheers

PS. I've just seen another post elsewhere on this forum where one of the
experts said he thought it was rude not to post under your real name. I'm
sorry if you thought it was rude of me to post under just my initials at
first, it's just that I've always been brought up to be careful about giving
out my real name on the internet. Anyway, I'm Helen, and I'm grateful for your
help.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]