To Create a List of Tables or Figures for Report in Word
(separate from the table of contents)
[Based on Word 2007 on a PC; advice available for Macintosh -- just ask.]
Use Word to number the tables and figures. On Reference tab on top of screen, click Insert
Caption., etc. as outlined in the handout “To Have Word Magically Number Tables, Figures.”
To create a combined list of tables and figures
1. After the table of contents, click where you want to insert the list
2. On the Reference tab, click on Insert Table of Figures (this process works for figures and
tables).
3. Click the Table of Figures tab.
4. Uncheck use hyperlinks instead of page numbers (this saves the editor from
accidentally clicking the link and jumping into hyperspace).
5. Check show page numbers, align page numbers on right. Tab leader should be periods.
6. Click Options. Select Caption and check Style.
7. Click OK. Caption label changes to (none)
8. Click OK.
To create a list of figures and a separate list of tables
Especially if the report has many tables and figures in the appendices, we suggest you create
a style for figure titles and another style for table titles. These steps will make creating and
revising the lists of figures and tables less time consuming.
Create styles for titles of figures and tables
1. Format a figure title the way you want it to appear and click in it.
2. To open the Styles pane, go to Home tab’s Styles section, and in bottom corner, click on tiny
arrow to open Styles pane.
3. At the bottom of the Styles pane, click on lefthand button with AAs and select New Style.
Give the style a name that makes sense: body copy, or header, or table content or whatever.
Click OK. The style should appear in the Styles pane.
4. To duplicate Figure Title style to create the Table Title style, go to a table title and apply the
Figure Title style. Then, in the bottom of the Styles pane, click on lefthand button to create a
new style that you call the style Table Title.
5. For all figure titles, go through and assign the Figure Title style to all figure titles (use Find
function to search for the word “figure”).
6. For all table titles, go through and assign the Table Title style to all table titles (use Find
function to search for the word “table”).
Create list of tables
1. After the table of contents, type the heading List of Tables, assign the Heading 1 style, and
click where you want to insert the list
2. On the References tab’s Captions section, click on Table of Figures.
3. Check Include label and number, Show page numbers, Right align page numbers. Tab
leader should be periods.
4. Click Options on right.
5. Locate the style Table Title, or whatever name you assigned to the style for table titles.
6. Click OK. Caption label should say (none).
7. Click OK.
Create list of figures
8. After the list of tables, type the heading List of Figures, assign the Heading 1 style, and click
where you want to insert the list
9. On the References tab’s Captions section, click on Table of Figures.
10. Click Table of Figures.
11. Check Include label and number, Show page numbers, Right align page numbers. Tab
leader should be periods.
12. Click Options on right.
13. Locate the style Figure Title, or whatever name you assigned to the style for figure
titles.
14. Click OK. Caption label should say (none).
15. Click OK.
If you want to change the type styles of the lists of figures and tables by making some lines
bold or by adding space above or below a line, you must do it in the Table of Figures style
sheet, or the formatting will be lost when the list is updated.
Do not edit the actual list of figures and tables. Instead, edit the titles of the figures and the
tables in the body of the report. Then update the list:
To update the list(s) of tables and figures
1. Select the list.
2. Right click.
3. Update field.
4. Update the page numbers only or the entire field.
The latter updates changes to the table and figure titles.