How to Insert Figure and Table Captions in Word

This tutorial shows how to insert figure and table captions in Microsoft Word. The benefit of using Word’s caption tool, as opposed to just typing the caption under each figure or table, is that the caption numbers will automatically update as you add figures or tables.

Steps:

1. Right-click on the first figure or table you want to caption.

2. Select Insert Caption from the pop-up menu.

Alternative: Select the figure or table and then select Insert Caption from the References tab in the ribbon.

3. Select the Label menu arrow in the Caption dialog box.

4. Select the option you want from the Label drop-down menu:

Daily Occurrence (This is an uncommon selection.)

Equation (This is an uncommon selection.)

Figure

Table

5. The default option is Figure. This option is appropriate for visuals such as graphs, charts, photos, illustrations, and maps.

6. Select the Position menu arrow.

7. Select the option you want from the Position drop-down menu:

Above selected item

Below selected item

8. The default option for Figure is Below selected item. The default option for Table is Above selected item. These defaults will be appropriate for most situations.