Many problems with Figures, Figure Numbers,and Captions, plus spacing issues

[psbuchanan]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I have many issues with Microsoft Word. Here are my issues:

Figure numbering doesn't work. It loses track of numbers and the update field function is inconsistent. If you have more than 15 figures in a document, there is a 100 percent chance you'll be doing figure numbers by hand.

Captions can't stay attached to pictures. They fly all over. You need to group the picture to the caption. Sometimes, captions get stuck behind text and can't be deleted. In fact, you can't even edit them.

Pictures fly all over documents - often getting stuck at the top or bottom of a page. I have figured out how to get this to stop, but the other issues remain.

The figure and caption issues have existed since at least Office XP/Office 2004 for the Mac and perhaps before then.

In Word 2008 for the Mac and Windows, there is a serious bug that causes spaces to disappear between words after you save a document. Once you send the document to another person, apparent spelling mistakes appear. We use the Calibri font frequently, and that seems to be the most common font in use when this problem occurs. It's very embarrassing when you send "final" versions of documents to clients. The bug occurs in documents that are saved both in OpenXML and .doc formats.

 

[John McGhie]

OK, it doesn't do this for me, so let's address them all, one by one...

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I have many issues with Microsoft Word. Here are my issues:

Figure numbering doesn't work. It loses track of numbers and the update field
function is inconsistent. If you have more than 15 figures in a document,
there is a 100 percent chance you'll be doing figure numbers by hand.

How are you inserting figure numbers? (How exactly?). If you are relying
on the standard Insert>Caption command, that writes a SEQ field in as the
number token. Look up "SEQ Field" in Google for more information. A SEQ
field is a "cold" field. It will update only when you force it to.

Select all of the text in the document, then press F9 to update all fields
in the main text. Your SEQ fields will be correct after that. Unless you
are also using Tracked Changes. If you are, say so and I will give you a
work-around.

Personally, I use LISTNUM fields for Caption Numbering. It's a but more of
a fiddle to get it to work, but it gives dynamic numbering that constantly
updates.

Captions can't stay attached to pictures. They fly all over. You need to group
the picture to the caption. Sometimes, captions get stuck behind text and
can't be deleted. In fact, you can't even edit them.

When inserting the caption, create a blank paragraph and click in it. THEN
use Insert Caption. That will create the caption in a paragraph, so it
cannot move.

Set the "Keep with next" property on the paragraph above the caption, so
that the caption cannot jump to the next page without taking the picture
with it.

Pictures fly all over documents - often getting stuck at the top or bottom of
a page. I have figured out how to get this to stop, but the other issues
remain.

When Inserting your figures, set their Wrapping Style to "Inline with text".
Create a blank paragraph to hold each picture, then position the picture by
varying the paragraph properties. This creates a much more stable
arrangement: the pic can only go where the paragraph goes.

Do not use "Floating" pictures without being aware of where their ANCHORS
are. Everything in a Word document is tied to a paragraph: there is nothing
in the white space: nothing at all. So there is nothing to support a
picture. So if you set the picture wrapping style to anything other than
"Inline with text", Word computes the position of the picture with respect
to its anchor. That anchor must be tied to a paragraph. If the paragraph
ever gets onto a different page from the picture, very high entertainment
value is guaranteed.

Go into Word>Preferences>View and ensure Object Anchors is switched on, so
you can see where the anchors are.

Do not use "Blank Lines", anywhere in the document, otherwise you will get
this misery all the time. Use the Paragraph Space Above and Space Below
properties if you want spacing.

The figure and caption issues have existed since at least Office XP/Office
2004 for the Mac and perhaps before then.

Yes, but they are not "issues". When Word acquired the power to place
pictures "anywhere", it acquired the ability to place them "anywhere except
where you want them."

Word acquired some page layout ability back in 1989. This feature is very
powerful, but with that power comes a greater need to understand and control
it. A bit like a racing car: very fast and very powerful, but it requires a
greater level of knowledge and skill to use it well.

In Word 2008 for the Mac and Windows, there is a serious bug that causes
spaces to disappear between words after you save a document.

Not any more. You are missing the update that fixed that one. Run "Check
for Updates" at least twice, until it stops offering you stuff.

Hope this helps

--

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
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[DZHL2008]

Dear John

I am using the insert caption commands to label figures and tables

When I select the text and press F9 however the figure numbers DO NOT change
at all

can you offer me some advice as I am trying to use word for my thesis and it
is driving me crazy

many thanks

Denny

 

[Jeff Wiseman]

Dear John

I am using the insert caption commands to label figures and
tables

When I select the text and press F9 however the figure numbers
DO NOT change at all

can you offer me some advice as I am trying to use word for my
thesis and it is driving me crazy

many thanks

Denny

I'm not John, so I never have to worry about getting "Dear John"
letters However, one or two things occurred to me that you
might consider if you haven't already thought of them.

First of all, when you "select the text" and press F9, what you
are really doing is selecting a Field that the F9 key will force
to update (I like to leave field shading on all the time so I can
tell where they are an don't accidentally destroy them
Depending on the field type, if you don't have the entire field
selected, the results may not be what you expected (e.g., a table
of contents has "fields inside of fields" and will not give you
what you want if you only select part of it)

Also, if you select a Field for figure numbering and hit F9, only
*that* one field will usually update. If you had just done an
Insert Caption to create that field, doing an F9 won't do
anything since it was essentially "updated" when you created it.
The other fields in the document usually won't update because you
haven't yet told them to. So to get all of the fields supporting
the figure/table numbering in a document to update, you need to
do a Select All so that all of the fields in the document are
selected in order for them to all update when you do the F9 trick.

If you have fields for common text in the headers/footers or
inside of floating objects, they have to be updated separately as
doing a "select all" in the body of the text will not actually
select them.

Hope this gives you some ideas

 

[John McGhie]

Dear Jeff:



You forgot to remind her to check that her captions actually contain SEQ
fields

If you insert a caption with the Insert>Caption command, Word inserts a code
in your document that updates dynamically according to its position in the
document.

We recommend that you go to Word Preferences>View and turn "Field Shading"
to "Always". This enables you to see where the fields are at a glance.

If the number in your captions does NOT get a grey background when you do
this, then it is not a field: delete the label and number and use
Insert>Caption to put it in again.

It will then update correctly.

At some point, you may have cut and pasted those captions using the "Plain
Text" option. If you did, they're not fields any longer, they are normal
text, so there is nothing to update.

Cheers

I'm not John, so I never have to worry about getting "Dear John"
letters However, one or two things occurred to me that you
might consider if you haven't already thought of them.

First of all, when you "select the text" and press F9, what you
are really doing is selecting a Field that the F9 key will force
to update (I like to leave field shading on all the time so I can
tell where they are an don't accidentally destroy them
Depending on the field type, if you don't have the entire field
selected, the results may not be what you expected (e.g., a table
of contents has "fields inside of fields" and will not give you
what you want if you only select part of it)

Also, if you select a Field for figure numbering and hit F9, only
*that* one field will usually update. If you had just done an
Insert Caption to create that field, doing an F9 won't do
anything since it was essentially "updated" when you created it.
The other fields in the document usually won't update because you
haven't yet told them to. So to get all of the fields supporting
the figure/table numbering in a document to update, you need to
do a Select All so that all of the fields in the document are
selected in order for them to all update when you do the F9 trick.

If you have fields for common text in the headers/footers or
inside of floating objects, they have to be updated separately as
doing a "select all" in the body of the text will not actually
select them.

Hope this gives you some ideas

--
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]