Word 2010 won’t let me add caption text to Table and Figure captions

microsoft-word-2010

Inserted captions in dozens of documents. Never seen this behavior.
Word 2010 won't let me put text in the caption when I Insert Caption for a table or figure. It will insert a caption with the lable only (although oddly mis-aligned mis-formatted). I've been working on this particular file for a while. Content was copy/pasted from a poorly formatted doc into my standard (custom built) template. Captions exist, but I want to modify the location (from top to bottom), but Word locks me out of the caption text box. If I delete the existing caption and try to insert a new one, Word won't let me specify the text for the caption. Essentially, it doesn't matter what I do, Word locks me out of specifying text for captions. "Exclude Lable From Caption" is NOT checked.
Any ideas?

Best Answer

I realised that this is because the caption was aligned as "centered", therefore you will not be able to see it in the "Caption" space where you type the actual name of the figure/table.

If you actually type "blind", and then press OK, your caption will appear.

The best solution is actually format your caption as aligned "Left" or "Justified", then you wont have to type blind.

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Word – In Word 2010, how can I insert a control that updates a document property when the content is edited

I know this is a long time since this question was asked, but is is actually possible by adding a custom XML part to your document :)

Create a xml file with the properties you want (you can make this as many levels as you like)

XML exampel:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>

<properties xmlns="CustomDocumentPropperties">
    <document>
        <documentNumber></documentNumber>
        <documentCategory></documentCategory>
    </document>
    <employee>
        <name></name>
        <hireDate></hireDate>
        <title></title>
    </employee>
    <company>
        <address></address>
    </company>
</properties>

Save the file as xml e.g. "MyProperties.xml"

Add the xml file to your document (only tested in word 2013 but should be possible in 2010)

Developer -> XML Mapping Pane

(if your developer ribbon is not visible you can find it in File -> Options -> Costomize Ribbon, and set checkmark in the Developer ribbon tab)

In the XML Mapping Pane click the drop down box and choose 'Add new part...' and select the XML file you just created.
Use the properties in your document

Now your properties has been added to the document and you can use them by selecting your properties in the XML Mapping Pane.

Right-click on the property you want in your document, and choose 'Insert Content Control' and choose the Content Control you like to edit your properties.

Cheers Stine

Word – How do Word 2010 captions work

Could it be that you need to update the fields? Try this:

Press Ctrl+A to select all data in the document
Press F9 to update all fields

Hopefully the automatically generated numbers are now in the correct order.

Best Answer

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