Captions - short versions in list of figures, tables possible?
GS
When I create a table of figures ('from template') in my document, the
whole caption is automatically included. Most of the time, this text
is several lines long.
What I would like to do, is: include a short alternative version with
every caption, which is displayed in the table of figures instead of
the original version. Is this possible?
(I'm using Word 98 on a mac.)
Thanks in advance!
Gert
John McGhie [MVP]
Yes, it is.
The Table of Figures is actually using the Table of Contents generator, and
you can set this up manually by editing the field codes involved.
Excuse me: I am working in Word v.X which is slightly different, but you
will get the idea.
When you Insert the Table of Figures, you will see an Options button. Click
it, then check the Table Entry Fields box and OK.
Now, on each caption you want to shorten, you insert a TC tag. You then put
the text you want to appear in the List of Figures in the tag and that's
what Word uses.
Look up "Field codes: TC (Table of Contents Entry) field" in the help. To
insert field codes, hit Command + F9.
1) Select the caption you want to shorten
2) Copy
3) Move your insertion point to the beginning or end of the caption
4) Hit Command + F9
5) Between the braces, type TC and " then Paste (to bring in the existing
caption text).
6) Key " to terminate the string, then edit the caption to be shorter.
7) At the end of the edited text, place \f f This tells the TOC generator
that the contents of this tag belong in the LOF not the TOC.
{ TC "Illustration 8" \f f }
You will need to do a bit of fiddling to get it right. When you do, store
the correct tag so you only have to change the text each time. You can make
it an AutoText so Word will insert the tag whenever you insert the AutoText.
One problem you will encounter is that you will now get TWO entries for each
caption, one is being collected from the Seq field, the other from the TC
field.
If you have decided to tag every caption, you can change the Caption Label
to "None" in the Insert Index and Tables dialogue. The list will contain
ONLY the captions you have tagged.
If you would rather not tag every caption, you can use a different style for
the captions you do not tag. Say make a style named "FigCaption" based on
the Caption style. Format all the short captions with this style and tag
only the long captions.
Now, go back to the Insert>Index and Tables dialogue, click Options, Check
Styles and select your FigCaption style. Set your Caption Label to None.
Word will now include only captions you have tagged and captions you have
set with the special style. Do one or the other for each caption and you
will have a complete list and no dual entries.
Take care with this technique: include a note in hidden text at the top of
the document to authors warning them you have done it. Otherwise when you
or someone else adds a caption, it won't be included in the List Of Figures,
and people won't be able to find out why.
Hope this helps
This responds to article <aa3bb575.02041...@posting.google.com>,
from "GS" <gstu...@elis.rug.ac.be> on 11/4/02 2:56 AM:
--
Please post replies to the newsgroup to maintain the thread.
John McGhie, Microsoft MVP: Word for Macintosh and Word for Windows
Consultant Technical Writer
<jo...@mcghie-information.com.au>
+61 4 1209 1410; Sydney, Australia: GMT + 10 hrs