If you have pictures in Microsoft Word and want to add specific captions to them, whether sequentially or specifically, you can do so in Word. In this post I’m going to go through how to add a caption to pictures in word. If you want to know about how to move pictures freely in word and more about how they work, please check out that post. For now though, let’s get to it.
- Select the picture that you want to add the caption to and then right click to bring up the pop-up menu:
- Select Insert Caption and a new window appears:
- By default, every time you add a caption to Word, a consecutive number is added to the caption.
- For this example I’m going to Create a new label for all my images called example:
- Type in the word that you want to use and press OK.
- The new caption appears in the Caption field with the number as well.
- As the idea of captions is to have a sequence, the number will always be included after the caption.
- Click OK and you have added the caption to your picture:
Numbering in Captions
As you can see, there is a Numbering button in the Caption pop up box. If we take a look at it, you will see that there are a few options that you can choose from:
The other important note here is that if you have different chapters in your document, then you can label the caption with more information. For example, if the image is in chapter 3 and it’s the fourth image in the chapter, you can have the caption state for example: image 3-4.
If you want to learn more about chapters please see that specific post. Moreover, if you want to know how to split up a document with different headings so that Word reads the document in a clearer way, please check out my description and post about how to work with headings.
The Stupid Thing about Captions in Word
There are two really annoying things about using the captions in word and I’m going to go through the solutions for each of them.
Stupid Thing Number One – Styling of Captions
If you look at the image of the caption above, you will notice that there is space both before and after the picture and the caption. As well as this, I want to decrease the size of the font. So let’s fix both of those things. It’s a shame that I have to do this manually and that’s why I call it stupid thing number one.
- Put your curser anywhere in the caption.
- On the Styles bar in the home ribbon right click on Caption and then on Modify:
- I’m not going to go through all the ins and outs on what’s going on in the popup window. If you want the full details then please check out that post. For this specific task though, I’m going to change the following:
►Font – size 9
►Paragraph spacing: Line spacing – multiple at 0.7:
- Important note: I have selected line spacing as multiple as this is the best way to control the spacing. If I choose any other one, then it will be not as close.
Here is the way it looks after the editing:
The truth is that I would like the caption to be closer to the image however, the border of the image file in this setting simply doesn’t allow me to. If I highlight the image you see that this is the edge of the border:
Stupid Thing Number 2 – Moving the Caption with the Picture
Whenever you add a caption to a picture, you add it to the document. It isn’t tied to that picture. This is all very well when you are just adding them as a finishing touch. However, if you are going along with your document and want to change something then you are in trouble. Move than this, the caption method really only works if your picture is “In line with text.” If you are using any other configuration, it simply doesn’t work as required.
The Solution – Grouping Captions and Pictures
In order to ensure that your picture and caption stay together what you need to do is combine them into one. I’m not sure why this isn’t the default but what can I say, I didn’t make Microsoft Word?.
These are the steps to lock your caption and picture together:
- Insert the caption with the method used above. It doesn’t matter where you put it as we are going to move it.
- Insert a text box by going to Insert > Text box
- Draw the text box where you want the caption to appear. Then edit it so that there is no fill and no outline. If you aren’t sure on this, please check out the post that deals with Text boxes.
- Cut the caption and then paste it into the text box. Ensure that it looks the way you want it to.
- To do so you should make the text box behind text or in front of text.
Now is the tricky bit:
- Select the main picture and ensure that it is not in line with text. This is particularly important. Don’t worry which one you choose. I would recommend square as it’s just easier to work with in this situation.
- Whilst holding down Ctrl, click the text box in order to select them both at the same time. If you are having problems selecting them both, try selecting them the other way round, first the text box and then the picture.
- This is how they should look. Notice how both images are selected:
- Right click on any of the images and then select Group:
- Now you will see that both images have become one and that there are now just points around the whole thing:
- Now if you want to change the orientation of the image back to in line with text you can go ahead. The picture and the caption will move together.
In Summary
And that’s it, this is how to add captions to pictures in Word. I’ve gone through the normal way of adding captions that Microsoft word has, the issues that come with it and how to get around them. I hope you have enjoyed this post and it’s helped you add captions to your documents exactly the way you want to. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Good luck!