How to display figure number only in cross reference

Anonymous
2012-03-09T17:01:27+00:00

Is there a way to have a cross reference to a figure only display the number, without displaying the label?

For example, I want to reference several figures at once, so it is most natural to say "see Figures 1,3,6, and 9".  It is less natural to say "see Figure 1, Figure 3, Figure 6, and Figure 9",

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Stefan Blom 352.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2012-03-09T19:53:23+00:00

After you have inserted the cross-reference, add a so-called numeric picture switch to specify a number format. To do that, press Alt+F9 to display field codes; you'll find that the cross-references are REF fields. Add # "0" to the end of the relevant REF fields. Press Alt+F9 again to hide the codes, and press F9 to update fields in the selection.

Alternatively, manually add a bookmark around the figure number and then insert a cross-reference to the bookmark text.

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Stefan Blom 352.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2012-03-15T22:46:33+00:00

OK, if heading numbering is included with the captions, you can't use the workaround with the numeric switch.

Edit: You actually can use a numeric switch; see Suzanne's article at http://wordfaqs.mvps.org/CombineXrefs.htm.

As previously suggested, you can add a bookmark around the caption number and insert a cross-reference to bookmark text. Alternatively, use the "kludgy" workaround in the article at http://wordfaqs.mvps.org/CombineXrefs.htm.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-05-18T20:52:32+00:00

    Thanks for the response.

    I'm not sure about the exact name, but what I'm doing is this:

    Throughout my document, I have a number of examples, which are numbered with the regular numbering function as (1), (2) ... (15) etc. I've connected this to a style.

    So I guess that would be like a paragraph number?

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-05-18T22:00:40+00:00

    This may be caused by how Office handles numbers in brackets. If you type into Excel any number in brackets it is treated as a negative number.

    This is probably by design since standard accounting practices treat a number inside brackets as a negative number.

    The fix would be either to get rid of the brackets around your numbers OR nest your cross-reference to multiply its result by minus 1 eg

    { = -1 * {REF _Ref419785842 \r \h # "0"}}

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  3. Stefan Blom 352.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-05-18T22:54:06+00:00

    Good catch! That is probably it.

    Another workaround is to specify formats for positive, negative, and zero results as follows:  

    { REF bookmarkName # "0;0;0" }

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