How to display figure number only in cross reference

Anonymous

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",

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Stefan Blom 352.7K MVP Volunteer Moderator

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 MVP Volunteer Moderator

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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55 additional answers

Stefan Blom 352.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2014-06-07T18:28:12+00:00

Are you using Word's built-in master document feature? In that case, you may have more serious problems, because master documents tend to corrupt (this is a long-standing issue in Word); see http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/RecoverMasterDocs.htm (but note that the article isn't updated for the most recent version of Word).

If you must use several separate documents, using the INCLUDETEXT field will be safer. Just add the ! switch to the INCLUDETEXT field code, to ensure that cross-references and other fields won't change in the target file until they have been updated in the source files.
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Anonymous

2014-06-07T22:11:42+00:00

uuuu... now you scared me! Well, the master document I will use only to print the thesis (as a pdf), I'm not planning to do any work on it after assembling the chapters. For minor editing I will use the editing features of adobe acrobat. At least that is the plan...

I have done previously some tests to see how my costum made template would work once assembled in a master document, and did not have any problem... But according to Murphy's Law something can/will happen later.

Your first sentence made me wonder, is there any 3rd party master document-like software or add-in for word? safer then word's?

By the way, I completely gave up on the cross reference for the chapters. I'm using while writing since often I need to move around the figures, but for the final version I'll remove the code fields (using the Find feature is easy).
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Stefan Blom 352.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2014-06-07T22:57:34+00:00

I wouldn't trust master documents at all, if I were you. The article I linked to was written a while back, but there is no evidence that the feature has been fixed.

As far as other solutions are concerned, there used to be articles by Steve Hudson on the topic, but I don't know if they are still available. See http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/general/whymasterdocscorrupt.htm.

As I wrote, I'd use INCLUDETEXT fields instead, or why not keep the entire document in one file...
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