Format Table of Figures and List of Tables

Customization steps the Table of Figures style include:

• Changing the line spacing to the double space:
  
• Making the Table of Figures a numbered list in addition to label numberings:
  
• Adjusting the spacing between the number and the title:
  
• Aligning the second line of the long title to the beginning of the caption text:
  

You can format the text of these lists like any other regular text in the document. However, all changes you make to the Table of Figures without changing the Table of Figures style will be lost after updating fields in the document.

Open the Table of Figures style using the Table of Figures dialog box

If you have the Table of Figures in a Word document, you can:

• Delete existing Table of Figures and create a new one,
• Edit an existing Table of Figures.

To open the Table of Figures dialog box for the existing Table of Figures, follow the next steps:

   1.   Do one of the following:

• Click on the Table of Figures in the document, then on the Reference tab, in the Captions group, click the Insert Table of Figures button:
  
• Select all the lines of the Table of Figures, then right-click on the selection and choose Edit Field... in the popup menu:
  

In the Field dialog box, click the Table of Contents... button:

Note: The button is visible only if you have selected all the existing Table of Figures lines.

Be careful! Word opens the Table of Figures dialog box with default options. All the options you selected creating the Table of Figures last time disappear.

   2.   In the Table of Figures dialog box, on the Table of Figures tab, click the Modify... button:

   3.   In the Style dialog box:

• In the Styles list, Word selects the style for the created Table of figures,
• In the Preview field, is displayed the font style that will be used to create the Table for Figures:
  
• Click the Modify... button to change the style.

Open the Table of Figures style using the Style pane

   1.   Do one of the following:

• On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click the dialog box launcher:
  
• Press Alt+Ctrl+Shift+S to open the Style pane.

   2.   On the Style pane, the Manage Styles button:

   3.   In the Manage Styles dialog box, in the Select a style to edit list, choose the Table of Figures style, then click the Modify... button:

Open the Table of Figures style using the Reveal Formatting pane

To see the font, paragraph, and section formatting, Word offers a useful feature named Reveal Formatting. See more about reviewing the text formatting quickly using the Reveal Formatting task pane.

   1.   Position the cursor on any line of the Table of Figures.

   2.   Turn on the Reveal Formatting pane to see all styles in a document by clicking Shift+F1:

   3.   In the Paragraph section, click the PARAGRAPH STYLE link.

   4.   In the Style dialog box, select the Table of Figures style, then click the Modify... button:

Note: In some cases, more than one Style may be applied to a text; Word opens Hyperlink style if it can't recognize exactly which style it should open. You can scroll the list to choose the Table of Figures style.

Modify the Table of Figures style

In the Modify Style dialog box, make the changes you need:

• In the Formatting section, make formatting changes as desired (for example, change the font, font size, color, and paragraph spacing),
• Click the Format tab:

Examples

Example 1: Change the line spacing to the double space

To change the line spacing, in the Modify Style dialog box:

• Select the Double space button,
• Make any other changes you need and click OK:

See how to adjust line spacing without using style customization.

Example 2: Create a Table of Figures with its own numbering instead of label numberings

To create the Table of Figures numbering, select the Numbering... option from the Format list to open the Numbering and Bullets dialog box:

Note: Do not forget to deselect the Include number and label check box in the Table of Figures dialog box to avoid doubling numbering. See how to create the Table of Figures for more details.

Example 3: Adjust the spacing between the number and the title

To modify the spacing between the number and the title, do one of the following:

• Create the TC fields and use the Tab symbols in them to separate numbers and titles, then customize tabulation in the Table of Figures style,
• Add the numeration for the Table of Figure lines (see the previous example), then select the Tab... option from the Format list to open the Tab dialog box:
  

  In the Tabs dialog box:

  • Insert the Tab stop position to separate the numbering and titles,
  • Do not forget to insert the second Tab stop position for page numbers. E.g.:
  

The List of Tables with this formatting:

Example 4: Align the second line of the long title to the beginning of the caption text

To customize the alignment of the second line of the long title to the beginning of the caption text, select the Paragraph... option from the Format list.

In the Paragraph dialog box, in the Indentation section:

• In the Special dropdown list, choose Hanging,
• In the By field, type or select the needed value (the same as the first Tab stop position in the previous example):

The List of Tables with this formatting:

Note: The modification of the Table of Figures style will change all Tables of Figures in the document.