Cross-References After the Big Reorder
A 120-page technical report has 18 figures and 9 tables, each captioned with an inserted caption (Figure 1, Figure 2 … Table 1 …). The body refers to them by number, e.g. "see Figure 7". The author inserted a new figure as Figure 3 and deleted the old Figure 12. Now the body text points to the wrong figures in several places, and the list of figures at the front is out of date. The author also wrote some references as plain typed text ("Figure 7") and some as cross-references. The report must be accurate before submission tomorrow.
1. What is the reliable way to fix the numbering and the in-text references, and why did some references break while others did not?
Read the worked answer
Why some broke: Captions inserted with the caption tool renumber automatically when figures are added or deleted. Cross-reference fields that point to those captions also update - when fields are refreshed. But any reference typed as plain text is just characters; it never renumbers, so it now points to the wrong figure.
Reliable fix:
- Select the whole document (Ctrl+A) and update fields (F9, or update the TOC/list of figures). This renumbers captions and refreshes genuine cross-references.
- Find the plain-text references and convert them to real cross-references (Insert → Cross-reference → Figure/Table, referencing the caption's label and number).
- Update the list of figures/table of contents so the front matter matches.
The lesson to state: automatic numbering only stays correct if every reference is a field. Mixed typing is the source of the mismatch.
2. The list of figures at the front is generated from captions. After the edits it is out of date. What must be true for it to regenerate correctly, and what single action refreshes it?
Read the worked answer
Precondition: Every figure and table must have a caption created with the caption feature (a SEQ field), not a typed label. If a figure has a hand-typed "Figure 3", the list generator cannot see it, so it will be missing or wrong regardless of refreshing.
Refresh action: Update the list of figures field - right-click the list and choose Update Field, or select it and press F9. This re-reads all caption fields and rebuilds the entries and page numbers.
Check before submitting: Confirm each of the 18 figures and 9 tables actually has a caption field; fix any hand-typed ones first, then refresh once. Refreshing a list built on incomplete captions only reproduces the error.