How to Create a List of Figures and List of Tables in Word for Your Thesis

In a Master's thesis or doctoral dissertation, graduate school formatting guidelines mandate dedicated preliminary listings immediately following your Table of Contents: a List of Figures and a List of Tables.

When compiled manually or without correct Word field configurations, these listings generate persistent submission failures: missing items from floating images, desynchronized numbers, or wrapped dot leaders. This guide details the mechanical procedures to insert SEQ field captions, position labels per academic style manuals, compile preliminary listings, and lock tab stops to margin boundaries.

Why Word's Figure & Table Listings Break

A List of Figures (LOF) or List of Tables (LOT) in Microsoft Word is a dynamic document field:

{ TOC \c "Figure" \h \z \u }

The \c "Figure" switch instructs Word to scan the document specifically for caption sequence fields (SEQ Figure). When Word finds these fields, it copies the caption text and page number into the listing and formats it using the built-in Table of Figures paragraph style.

When authors type captions manually as normal text (e.g., typing "Figure 1: Diagram"), no SEQ field exists. Consequently, the field engine finds zero indexed entries and returns an error.

Manual vs. Field-Based Captions

The table below contrasts manual static typing with field-based caption management in thesis documents:

Inserting Captions with SEQ Fields

To insert captions that Word can track and index automatically:

1. Select the image, chart, or data table in your document.
2. Go to the References tab on the ribbon and click Insert Caption.
3. In the Label dropdown, select Figure for visual graphics or Table for data grids. Click New Label... if your handbook requires custom labels like "Plate" or "Scheme".
4. Set Position:
   • For tables: Above selected item.
   • For figures: Below selected item.
5. For chapter-based numbering (e.g., Figure 2.1):
   • Click Numbering....
   • Check Include chapter number.
   • Select Chapter starts with style: Heading 1.
   • Choose your separator (period or hyphen) and click OK.
6. In the Caption box, type a colon or period after the number, followed by your caption text.
7. Click OK. Word inserts the label with an embedded { SEQ Figure \* ARABIC } field.

Zoom

1Select Figure or Table label

2Configure chapter-based numbering

3Set position (above table / below figure)

Figure 1: Microsoft Word Insert Caption dialog showing Figure label, numbering options, and below selected item positionClose

Figure 1: In the Insert Caption dialog, select the Caption label (Figure or Table), configure chapter numbering if required, and specify the position.

1Select Figure or Table label

2Configure chapter-based numbering

3Set position (above table / below figure)

Caption Placement: Tables vs. Figures

Academic style manuals mandate distinct placement rules for tables and figures:

• Table Titles & Captions: Placed ABOVE the table. Codified in APA 7th Edition (§12.7), Chicago Manual of Style 17th Edition (§3.46), and IEEE. Readers scan table column headings immediately after reading the title. For border rules, consult how to format 3-line academic tables in Word.
• Figure Captions: Placed BELOW the figure. In APA, Chicago, IEEE, and MLA, visual charts, photographs, and graphs carry labels directly beneath the image canvas.

Generating the List of Figures & Tables

To generate the preliminary listings once captions are inserted:

1. Place your cursor on the preliminary page designated for the List of Figures.
2. Type List of Figures and apply the TOCHeading or unnumbered Heading 1 style.
3. Press Enter.
4. Go to References > Insert Table of Figures.
5. Configure dialog options:
   • Caption label: Select Figure.
   • Ensure Show page numbers and Right align page numbers are checked.
   • Tab leader: Select option 2 (dots: .......).
   • Formats: Select From template to use the document's Table of Figures style.
6. Click OK. Word evaluates the document and compiles the entries.
7. Insert a page break (Ctrl + Enter), type List of Tables, and repeat with Caption label: set to Table.

Zoom

1Choose Caption label (Figure or Table)

2Select Tab leader option 2 (dotted)

3Keep Formats set to 'From template'

Figure 2: Microsoft Word Table of Figures dialog showing caption label selection, tab leader dots, and format templatesClose

Figure 2: In the Table of Figures dialog, select the Caption label, check Show page numbers and Right align page numbers, and choose dotted leaders.

1Choose Caption label (Figure or Table)

2Select Tab leader option 2 (dotted)

3Keep Formats set to 'From template'

Updating Listings (F9)

Word does not update table fields automatically when document content changes:

• Click inside the List of Figures or List of Tables.
• Press F9 (or right-click and choose Update Field).
• Select Update entire table to refresh caption wording, added or removed figures, and page numbers. Selecting Update page numbers only leaves title changes unreflected.

Zoom

1Listing header styled with TOCHeading

2Dotted leaders terminating at right margin

3Page numbers aligned vertically in single column

Figure 3: Microsoft Word showing generated List of Tables with right-aligned dot leaders and page numbersClose

Figure 3: The evaluated List of Tables displays uniform dot leaders locked to the margin boundary with synchronized page numbers.

1Listing header styled with TOCHeading

2Dotted leaders terminating at right margin

3Page numbers aligned vertically in single column

Why Entries Go Missing: Floating Objects

When figures or tables do not appear in the generated list, check these three common structural causes:

1. Floating Text Wrapping (`wp:anchor`)

If an image has text wrapping set to Square, Tight, Behind Text, or In Front of Text, OpenXML stores it as a floating anchor (wp:anchor) in the drawing canvas. Word's Table of Figures engine scans only the primary document stream (w:body) and omits floating captions.

Fix: Select the image, go to Picture Format > Wrap Text, and choose In Line with Text (wp:inline).

2. Captions Inside Text Boxes

Applying Insert Caption to a floating graphic often places the caption inside a separate drawing text box. Word cannot index unlinked text boxes reliably.

Fix: Cut the caption text, delete the text box, set the graphic to In Line with Text, and paste the caption into a standard body paragraph formatted with the Caption style.

3. Inconsistent Label Names

If some items use "Fig." while others use "Figure", Word treats them as distinct streams. The dialog queries only the exact label string selected.

Fix: Press Alt + F9 to view field codes. Standardize all codes to { SEQ Figure }.

Aligning Dot Leaders to Margin Twips

Dot leaders align page numbers via a Right-Aligned Tab Stop with Leader 2 (dots) defined in the Table of Figures paragraph style.

A thesis with a 1.5-inch left binding margin reduces the printable line width from standard 6.5 inches to 6.0 inches (8,640 twips/dxa). If Word's default tab stop remains at 6.5 inches, the tab stop falls outside the page margin, forcing the leader and page number to wrap to a new line.

Adjusting the Tab Stop

1. Open the Styles pane (Alt + Ctrl + Shift + S).
2. Click Options..., set Select styles to show to All styles, and locate Table of Figures.
3. Click the dropdown next to Table of Figures and choose Modify....
4. Click Format > Tabs....
5. Click Clear All.
6. In Tab stop position, enter your printable width (e.g., 6.0 in for US Letter with 1.5 in binding margin, or 14.7 cm for A4).
7. Set Alignment to Right and Leader to 2 (dotted). Click Set, then OK.

For detailed margin tab stop mechanics, see our guide on fixing Table of Contents dot leaders in Word.

OpenXML Architecture: TOC \c & SEQ

In OpenXML WordprocessingML (`word/document.xml`), the Table of Figures is defined as an instruction field:

<w:p>
  <w:pPr>
    <w:pStyle w:val="TableofFigures"/>
    <w:tabs>
      <w:tab w:val="right" w:leader="dot" w:pos="8640"/>
    </w:tabs>
  </w:pPr>
  <w:fldSimple w:instr="TOC \c &quot;Figure&quot; \h \z \u">
    <w:r><w:t>Figure 1.1: Calibration curve ......... 14</w:t></w:r>
  </w:fldSimple>
</w:p>

Each caption in the document body uses a simple field referencing the sequence identifier:

<w:p>
  <w:pPr>
    <w:pStyle w:val="Caption"/>
  </w:pPr>
  <w:r><w:t xml:space="preserve">Figure </w:t></w:r>
  <w:fldSimple w:instr="SEQ Figure \* ARABIC">
    <w:r><w:t>1</w:t></w:r>
  </w:fldSimple>
  <w:r><w:t>: Calibration curve for mass spectrometry detector.</w:t></w:r>
</w:p>

The \c switch specifies the sequence identifier rather than heading outline levels (\o). ScholarSpec's compiler enforces RULE-FLOW-04 (listing continuity), RULE-FLOW-05 (prose isolation), and RULE-COMPACT-02 (listing multi-page budget exemption) to ensure multi-page preliminary listings format without artificial line pagination breaks. Before final deposit, verify all requirements using the academic journal manuscript submission checklist.

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