Table of contents
Don’t type chapter and figure numbers by hand in a Word thesis. When you add or remove one chapter or figure, you have to fix every number after it. Set up three things in order instead: apply the Heading 1 to 3 styles to your chapter headings, use a multilevel list so the numbers follow those styles, then create figure captions with Insert Caption and refer to them in your text with Cross-reference.
The order matters. A multilevel list links to heading styles, and a figure number that includes the chapter needs chapter numbers first. I used Word in Microsoft 365 with a sample thesis that has three heading levels.
My sample comes from a Chinese thesis format, and my Word runs in Traditional Chinese. Every screenshot shows Chinese labels and text, so the steps give the English name of each command and field, and the alt text says what each screenshot shows. Two details in the sample come from that format, and I call them out where they appear: Heading 1 uses Chinese numerals, and the figure label is the Chinese word for figure. I ran the steps with those values, not with an English sample.
Set up heading and body styles
The sample format is Heading 1 at 14 pt, bold, and centered, Heading 2 at 12 pt, bold, and centered, and Heading 3 at 12 pt, bold, and left aligned. Use whatever your school requires.
First, format the Introduction heading as you want Heading 1 to look, and select it. On Home > Styles, right-click Heading 1 and choose Update Heading 1 to Match Selection. The heading’s formatting is now stored in the Heading 1 style.
For body text, select a paragraph, right-click it, and choose Paragraph. The sample uses Justified alignment, Special set to First line with a value of 2 characters, and Line spacing set to 1.5 lines. The 2-character indent is part of my sample’s Chinese format, so enter your own value. Click OK, then right-click Normal in the Styles gallery and choose Update Normal to Match Selection.
Ctrl to select several headings at once.
Number headings with a multilevel list
The numbering scheme in my sample is 壹、 for Heading 1 (a Chinese numeral followed by Chinese punctuation), 1.1 for Heading 2, and 1.1.1 for Heading 3.
Put the cursor in any Heading 1 paragraph and go to Home > Multilevel List > Define New Multilevel List. Then click More at the lower left to show all the settings.
Level 1: Heading 1
Select level 1 under Click level to modify, then set these in order:
- Set Link level to style to Heading 1.
- Set Number style for this level to 壹, 貳, 參 …, the Chinese numerals my format requires. The dialog opens on 1, 2, 3, as the previous screenshot shows, so keep that if your thesis numbers chapters 1, 2, 3. I did not run the steps with 1, 2, 3 on this level.
- In Enter formatting for number, delete the default
)and type any punctuation your format needs after the highlighted number. I typed 、 after 壹. The highlighted part is the automatic number, so don’t delete or change it. - Set Follow number with to Space, and set Text indent at to 0 pt.
- Click Set for All Levels and set Additional indent for each level and the other fields to 0 pt.
Level 2: Heading 2
Select level 2 and set Link level to style to Heading 2. Move the cursor to the very start of Enter formatting for number, choose Level 1 under Include level number from, and tidy the format so that it reads 壹.a, with the number from level 1, a period, and this level’s letter. Set Follow number with to Space, and leave Restart list after checked as it is by default.
Level 3: Heading 3
Link level 3 to Heading 3. Under Include level number from, add Level 1 and then Level 2, and tidy the format so that it reads 壹.a.i. Set Follow number with to Space, check Legal style numbering so that it becomes 1.1.1, and click OK.
Home > Numbering to remove the number. It keeps the Heading 1 style.
Insert figure and table captions
Select the picture you want to caption and go to References > Insert Caption.
Add chapter numbers to figure numbers
If your figure numbers need to include the chapter, click Numbering in the Caption dialog, check Include chapter number, set Chapter starts with style to Heading 1, and set Use separator to a hyphen. The chapter number comes from your Heading 1 numbering. According to Microsoft’s instructions, when Heading 1 is numbered 1, 2, 3, the first figure in chapter 2 is Figure 2-1.
Reference figure numbers with cross-references
When your text says “as shown in Figure 1”, don’t type that number either. Put the cursor where the reference goes and go to References > Cross-reference. Set Reference type to your label, Figure in most cases, set Insert reference to to Only label and number, select the figure in the For which caption list, and click Insert.
Update numbers after adding or removing figures
Add a picture with a caption in front of the original Figure 1. The new picture becomes Figure 1, but the cross-reference in your text doesn’t change right away.
Ctrl + A to select the whole document and then press F9, or right-click the selection and choose Update Field.
Summary
Once this is set up, adding or removing a chapter or figure only takes Ctrl + A followed by F9, and the numbers across the whole document renumber themselves.
