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Figure Caption

Engaged ,
Jun 13, 2018 Jun 13, 2018

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Having been away from inDesign for a while, I hav forgotten how to add a caption to a new figure in my .indd document, and have the figure number slide into my existing collection of figures. If one of you could point me on instructions for doing that, I would be grateful.

Best,

jwc

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Community Expert ,
Jun 13, 2018 Jun 13, 2018

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If it's the numbering of the captions that is the issue, this tutorial should help:

Numbered Lists — Part III Figure Captions

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Engaged ,
Jun 14, 2018 Jun 14, 2018

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Thanks Steve. That link has been very helpful. After having defined a caption style I am now generating automatically, sequentially numbered captions.

I just noticed that there is a lot of space between the figure number and the start of the caption. Have looked around, and so far have not found the way to control the size of that space. If I remove the carat (inverted 'v'), that space goes to zero.

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Engaged ,
Jun 15, 2018 Jun 15, 2018

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I followed this tutorial and had the figure numbers all in sequence as designed. Then I returned to adjusting the space between figure number and caption, and in the process, have lost the figure number sequencing. All figure numbers are back to '1'.

Please advise if there are any other required steps beyond defining a numbered list and checking the box, 'Continue numbers across stories', and if possible, whether my fiddling with spaces between ni\umbers and captions could have brought this on, and if so, the best way to return to 'Square One'.

Thanks,

jwc

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Community Expert ,
Jun 13, 2018 Jun 13, 2018

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Hi Jack:

Adding captions is a two-step process:

  1. Object > Captions > Caption Set-up is where you define how new captions should look in your document, including pulling in metadata from Bridge, where to place the caption and which paragraph style you want it to use.
    Screenshot 2018-06-13 17.51.32.png
  2. Once defined, select one or more images and choose Object > Caption > Live | Static Captions. Remember that live captions will update if you update the metadata but must fit on a single line, static captions can run across multiple lines but don't update after a metadata update.

~Barb

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Engaged ,
Jun 13, 2018 Jun 13, 2018

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Thanks, Barb,

This looks potential every useful. I’m 'almost home’: The first time that I tried to generate a live caption from metadata, nothing happened. On the second attempt, the ‘generate live caption' and other options were disabled (greyed out).

Also, in the process of generating new captions for only two existing images and all thee 48 others already had sequential image numbers, now all of the old image numbers are gone. It is not the end of the world, b/c the document s not that long, , but it is an irritant to have to repeat all of that work. If I can somehow, easily, recover the image numbers, that would be extremely helpful. Or maybe I should just ‘bite the bullet’, and enter all captions into metadata.

But. first I need success with the first couple of images, before going ahead and placing all captions into metadata, and go on from there, b/c I can see that a;; of this will be very helpful going forward

Tks,

jwc

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Community Expert ,
Jun 13, 2018 Jun 13, 2018

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Hi Jack;

It can be tricky to figure out which metadata field you want. The names in InDesign don’t always match the names in Bridge, so that is one reason why the caption might be empty. Another might be that you’re referencing an empty metadata field. If it were me, I would focus on getting one single caption working correctly, then you’ll know how add all of the other captions.

As for the figure numbers, be sure that you are tagging all the captions with a paragraph style and then add the figure number to the paragraph style. Again, see Steve’s post.

~Barb

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Engaged ,
Jun 14, 2018 Jun 14, 2018

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Hello, Barb,

I think it would be helpful to all of us to know which metadata fields work best when pulled in as inDesign captions. I have now tried Title and Description, without success.

Of course, this assumes that there are no _other_ errors lurking in my work.

jwc

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Community Expert ,
Jun 15, 2018 Jun 15, 2018

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Hi Jack:

You have a lot of questions in those last three replys, and because you already marked this post as answered, it will overlooked by many of us because we are trying to solve the unanswered questions. If your question isn't actually answered, yet you may want to unmark it so that others will weigh in.

But too much space between number and caption.

You can either adjust the tab stop to control the space, or use a fixed width character in Bullets & Numbering.

Screenshot 2018-06-15 07.23.23.png

Why would that result in all figure numbers being the same?

Because each caption is appearing in its own unthreaded frame. As per Steve's link at the top, you need a named list, and you need to tell the list to continue across stories.

Screenshot 2018-06-15 07.23.23 copy.png

Screenshot 2018-06-15 07.23.46.png

I think it would be helpful to all of us to know which metadata fields work best when pulled in as inDesign captions. I have now tried Title and Description, without success.

What are you trying to put in the caption? A photo credit? The name of the file? A description that has already been added to the metadata? Any field can be pulled into InDesign. The field that works best is the one that pulls in what you need.

~Barb

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Community Expert ,
Jun 15, 2018 Jun 15, 2018

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I just unmarked my answer as being correct since there are several issues being dealt with regarding captions.

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Engaged ,
Jun 15, 2018 Jun 15, 2018

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Thank you, Barb and Steve. I'm continuing to pursue all of this, with your help.

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Engaged ,
Jun 15, 2018 Jun 15, 2018

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Thanks, Barb,

By 'continuing from previous story', I now have incremented figure numbers.

However, I still have that excessive space between number and beginning of caption. My space units are in inches rather than typesetters' points, if that matters. Have not found the way to make that change, if it matters.

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Community Expert ,
Jun 15, 2018 Jun 15, 2018

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Hi Jack:

If the space between Figure 1 and the caption text is not to your liking you have two options:

  1. Adjust the tab position—you may need to increase it. It doesn't matter if you measure in inches, points, picas or mm, just use the arrows in front of the current value until you get the desired result.
    Screenshot 2018-06-15 16.31.25.pngScreenshot 2018-06-15 16.32.08.png
  2. Alternatively, do away with the tab character altogether, and put in a fixed width character. Try both the en and the em space to see if either of those will work.

Screenshot 2018-06-15 16.32.53.png

~Barb

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Engaged ,
Jun 15, 2018 Jun 15, 2018

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Thanks, Barb,

The default value for tab position appears to be irreducible below 0.0625” which is 1/16”, and would be ok if the actual space between the figure number and the caption was only that wide, which, unfortunately it is not.

So then I tried to follow your ‘Option 3’, i.e., to insert an em space after the #.t, but inDesign does not like that.

If I select ^m from the dropdown to R of the number, that is placed in front of the word, ‘Figure’; I get the em-space to L of ‘Figure’, as expected, which is of no help here. I tried all of the other special characters, with the same result.

If I type m manually after .t, that gives me the following message: ‘A tab character in the Number field is not in a valid location. Please delete the tab or make it the last character in the field.’ That is confusing because it is the last character in the field.

Best,

jwc

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Community Expert ,
Jun 16, 2018 Jun 16, 2018

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Hi Jack:

So then I tried to follow your ‘Option 3’, i.e., to insert an em space after the #.t, but inDesign does not like that.

I offered two options—adjust the tab position or remove the tab (^t) and replace it with an en or em space. If you try to keep the tab and add the en or em space you will get this message:

Screenshot 2018-06-16 07.17.41.png

As per the earlier screen shot, remove the tab. Try an en or em space.

Screenshot 2018-06-16 07.16.56.png

~Barb

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Engaged ,
Jun 24, 2018 Jun 24, 2018

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Sequential figure numbers are working fine.

Live captions from metadata descriptions are also working fine, so long as I set the caption location below the figure, not to the left. Placing caption to left creates an impossible situation. However., I can drag the 'below' caption to the place where it needs to be, (left to the middle of the facing page) just fine.

Now all fine until I added a two-para metadata description as a static caption. inDesign interpreted that as separate figure numbers. So I tried to fix that by using shift-Return instead of Return alone. But inDesign's figure numbering did not recover. There is a 'hiccup': the sequence is 45-44-46, etc.

Next I'll try deleting and re-placing the 'problem' figures. More later.

Furthermore, just checking the three last figures, which are now 48-49-50, I now find that the _cross-references_ to them point to figures 41-42-43, the original figure numbers at the time that I inserted the cross-references.

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Community Expert ,
Jun 24, 2018 Jun 24, 2018

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Hi Jack:

If you have multiple paragraphs using auto-numbers, they will get numbered. You can use a line break, or just tag the second paragraph FigureCaptionNoNumber (or whatever you want to call it) and disable the auto-numbering for that new paragraph style.

As for the X-refs, use the Update Cross-References button at the bottom of the panel to update the numbering after edits.

~Barb

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Engaged ,
Jun 24, 2018 Jun 24, 2018

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OK, thanks, will try those suggestions.

jwc

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Community Expert ,
Jun 25, 2018 Jun 25, 2018

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Hi Jack:

Great, and remember that you can read everything about X-refs in the link below, including how to update them after edits. Since you are relying on them to help you in your layout, I highly recommend reading through the entire help page. If you have any questions after reading it, of course, please come back and ask us.

Insert and manage cross-references in InDesign

~Barb

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Engaged ,
Jun 25, 2018 Jun 25, 2018

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Cannot find the update button in Type | Hyperlinks and Cross-References. The 'Update Cross References' option is disabled. There is a 'Cross Reference Options' panel, but that does contain the 'Update' button to which you referred above.

Tks,

jwc

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Community Expert ,
Jun 14, 2018 Jun 14, 2018

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Jack  wrote

… The first time that I tried to generate a live caption from metadata, nothing happened. On the second attempt, the ‘generate live caption' and other options were disabled (greyed out).…

What kind of images did you place?

Regards,
Uwe

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Engaged ,
Jun 14, 2018 Jun 14, 2018

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They are jpg images.

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Community Expert ,
Jun 14, 2018 Jun 14, 2018

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Hey Jack:


You are good to go? Captions are working, numbers are working?

~Barb

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Engaged ,
Jun 14, 2018 Jun 14, 2018

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Numbers, yes. But too much space between number and caption. Have not cracked the metadata thing yet, but that is not a priority at this time, b/c most of the caption text is in place; I only need to apply the caption style to each caption.

Other question remains: how to reduce the indentation between figure number and the start of the caption itself. So far, I have not been able to identify the control for that. This is strange, because I have in front of me a copy of my book from last year, containing all captions in the desired style, with just a single em-space between number and caption.

Best,

jwc

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Engaged ,
Jun 14, 2018 Jun 14, 2018

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Now I’m seeing that all of the figure numbers are "Figure 1”. Format is 1, 2, 3, 4; Number style is’Figure #.t'; Character style is Main Text; Mode is ‘Continue from previous'. Why would that result in all figure numbers being the same?

I also would like to precede the caption with some text like ‘Front cover', ‘Title page’ , ‘Backt cover', etc., without going to a separate text box, if that can be accommodated.

Tks,

jwc

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