How to Create an Automatic List of Tables in Microsoft Word 2010

If you are a Microsoft Word 2010 user and often include tables in your documents, then you may need to create a List of Tables. Microsoft Word 2010 allows you create a List of Tables automatically, in that you can produce the list with only a few clicks. All you need to do is to caption your tables appropriately using the Caption facility provided. Not only will this produce a List of Tables qucikly and automatically, but it will also create an accurate and consistent List of Tables.

1.     Type in the name of you table (usually above the corresponding table)

2.     Position your mouse cursor before the first letter of the table name, and under ‘Reference’ menu tab, click ‘Insert Caption’

3.     In the Caption window, select Table for the Label box. If the label you want has not yet available, create one with “New Label”

4.     Click OK and you will see your table has just been captioned and autonumbered. You may need to press tab on your keyboard to allow a reasonable space between the caption label number and the table name.

5.     To modify caption style, go back to “Home” to expand Style panel. Expand the Style panel by clicking small arrow on the lower right corner of the Style box.  Scroll down your Style panel to find “Caption”, right click it and click “Modify”. In the “Modify Style” window you can do any modification to style the Caption.

6.     To create your List of Tables automatically, position your mouse cursor anywhere you want your list to appear, and under Reference menu, find and click Insert Table of Figure and in the appearing window make sure to clear the box next to  ‘Use hyperlinks instead of page numbers’ and select “Table” for the Caption label box. Click OK.