Inserted Caption Does Not Retain Style Formatting (117123)

SYMPTOMS

The alignment of a Caption or AutoCaption may be different than the alignment of the picture, object, or table that is being captioned.

Example 1:

If you modify the Caption style to have centered alignment, and insert a picture, object, or table in a paragraph that is left or right aligned, and AutoCaption is turned on, the picture and caption will be left or right aligned. (To locate the AutoCaption option, choose Caption from the Insert menu, and choose the AutoCaption button.)

Example 2:

If you insert a picture in a paragraph that has direct formatting (alignment) applied to it, and in the next paragraph containing the same alignment, insert the caption, the Caption style formatting will override the paragraph formatting. If the picture is left aligned, and the caption style is centered, the picture will be left aligned and the caption will be centered.

CAUSE

When you apply direct formatting to the paragraph where the picture is inserted and AutoCaption is turned on, Word applies the direct formatting to both the picture and caption. When AutoCaption is turned off, the Caption style formatting overrides the paragraph formatting.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem with Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a and 6.0c and Word for Windows 95. This problem was corrected in Word for the Macintosh, version 6.0 and Word 97for Windows.

WORKAROUND

Use one of the following methods to ensure that the caption and picture, object, or table are correctly aligned.

Method 1:

If AutoCaption is turned on, format the paragraph alignment where the picture is to be inserted, and then insert the picture. Word will format the picture and the caption with the same alignment.

Method 2:

If AutoCaption is turned off, insert the picture, format the paragraph alignment, select the picture, and insert the caption. Word formats the caption the same as the picture.

Method 3:

If the caption appears with different alignment than the picture, select the caption and apply direct formatting to the caption. To do this, choose one of the alignment buttons. Or, from the Format menu, choose Paragraph. Select the correct alignment and choose OK.

Method 4:

If the caption appears with different alignment than the object, select the caption and from the Format menu, choose Style. From the list of styles, select Caption, and choose Apply to reapply the style to the caption text.