Use Insert > Reference > Caption to insert the title above the figure. (In Microsoft Word 2000 and earlier, it's Insert > Caption.) Word will automatically insert the title in Caption style.

Now, make sure the title will stay on the same page as the figure.

For Word 2002 and 2003: First, make sure you can see all your styles. Now, Format > Styles and Formatting. In the pane on the right, right-click "Caption" and choose Modify. Click Format > Paragraph. On the Line and Page Breaks tab, tick "Keep with next".

For Word 2000 and earlier versions: Format > Style > Format > Paragraph. On the Line and Page Breaks tab, tick "Keep with next".

That will ensure that all titles you insert using Insert > Reference > Caption will stay on the same page as the following paragraph.

Note: Make sure that you don't leave an empty paragraph between the title and the figure.

Case 2. Figure is a full page width (or nearly a full page width). Caption is below the figure.

A picture of a lion that I took at Okonjima in Namibia in 2001. The picture is the full width of the page, and has a caption below it, reading 'Figure 1 A lion at Okonjima, Namibia'

Case 2: Caption is below the picture and is the full width of the page.

Make sure the figure is in-line (not floating).

Make sure the figure is not selected. To do that, click in the paragraph below the figure, ready to type some text.

Use Insert > Reference > Caption to insert the caption below the figure. (In Word 2000 and earlier, it's Insert > Caption.) Word will automatically insert the title in Caption style.

Now, click your figure. Format > Paragraph. On the Line and Page Breaks tab, tick "Keep with next". That will ensure that the paragraph containing the figure is always on the same page as the following paragraph (which holds your caption).

However, that will only work for this figure. If you have more than one figure in your document, each with its own caption, the most efficient way is to use a style especially for your figures. Word does not have an appropriate one built-in, so create a custom style. Modify your custom style so that (a) Line spacing is set to Single and (b) Paragraph format is set to Keep With Next.

Case 3. Text has to wrap around the figure. Title is above the figure, or, caption is below the figure.

A picture of a lion that I took at Okonjima in Namibia in 2001. Text wraps to the left of the picture. The picture has a caption below it, reading 'Figure 1 A lion at Okonjima, Namibia'

Case 3: Text wraps around the picture.

Make sure the figure is in-line (not floating).

Make sure the title or caption is not in a text box. That is, it has to be ordinary text.

Now, we're going to put a Frame around the picture and the caption. That will keep the two together, and the text can wrap around the Frame.

To do that, do View > Toolbars. Click the Forms toolbar. Select the figure and the title or caption. On the Forms toolbar, click the Insert Frame button. This creates a frame surrounding the figure and its title or caption. Click the frame (so you see 8 little squares), then Format > Frame to adjust the frame.

The frame will stay on the same page as the paragraph to which it is anchored. You can see the anchor if you do Tools > Options > View and tick Object Anchors and then click in the frame.

Case 4. A table is the full width of the page (or nearly a full page width). Title is above the figure.

Click in the paragraph above the table, ready to type some text.

Use Insert > Reference > Caption to insert the title above the table. (In Word 2000 and earlier, it's Insert > Caption.) Word will automatically insert the title in Caption style.

Now, make sure the title will stay on the same page as the table.

Tip: Terminology trap!

Once upon a time, Microsoft invented the idea of a "Frame" in Word. It was designed to group objects so that text could float around them on the page.

More recently, the word "Frame" has acquired a different meaning. It's a kind of web page where some parts of the page remain static, and some parts change.

When Word introduced ways to save web pages from Word, it had to create a way to use the new web-kind of frame. Since Word 2000, Format > Frames refers to a web frame. What you need for your purpose is a good old-fashioned Word frame. You get a Word frame from the Forms toolbar.

For Word 2000 and earlier versions: Format > Style > Format > Paragraph. On the Line and Page Breaks tab, tick "Keep with next".

That will ensure that all titles you insert using Insert > Reference > Caption will stay on the same page as the following paragraph.

Note: Make sure that you don't leave an empty paragraph between the title and the figure.

Case 5. A table is the full width of the page (or nearly a full page width). Caption is below the figure.

Click in the last paragraph of the table. Format > Paragraph. On the Line and Page Breaks tab, tick "Keep with next". Word will keep the last paragraph of the table on the same page as the caption below it.

Note: Make sure that you don't leave an empty paragraph between the table and the caption.

Caution! If the last paragraph in a table is set to "Keep with next", and you add a new row to the end of the table, the new row will also be marked "Keep with next". If you add several more rows, eventually Word won't be able to cope. It can't keep everything on the one page. So it will break the table across the page. And it always seems to choose the most inconvenient place to break!

http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/figures/keepwithcaption.html at www.ShaunaKelly.com.

This site was last updated in April 2008. This page was first published in and was last modified in .

Please note that the information here is based principally on Word 2002 and Word 2003 for Windows. Different versions of Word on different operating systems may act differently.

Produced by Shauna Kelly, Microsoft MVP for Word. Copyright Shauna Kelly, Melbourne, Australia