Creating a List of Cross-References

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 9, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

Guy is a technical editor working on long technical reports. There are LOTS of cross-references. He needs to verify that every figure/table is cross-referenced in the body text. Guy can't seem to find any information about making a list of all cross-references in a document so wonders if there is a way to do it.

There is no way to do this natively within Word, but you could come up with some sort of workaround. For instance, assuming your cross references to figures and tables are automatically numbered by Word, you could place an index entry field (Alt+Shift+X) next to each cross-reference field and then generate an index. That would provide a list of all your cross-references, and you could update the index, as necessary, if you make changes to your cross-references.

Another solution, however, is to use a third-party add-in to handle your cross references. One that is worth checking out is DocTools CrossReferenceManager. It can generate a list of all cross-references, including backlinks to the original document. (It can do more than that, but this specific capability provides a solution to Guy's original query.) More information about the add-in can be found here:

https://wordaddins.com/products/cross-references/

The add-in is not free, but it does come with a 15-day trial period.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (2574) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Determining Differences Between Dates

Do you need to do some simple math using dates in a your macro? One of the easy functions you can use is the DateDiff ...

Discover More

Removing a Multilevel List

Working with multilevel lists in Word can be frustrating. One frustration you may face is figuring out how to get rid of ...

Discover More

Using an Older Font with Word

If you are using older custom fonts with newer versions of Word, you may notice a few quirks. This tip can help you ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 365 applications with VBA programming. Written in clear terms and understandable language, the book includes systematic tutorials and contains both intermediate and advanced content for experienced VB developers. Designed to be comprehensive, the book addresses not just one Office application, but the entire Office suite. Check out Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 365 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Recording an Audio Version of a Document

Immersive Reader is a tool in Word that allows documents to be read out loud. If you want to record the audio as it is ...

Discover More

Finding Related Words

One part of the grammar tools provided with Word is a thesaurus that helps you find all sorts of word variations. One ...

Discover More

Correcting Student Papers

If you are a teacher, you may be looking for ways you can use Word's features to correct papers your students send to you ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is three less than 3?

2025-09-25 08:17:42

mike

time for another update. They've stopped selling the manager to new customers.

2023-10-30 14:33:38

ClancyCat

FWIW, DocTools will *not* work for index x-refs, only for "typical' x-refs inserted into the body text of a Word file, like "see Table 2.x." The developer is very helpful but this is a function whch is NOT included at all. I bought it andtried it and was extremely disappointed to find out ath Indices are a "whole 'nother thang," Unfortuante. I'm still trying to count index x-refs!

2019-07-14 03:20:30

Ken Endacott

Here is a simple way of checking references to tables and figures. The macro below highlights in yellow all figure and table captions that are referenced at least once. By scrolling down the document, captions that are not highlighted and hence haven't been referenced can be seen. The macro also highlights in red, references that do not have a corresponding table or figure caption or bookmark. The macro is non specific and will highlight any referenced bookmark.

Sub CheckTableAndFigureReferences()
Dim j As Long
Dim f As Field
Dim fCode As String
Dim bkMrk As String
ActiveDocument.Range.HighlightColorIndex = wdNoHighlight
For j = 1 To ActiveDocument.Fields.Count
Set f = ActiveDocument.Fields(j)
If f.Type = wdFieldRef Then
fCode = Trim(f.Code)
bkMrk = Trim(Mid(fCode, InStr(fCode, " ")))
If ActiveDocument.Bookmarks.Exists(bkMrk) Then
ActiveDocument.Bookmarks(bkMrk).Range.HighlightColorIndex = wdYellow
Else
f.Result.HighlightColorIndex = wdRed
End If
End If
Next j
MsgBox "Finished checking references"
End Sub

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.