Lists of tables and figures

Introduction

A list of the tables and figures keep the information organized and provide easy access to a specific element. This article explains how to create a list of figures, a list of tables and how to change the default title in both of them.

Let's start with a basic example: 

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\graphicspath{ {figures/} }
\usepackage{array}

\begin{document}

\thispagestyle{empty}
\listoffigures
\listoftables
\newpage
\pagenumbering{arabic}

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing 
elit.  Etiam lobortisfacilisis...
\end{document}

ListOfTablesAndFiguresEx1OLV2.png

 Open an example on Overleaf


The commands \listoffigures and \listoftables are self explanatory, the first one generates the list of figures and the second one the list of tables. In this example there are two more relevant commands:

\thispagestyle{empty}
Removes the page numbering.
\pagenumbering{arabic}
Re-start the page numbering with Arabic-style numerals.

Changing the names

As shown in the following example, the default titles, "List of Tables" and "List of Figures", can be changed to any other text: 

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{array}
\graphicspath{ {figures/} }

\renewcommand{\listfigurename}{List of plots}
\renewcommand{\listtablename}{Tables}

\begin{document}

\thispagestyle{empty}
\listoffigures
\listoftables
\clearpage
\pagenumbering{arabic}

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.  Etiam lobortisfacilisis...
\end{document}

Listoffiguresandtables.png

 Open an example on Overleaf

The commands that re-write the titles are:

  • \renewcommand{\listfigurename}{List of plots} will write "List of plots" instead of "List of Figures".
  • \renewcommand{\listtablename}{Tables} will write "Tables" instead of "List of Tables".

If you use the babel package in your document and you need to use any of the previous commands, put it inside the braces of \addto\captionsenglish{ }. Instead of english in \captionenglish write the name of the language you set in babel.

Note: your document may need to be compiled twice for the lists to be generated properly.

Further reading

For more information see: