You can create a Table of Figures in Word in two different ways:
- By using Word’s default Caption feature
- By selecting a specific style from the Styles gallery as a caption style
Procedure 1
In the first method, insert default Captions to all the figures in the document.
1. To insert a default caption, from the Ribbon, under the tab Reference, within the group Captions, click Insert Caption.
Select a caption label from the drop-down list Label. You can create customized caption labels (to know more, read this: https://wordknowhow.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/how-to-add-caption-to-a-figure-in-word-and-insert-a-new-label-for-a-caption-in-word/)
2. Once you are done captioning all the figures in the document then from the Ribbon, under the tab Reference, within the group Captions, click Insert Table of Figures. The Table of Figures dialog box appears.
3. In the dialog box, select the Tab Header and Formats.
4. Click OK. A table of figure is created at the cursor position.
Procedure 2:
In the second method, instead of using Word’s default Caption, apply any of the styles from the Styles gallery as a caption style.
Just remember that the style you choose for captioning, should not be used for anything else in the document.
1. Now for each figure in your document, insert a consistent caption name (let’s say PIC 1: Meeting, PIC 2: …… etc.)
2. Keeping the caption name selected, click the style (Heading 7 is chosen as caption style in this example) from the Styles gallery (you can open the Styles gallery by clicking Alt+O+S)
3. Apply the same style to all other figures in the document.
4. Once you are done with applying captions to all the figures in the document, from Word Ribbon, under the tab Reference, within the group Captions, click Insert Table of Figures. The Table of Figures dialog box appears.
5. In the dialog box, click the Options button from the right bottom corner. The Table of Figures Options dialog box appears.
6. In the dialog box, select check box Styles and select the style (Heading 7 in this example) from the drop-down list. Click OK.
7. Click OK in the Table of Figures dialog box. A table of figures is created at the cursor position.
MS Word Know How 
Is there any way to make this work across multiple documents, the way generating a TOC does?
Thank you for nice explanation.
The second procedure is very smart. Especially, if you have already typed all your figures/tables with out captioning !!!
I want a table of figures not a caption for a table! I am writing a thesis and need to list the tables and figures just after the table of contents. Why doesn’t the table of figures work like the table of contents????
What do you mean when you say table of figures do not work like table of content?
It works like table of contents. Once you are done applying captions to the figures, generate a table of figures just by clicking the “Insert Table of Figures” icon from the Ribbon menu bar (Reference >> Captions >> Insert Table of Figures).
Both ‘Table of Contents’ and ‘Table of Figures’ create references (hyperlinks) for heading, sub headings, figures, etc. in the document. The only difference is, in table of figure there are no different levels, as we have in table of content (Heading 1, Heading 2,…etc.)
Similarly, you can create table of table by inserting a caption to a table (don’t forget to select the Label as ‘Table’ in the Caption dialog box while inserting a caption)
Thanks,
Anupam
Thank you so much
So glad to hear that!