Numbered captions and cross-references, without the hand-counting.

Google Docs has no built-in captions and no cross-references — insert a figure in the middle of a long document and every caption after it, and every “see Figure 3” in the text, is yours to renumber by hand. This add-on writes the caption line, links the reference, and puts all the numbers right in one click.

What it is

A sidebar for Google Docs. Click an image — or click into a table — and press Add caption: a caption line appears with the next number (Figure 1. below an image, Table 1. above a table), and you type the description after it. From those captions the add-on can insert cross-references that jump to them, renumber everything at once, and build a list of figures or tables. Captions are recognised from the document text itself each time — nothing is stored, and the contents of your document never leave Google. The only request that goes outside is the paid license check, described below.

What it does

Numbered captions for images and tables — the everyday case, free and unlimited. Numbering is automatic: the next caption gets the next number, counted by where it sits in the document.
Captions you typed by hand count too — a line that already reads Figure 1. is recognised as a caption, so a document that arrived from another word processor works as-is. There is nothing to import and no setup step.
Cross-references that jump — pick a caption, and Figure 2 is inserted at your cursor as a link to it. Select some text first and the link is added to your own words instead, so the sentence stays yours.
Renumber all — one click puts every caption in document order and updates every reference to match. References worded by you are left as you wrote them; only the machine-shaped Figure N text is rewritten.
Finds broken references — a reference whose caption was deleted is counted and reported when you renumber, instead of silently pointing nowhere.
List of figures, list of tables — inserted at the cursor, one line per caption. Running it again refreshes the list in place rather than stacking a second copy — edit the captions and the list follows.

Renumbering is a button, honestly

Google gives add-ons no way to watch you edit, so no Docs add-on can renumber captions live as you type — one that promises that is promising something the platform does not allow. Here the contract is explicit: edit freely, and when you want the numbers right, press Renumber all. Captions, references and lists are all brought up to date in that one click.

A small Docs habit worth knowing: in the editing view, clicking a reference shows a little card first — click the bookmark in that card to jump. Readers of a published or PDF copy jump in one click.

Pricing

Free: unlimited captions with automatic numbering — not a trial, and not capped by document or by day.
Paid: a one-time license, $9.99, which unlocks cross-references, renumbering, and the lists of figures and tables. Pay once — there is no subscription, nothing renews, and the free part stays free.

The price shown is the total you pay. Sales tax and VAT are included in it, not added at the end. Prices are in US dollars.

Buy a license

Checkout is handled by Lemon Squeezy, the seller of record. Your license key arrives by email as soon as the payment goes through. There is no subscription, so there is nothing to cancel.

Refunds. Within 14 days of purchase, write to [email protected] and say what went wrong. No justification beyond that is required. The full wording is in the Terms of Service, section 3.

Activating your key

Your license key is on the confirmation screen right after payment, and in the receipt email. To turn on the paid features:

In Google Docs, open Extensions › Captions & Cross-References › Open.
Paste the key in the License section of the sidebar and press Activate.

One license covers up to 3 Google accounts. To move it to a different account, press Release this account in the same place — that frees a slot.

The add-on checks the key with Lemon Squeezy at most once every seven days. A single check that cannot reach them switches nothing off: the paid features keep working for up to 14 days after the last check that did succeed. Past that, they stay off until a check gets through again. Captions and their numbering are not affected either way.

The license check — the one request that leaves

When you enter a license key, the add-on sends the key and an anonymous installation identifier — and nothing else — to Lemon Squeezy, our payment processor, to check that the key is valid. Your document is never part of that request. Details are in the privacy policy.

Permissions it asks for

See and manage the current document — to read the captions already in the document and to insert the caption lines, references and lists you ask for. Only the document the sidebar is open in; it cannot touch your other files.
Show a sidebar — the panel itself.
Connect to an external service — the license check above, and only that.

Support

Something wrong, or a document it reads badly? See the support page.