Multiple figure captions in column-row order

Question

I have 4 figures and I want each one of them to have a caption. For example, if I follow this, they will look like

Fig1.   Fig2.
(a)     (b)
Fig3.   Fig4.
(c)     (d)

But I want their caption to be organized as

Fig1.   Fig3.
(a)     (c)
Fig2.   Fig4.
(b)     (d)

What should I do?

Possible duplicate of https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/235690/i-want-to-change-the-order-of-numbering-for-captions-in-subfigure — John Kormylo, Mar 12 '22 at 21:41

Simon Dispa · Accepted Answer · 2022-03-12T22:12:33.980

You can manipulate the counter subcaption to change the numbering order.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{subcaption}
\captionsetup[subfigure]{labelfont=bf}
\begin{document}
\begin{figure}
    \centering
\begin{subfigure}{.5\textwidth}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=.4\linewidth]{example-image}
    \caption{A subfigure 1}
    \label{fig:sub1}
\end{subfigure}%
\begin{subfigure}{.5\textwidth}
    \setcounter{subfigure}{2} % set next caption to c
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=.4\linewidth]{example-image}
    \caption{A subfigure 2}
    \label{fig:sub2}
\end{subfigure}\\
\bigskip
\begin{subfigure}{.5\textwidth}
    \setcounter{subfigure}{1} % set next caption to b
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=.4\linewidth]{example-image}
    \caption{A subfigure 3}
    \label{fig:sub3}
\end{subfigure}%
\begin{subfigure}{.5\textwidth}
    \setcounter{subfigure}{3} % set next caption to d
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=.4\linewidth]{example-image}
    \caption{A subfigure 4}
    \label{fig:sub4}
\end{subfigure}     
\caption{ Main caption}\label{fig:main}

\end{figure}
See the figure~\ref{fig:sub2} in the upper left of the Figure~\ref{fig:main}.
\end{document}

UPDATE after follow-up question: use subfloats

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{subcaption}
\captionsetup[figure]{font=sf}
\captionsetup[sub]{labelfont=bf}
\begin{document}
\begin{figure}
    \centering
    \subfloat[Subfigure 1/4 \label{subfig:s1}]{\includegraphics[width=0.4\textwidth]{example-image}}
    \setcounter{subfigure}{2}  % set next caption to c
    \hfill
    \subfloat[Subfigure 3/4 \label{subfig:s2}]{\includegraphics[width=0.4\textwidth]{example-image}}\
    \bigskip
    \setcounter{subfigure}{1} % set next caption to b
    \subfloat[Subfigure 2/4 \label{subfig:s3}]{\includegraphics[width=0.4\textwidth]{example-image}}
    \setcounter{subfigure}{3} % set next caption to d
    \hfill
    \subfloat[Subfigure 4/4 \label{subfig:s4}]{\includegraphics[width=0.4\textwidth]{example-image}}\
    \caption{ Main caption}\label{fig:main}
\end{figure}
See the figure~\ref{subfig:s2} in the upper left of the Figure~\ref{fig:main}.
\end{document}

Thanks for your answer! But I can't use subfigure. Could you provide an example with subfloat? — fatpanda2049, Mar 12 '22 at 21:15

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 13 '22 at 00:33

With us of the minipage for grouping figures in column:

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{subcaption}
    \captionsetup[figure]{font=sf}
    \captionsetup[sub]{skip=1ex, belowskip=2ex, labelfont=bf}
\begin{document}
\begin{figure}
    \centering
    \setkeys{Gin}{width=\linewidth}
\begin{minipage}{0.4\linewidth}
    \subfloat[Subfigure 1/4 \label{subfig:s1}]{\includegraphics{example-image-duck}}
\subfloat[Subfigure 2/4 \label{subfig:s2}]{\includegraphics{example-image-duck}} 

\end{minipage}
    \hfil
\begin{minipage}{0.4\linewidth}
    \subfloat[Subfigure 3/4 \label{subfig:s3}]{\includegraphics{example-image-duck}}
\subfloat[Subfigure 4/4 \label{subfig:s4}]{\includegraphics{example-image-duck}}

\end{minipage}
    \caption{Main caption}
    \label{fig:main}
\end{figure}
See the figure~\ref{subfig:s2} in the bottom left of the Figure~\ref{fig:main}.
\end{document}

Multiple figure captions in column-row order

2 Answers2