Using endfloat to remove all figures, but keep references to them

Question

I am trying to remove all figures and tables in my document, but keep references inside the text still correct (i.e. figure 8/9/x).

I have found the following answer here which allows for all floats/tables to not be processed (and is good since I am already using this package).

However, I would like to still retain the figure counts/etc so there references to figures still work in the text. Furthermore, if I am using the subfloat package, it will also have to remove the sublabels (i.e. a) and b)).

MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{float}
\usepackage{subfig}

%%% Remove the next two lines if you want the figures at their place    
\usepackage[nolists,nomarkers]{endfloat}
\renewcommand{\processdelayedfloats}{}

\usepackage{lipsum}% mock text

\begin{document}

\lipsum[1]

\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[width=.3\textwidth]{example-image-a}
\caption{Whatever}
\label{fig:A}
\end{figure}

\lipsum[2]

\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[width=.3\textwidth]{example-image-a}
\caption{Whatever}
\label{fig:B}
\end{figure}

\lipsum[3]

\begin{table}[htp]
A table
\caption{Something}
\label{tab:A}
\end{table}

\lipsum[4]

\begin{figure}[H]
\centering
\subfloat[]{\includegraphics[width=0.50\textwidth]{images/s.pdf}\label{sv}}
\hfil
\subfloat[]{\includegraphics[width=0.50\textwidth]{images/p.pdf}\label{pv}}
\caption{(a) shows the orthogonal plots of variables and their contribution on PC1 and PC2 while (b) highlights the individual contribution of each site. Ellipses for north and south in (b) are for 1 $\sigma$.}
\label{svp}
\end{figure} 

\end{document}

Answer 1

Based on your MWE, I am not really sure what you want the output to be regarding the lists of tables and figures and if the tables should be in the text. Given the options to the endfloat package, I am assuming you really do not want lists of tables and figures and you want the tables in the text. I have never seen a journal with this particular set of requirements, but there are a lot of journals.

A robust solution that deals with arbitrary floating content and their locations, the use of long and short captions in the figures and lists, markers in the text, and cross referencing is a pain. For you particular MWE with the figure environments only including \includegraphics, a caption, a subfloat, and a label, the following should work.

1. Add in the float and subfig packages so the MWE compiles
2. Add a \label to each figure and table so cross referencing works
3. Drop a lot of the functionality of the endfloat package
4. Overload the \@makecaption, \includegraphics, and \subfloat macros so they do not do anything other than gobble their arguments

Note that if you use hyperref package patching \@makecaption might be more involved depending on how you want back references to behave.

The reason things are hard is that you need to output some of the contents of the float environment, in particular the label in order to get cross referencing to work, but you do not want the rest of the environment. There is probably some cool hack where you can redefine \label to gobble everything before and after it, but that is a lot of work.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}

\usepackage{float}
\usepackage{subfig}

%%% Remove the next two lines if you want the figures at their place    

\makeatletter

\let\OldAtEndDocument\@enddocumenthook
\usepackage[figuresonly,nolists,nomarkers]{endfloat}
\let\@enddocumenthook\OldAtEndDocument
\efloat@AtEndDocument{\processdelayedfloats}
\renewcommand\efloatseparator{}
\renewcommand\efloatbegin{}
\renewcommand\efloatendlist{}

\renewcommand{\@makecaption}[2]{}
\renewcommand{\includegraphics}[2][]{}
\long\def\sf@@@subfloat#1[#2][#3]#4{#4\endgroup\ignorespaces}
\makeatother

\usepackage{lipsum}% mock text

\begin{document}
Figure \ref{fig:A} and \ref{fig:B} Table \ref{tab:A} and subfloat \ref{svp}, \ref{sv}, and \ref{pv}

\lipsum[1]

\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[width=.3\textwidth]{example-image-a}
\caption{Whatever}
\label{fig:A}
\end{figure}

\lipsum[2]

\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[width=.3\textwidth]{example-image-a}
\caption{Whatever}
\label{fig:B}
\end{figure}

\lipsum[3]

\begin{table}[htp]
A table
\caption{Something}
\label{tab:A}
\end{table}

\lipsum[4]

\begin{figure}[H]
\centering
\subfloat[]{\includegraphics[width=0.50\textwidth]{images/s.pdf}\label{sv}}
\hfil
\subfloat[]{\includegraphics[width=0.50\textwidth]{images/p.pdf}\label{pv}}
\caption{(a) shows the orthogonal plots of variables and their contribution on PC1 and PC2 while (b) highlights the individual contribution of each site. Ellipses for north and south in (b) are for 1 $\sigma$.}
\label{svp}
\end{figure}

\lipsum[5]


\end{document}