How to leave out figures in appendix from list of figures

Question

Nothing seems to work.

I've tried adding * to \caption. I've tried adding \captionsetup{list=no} to the preamble before the \appendix entry.

I'm using \usepackage{caption}.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

Ending the .lof file with \endinput

A trick is to end the file .lof via \endinput. Then TeX will not read the lines after \endinput, when the file is \input in the list of figures:

\documentclass{article}

\makeatletter
\g@addto@macro\appendix{%
  \if@filesw % \nofiles is not active
    \immediate\write\@auxout{%
      \string\@writefile{lof}{\string\endinput}%
    }%
  \fi
}%
\makeatother

\begin{document}
  \listoffigures
  \begin{figure}
    \caption{First figure caption}
  \end{figure}
\newpage
\appendix
  \begin{figure}
    \caption{Figure caption not in list of figures}
  \end{figure}
\end{document}

Then the .lof file contains:

\contentsline {figure}{\numberline {1}{\ignorespaces First figure caption}}{1}
\endinput 
\contentsline {figure}{\numberline {2}{\ignorespaces Figure caption not in list of figures}}{2}

And only the first entry is shown.

Disabling \addtocontents for .lof file in \appendix

The following example redefines \addtocontents in \appendix to do nothing, if the contents is meant to go into the list of figures:

\documentclass{article}

\makeatletter
\g@addto@macro\appendix{%
  \newcommand*{\SavedAddToContents}{}%
  \let\SavedAddToContents\addtocontents
  \renewcommand*{\addtocontents}[1]{%
    \def\atc@next{\SavedAddToContents{#1}}%
    \edef\atc@handle{#1}%
    \def\atc@lof{lof}%
    \ifx\atc@lof\atc@handle
      \let\atc@next\@gobble
    \fi
    \atc@next
  }%
}%
\makeatother

\begin{document}
  \listoffigures
  \begin{figure}
    \caption{First figure caption}
  \end{figure}
  \appendix
  \begin{figure}
    \caption{Figure caption not in list of figures}
  \end{figure}
\end{document}

The .lof file contains:

\contentsline {figure}{\numberline {1}{\ignorespaces First figure caption}}{1}

Option list=no of package caption

At least with the simple example file, the option setting list=no works, if added to \appendix:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{caption}

\makeatletter
\g@addto@macro\appendix{%
  \captionsetup{list=no}%
}%
\makeatother

\begin{document}
  \listoffigures
  \begin{figure}
    \caption{First figure caption}
  \end{figure}
  \appendix
  \begin{figure}
    \caption{Figure caption not in list of figures}
  \end{figure}
\end{document}

File .lof contains only the first figure caption:

\contentsline {figure}{\numberline {1}{\ignorespaces First figure caption\relax }}{1}

Manual disabling the list entry with package caption

Also the manual method by specifying an empty caption title for the list of figures works here:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{caption}

\begin{document}
  \listoffigures
  \begin{figure}
    \caption{First figure caption}
  \end{figure}
  \appendix
  \begin{figure}
    \caption[]{Figure caption not in list of figures}
  \end{figure}
\end{document}