This VBA code replaces all the occurences of picture references as text for actual cross references.

ChangeTextToRefs.bas

Attribute VB_Name = "ChangeTextToRefs"
Dim picDic

Private Sub FindByRegexAndReplace(textToFind As String)
Attribute FindByRegexAndReplace.VB_ProcData.VB_Invoke_Func = "Normal.NewMacros.FindAndReplacePicRef"

    Dim doc         As Document
    Dim range       As range
    Dim picNumber   As String
   
    Dim errorLog    As String
    Dim errorCount  As Integer
    
    On Error GoTo ErrorRef
    errorCount = 0
    Set doc = ActiveDocument
    Set range = doc.Content
    
        
    With range.Find
        .ClearFormatting
        .Text = textToFind
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindStop
        .MatchWildcards = True
        
        While .Execute
            If .found Then
                range.Select
                picNumber = GetNumber(range.Text, ".")
                Selection.InsertCrossReference ReferenceType:="Рисунок", ReferenceKind:= _
                        wdOnlyLabelAndNumber, ReferenceItem:=picDic(picNumber), InsertAsHyperlink:=True, _
                        IncludePosition:=False, SeparateNumbers:=False, SeparatorString:=" "
                range.Collapse wdCollapseEnd
                Selection.Collapse wdCollapseEnd
            End If
        Wend
    End With
    If errorCount > 0 Then
        MsgBox (errorLog)
    End If
ErrorRef:
    If errorCount = 0 Then
        errorLog = "Проблема с рисунками:" & vbNewLine & picNumber
    Else
        errorLog = errorLog & ", " & picNumber
    End If
    Options.DefaultHighlightColorIndex = wdYellow
    Selection.range.HighlightColorIndex = wdYellow
    errorCount = errorCount + 1
    Err.Clear
    Resume Next
End Sub


Sub FindAndReplacePicRef()
Attribute FindAndReplacePicRef.VB_ProcData.VB_Invoke_Func = "Normal.NewMacros.FindAndReplacePicRef2"
    
    Dim rawTitle        As String
    Dim picNumbers()    As String
    Dim regexTitle      As String
    Dim bookmarkCount   As Integer
    Dim i               As Integer: i = 1
    Dim repeatNumber    As String
    

    Set picDic = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
    rawTitle = InputBox("Введите пример ссылки на рисунок в тексте. Например:" & Chr(34) & "(Рисунок 13)" _
    & Chr(34), "Замена ссылок на рисунки в тексте")
    If Trim(rawTitle & vbNullString) = vbNullString Then
        Exit Sub
    End If
    myBookmarks = ActiveDocument.GetCrossReferenceItems("Рисунок")
    bookmarkCount = UBound(myBookmarks) - LBound(myBookmarks) + 1
    ReDim picNumbers(bookmarkCount)
    regexTitle = GetRefTitle(rawTitle)
    repeatNumber = ""
    Do While i <= bookmarkCount
        Dim picName As String
        picName = myBookmarks(i)
        picNumbers(i) = GetNumber(picName, ".")
        repeatNumber = picNumbers(i)
        picDic.Add picNumbers(i), CStr(i)
        On Error GoTo ErrorDictionary
        i = i + 1
    Loop
    On Error GoTo ErrorFindReplace
    FindByRegexAndReplace regexTitle
    Exit Sub
ErrorDictionary:
    MsgBox "Найден повторяющийся номер рисунка: " & repeatNumber & _
    ". Измените номер рисунка и попробуйте ещё раз.", vbOKOnly, _
    "Ошибка"
    Exit Sub
ErrorFindReplace:
    MsgBox "Ошибка при вставке ссылок. Обратитесь к разработчику.", vbOKOnly, _
    "Ошибка"
End Sub

Private Function GetNumber(s As String, delimeter As String) As String
    Dim foundNumber     As Boolean
    Dim i               As Long
    Dim result          As String
    Dim currentChar     As String
    
    foundNumber = False
    result = ""
    For i = 1 To Len(s)
        currentChar = Mid(s, i, 1)
        If IsNumeric(currentChar) Then
            foundNumber = True
            result = result & currentChar
        Else
            If currentChar = delimeter And result <> "" Then
                result = result & currentChar
            Else
                If foundNumber Then
                    Exit For
                End If
            End If
        End If
    Next i
    If foundNumber Then
        GetNumber = result
    End If
End Function

Private Function GetRefTitle(s As String) As String
    Dim last            As Boolean
    Dim i               As Long
    Dim trimmed         As String
    Dim number          As String
    Dim result          As String
    Dim pattern         As String
    Dim replacedNumber  As String
    Dim thisSymbol      As String
    
    
    trimmed = Trim(s)
    trimmed = Replace(trimmed, "(", "")
    trimmed = Replace(trimmed, ")", "")
    last = True
    number = ""
    replacedNumber = ""
    result = trimmed
    pattern = ""
    thisSymbol = ""
    For i = Len(trimmed) To 1 Step -1
        thisSymbol = Mid(trimmed, i, 1)
        If IsNumeric(thisSymbol) Then
            number = thisSymbol & number
        ElseIf IsDelimeter(thisSymbol) Then
            If (last) Then
                pattern = thisSymbol & "[0-9]*>"
                number = thisSymbol & number
                last = False
                replacedNumber = number
            ElseIf replacedNumber <> number Then
                pattern = "[0-9]*" & pattern
            End If
        ElseIf IsSpace(thisSymbol) Then
            If (last) Then
                pattern = "[0-9]*>"
            ElseIf replacedNumber <> number Then
                pattern = "[0-9]*" & pattern
            End If
            Exit For
        End If
    Next i
    pattern = "(" & pattern & ")"
    result = Replace(result, number, pattern)
    GetRefTitle = result
End Function

Private Function IsDelimeter(s As String) As Boolean
    IsDelimeter = False
    If s = "." Or s = "," Then
        IsDelimeter = True
    End If
End Function

Private Function IsSpace(s As String) As Boolean
    IsSpace = False
    If s = " " Then
        IsSpace = True
    End If
End Function