How to Add Footnotes in Word

Footnotes and endnotes explain, comment on, or provide references for text in a document. Footnotes appear at the bottom, or the foot, of each page in a document, while endnotes appear at the end of a section or document. Other than that difference, they work the same way.

Footnotes and endnotes have two linked parts: the note reference mark (usually a number) and the corresponding footnote or endnote. Word automatically numbers footnote and endnote marks for you, so when you add, delete, or move notes, they are automatically renumbered.

Create Footnotes and Endnotes

1. Place your cursor where you want to insert the footnote or endnote.
2. Click the References tab.
   
3. Click the Insert Footnote or Insert Endnote button.

   A reference number is placed in the text, and a new footnote or endnote is created. Your text cursor is moved to the footnote or endnote, so you can type out your reference.

4. Type your footnote or endnote.
   

Modify Footnote and Endnote Properties

Once you’ve added footnotes and/or endnotes, you can customize the way they appear and behave.

1. Click the Footnotes group dialog box launcher on the References tab.
   

The Footnote and Endnote dialog box contains options to control how footnotes and endnotes appear.

• Location: Select either Footnotes or Endnotes, and then click the Location list arrow and choose where the footnotes and endnotes appear. You can also click the Convert button to convert all footnotes to endnotes, or vice versa.
• Footnote layout: Select whether footnotes appear with the same column layout as body text or act independently.
• Format: Choose a number format or custom symbol to mark footnotes or endnotes, select a starting number, and control whether numbering restarts on every page or new section.
• Apply changes: Choose whether the options you’re applying affect the whole document or just the selected sections.
2. Adjust the options the way you want.
3. Click Apply.
   

The selected options are applied to footnotes or endnotes, in the selected sections or across the entire document.