Footnotes and endnotes are used in printed documents to explain, comment on, or provide references for text in a document. You might use footnotes for detailed comments and endnotes for citation of sources.

Note If you want to create a bibliography, you can find commands for creating and managing sources and citations on the References tab in the Citations & Bibliography group.In this article

About footnotes and endnotes

A footnote or an endnote consists of two linked parts - the note reference mark and the corresponding note text.

example of footnotes and endnotes in a document

callout 1 Footnote and endnote reference marks

callout 2 Separator line

callout 3 Footnote text

callout 4 Endnote text

Insert a footnote or an endnote

Microsoft Office Word automatically numbers footnotes and endnotes for you, after you specify a numbering scheme. You can use a single numbering scheme throughout a document, or you can use different numbering schemes within each section in a document.

When you add, delete, or move notes that are automatically numbered, Word renumbers the footnote and endnote reference marks.

Note If the footnotes in your document are numbered incorrectly, your document may contain tracked changes. Accept the tracked changes so that Word will correctly number the footnotes and endnotes.

  1. In Print Layout view, click where you want to insert the note reference mark.
  2. On the References tab, in the Footnotes group, click Insert Footnote or Insert Endnote.

    word ribbon image

    Keyboard shortcut To insert a subsequent footnote, press CTRL+ALT+F. To insert a subsequent endnote, press CTRL+ALT+D.

    By default, Word places footnotes at the end of each page and endnotes at the end of the document.

  3. To make changes to the format of footnotes or endnotes, click the Footnotes Dialog Box Launcher, and do one of the following:
    • In the Number format box, click the format that you want.
    • To use a custom mark instead of a traditional number format, click Symbol next to Custom mark, and then choose a mark from the available symbols.
  4. Click Insert.

    Note This will not change the existing symbols. It will only add new ones.

    Word inserts the note number and places the insertion point next to the note number.

  5. Type the note text.
  6. Double-click the footnote or endnote number to return to the reference mark in the document.

Change the number format of footnotes or endnotes

  1. Place the insertion point in the section in which you want to change the footnote or endnote format. If the document is not divided into sections, place the insertion point anywhere in the document.
  2. On the References tab, click the Footnote & Endnote Dialog Box Launcher.
  3. Click Footnotes or Endnotes.
  4. In the Number format box, click the option that you want.
  5. Click Apply.

Create a footnote or endnote continuation notice

If a footnote or endnote is too long to fit on a page, you can create a continuation notice to let readers know that a footnote or endnote is continued on the next page.

  1. Make sure that you are in Draft view by clicking Draft next to View on the status bar.
  2. On the References tab, in the Footnotes group, click Show Notes.

    word ribbon image

  3. If your document contains both footnotes and endnotes, a message appears. Click View footnote area or View endnote area, and then click OK.
  4. In the note pane list, click Footnote Continuation Notice or Endnote Continuation Notice.
  5. In the note pane, type the text that you want to use for the continuation notice. For example, type Endnotes continued on the next page.

Delete a footnote or an endnote

When you want to delete a note, you work with the note reference mark in the document window, not the text in the note.

a note reference mark in a document

callout 1 Note reference mark

If you delete an automatically numbered note reference mark, Word renumbers the notes in the new order.

Delete a note