Blogs

2014/05/05

If you've ever wanted to know more about the layout and formatting of footnotes in Microsoft Word, then you've come to the right place. I'll cover some of the common questions and requests we receive on the Help Desk that relate to footnotes.

WHY ARE FOOTNOTES SPLITTING BETWEEN PAGES?
Footnotes are laid out based on the remaining space available on the page, so you would need to modify the text on the page to adjust the placement of the footnotes.
However, if your document's compatibility is set to an older version of Word or Custom, this can cause issues with footnote layout. Go to FILE > OPTIONS > ADVANCED. Scroll to the bottom to find the Layout this document as if created in setting. Set it to MICROSOFT WORD 2010 and click OK.

HOW DO I MODIFY ALL FOOTNOTES AT ONCE?
The Footnote Text style controls the appearance of footnotes at the bottom of the page, so you have to modify the Footnote Text style. That style can be a little tricky to access though, so follow the steps below to do so.

1. Select one of the footnote paragraph markers at the bottom of the page.
   
   NOTE: You must have SHOW/HIDE turned on in order to see the paragraph markers. Use the Paragraph symbol on the Home ribbon to toggle this function, if needed.
   
   
2. Press CTRL+SHIFT+S to bring up the Apply Styles dialog.
3. Click the MODIFY button.
4. Make your formatting changes and save them.
   
   

HOW DO I MODIFY THE FOOTNOTE MARKER IN THE BODY OF THE DOCUMENT?
The Footnote Reference style controls the appearance of the footnote indicator in the body of the document, so you have to modify the Footnote Reference style to make changes throughout the document. That style can be a little tricky to access though, so follow the steps below to do so.

1. Select one of the footnote reference numbers in the body of your document.
2. Press CTRL+SHIFT+S to bring up the Apply Styles dialog.
3. Click the MODIFY button.
4. Make your formatting changes and save them.
   
   

CAN THE FOOTNOTE SEPARATOR LINE BE INDENTED OR REMOVED?
The separator line can be removed, but not indented, because it is aligned with the left margin in the document.

REMOVE THE SEPARATOR LINE

1. VIEW > DRAFT and then REFERENCES > SHOW NOTES to display footnote pane at bottom of page.
2. From Footnotes drop-down menu, select FOOTNOTE SEPARATOR to display the separator in the Footnote pane.
   
   
3. Delete the separator from the pane.
   
   NOTE: You will probably also want to select FOOTNOTE CONTINUATION SEPARATOR from the Footnotes drop-down menu and remove it as well.

RESET THE SEPARATOR LINES
If you ever need to reverse the deletion of separator lines, select either Footnote Separator or Footnote Continuation Separator from the Footnotes drop-down menu and then click the RESET button adjacent to the menu.