How to use footnotes and endnotes in microsoft word
Carter Sullivan
Published Mar 29, 2026
Experts Give Good Examples for More Effective Writing
- Share
- Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
- M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
- B.A., English, State University of New York
An “endnote” is a reference, explanation, or comment placed at the end of an article, research paper, chapter, or book. Like footnotes (which are used in this article), endnotes serve two main purposes in a research paper: (1) They acknowledge the source of a quotation, paraphrase, or summary; and (2) They provide explanatory comments that would interrupt the flow of the main text.
Endnotes vs. Footnotes
“Your department may specify whether you should use footnotes or endnotes, especially for a thesis or dissertation.
If not, you should generally choose footnotes, which are easier to read. Endnotes force readers to flip to the back to check every citation. On the other hand, choose endnotes when your footnotes are so long or numerous that they take up too much space on the page, making your report unattractive and difficult to read. Also, endnotes better accommodate tables, quoted poetry, and other matter that requires special typography.”
(Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 7th ed., University of Chicago Press, 2007.)
“Readers of academic and scholarly books usually prefer footnotes to endnotes because the former allows them to skim the notes without losing their place in the text. Popular wisdom, however, says that nonscholarly readers are either reluctant or unwilling to purchase a nonfiction trade book whose feet are hemmed with ribbons of tiny type; thus most trade books place (the shop term is ‘bury’) the notes containing sources and references at the back of the book.”
(Einsohn, Amy. The Copyeditor’s Handbook, University of California Press, 2006.)
Endnote Conventions
“An author or title mentioned in the text need not be repeated in the footnote citation, though it is often helpful to do so. In an endnote, however, the author (or at least the author’s last name) and title should be repeated, since at least some readers may have forgotten whether the note number was 93 or 94 by the time they find it at the back of a work.
Such frustration can be prevented by the devices illustrated in the examples below.”
34. This and the preceding four quotations are all from Hamlet, act 1, sc. 4.
87. Barbara Wallraff, Word Court (New York: Harcourt, 2000), 34. Further citations to this work are given in the text.
(The Chicago Manual of Style, University of Chicago Press, 2003.)
Endnote Numbering
“Endnotes are numbered consecutively throughout a chapter or article, with each new chapter or section starting over with endnote 1. The notes section at the back is then broken down by chapter or section, with the corresponding endnote numbers listed underneath.
Place endnote numbers within the text in superscript type (small typeset above the line). In the notes section, use the same number to identify the endnote with the number in the text.”
(Robbins, Lara M. Grammar, and Style at Your Fingertips, Alpha, 2007.)
Sample Endnotes From Pennebaker’s ‘The Secret Life of Pronouns‘
“Chapter 2: Ignoring the Content, Celebrating the Style
19. The drawing is from the Thematic Apperception Test by Henry A. Murray, Card 12F, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.
20. Throughout this book, I include quotations from people who have been in my studies or classes, from text on the Internet, or even from conversations or e-mails from friends or family members. In all cases, all identifying information has been removed or altered.
22. In this book, the terms style, function, and stealth words are used interchangeably. They have many other names as well — junk words, particles, and closed-class words. Linguists tend to disagree about the precise definitions of each of these overlapping terms.”
(Pennebaker, James W. The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us, Bloomsbury Press, 2011.)
Many users use Microsoft Word in their daily life for writing different kinds of documents. They will sometimes have to use the Footnotes and Endnotes in their writing. Footnotes and Endnotes are used in the documents to provide additional information about the paragraphs or sentences. However, many users are unaware of this feature in Microsoft Word. In this article, we will teach you the basic steps about using Footnotes and Endnotes in your documents.
Footnote and Endnote in Microsoft Word
A Footnote and Endnote are used for additional information given at the bottom of the page and document. The superscript numbers are used for the Footnote and Endnote. These numbers can be seen in the document where the user has added the Footnote and Endnote. The difference between Footnote and Endnote is that Footnotes will be at the end of the page, whereas Endnotes will be at the end of the document.
Using Footnotes and Endnotes in Microsoft Word
There are many ways for using the Footnotes and Endnote in Microsoft Word. They are used to provide additional information to the reader about the sentence or paragraph. Microsoft Word also provides many different settings and options for footnotes and endnotes. Here we will show you the basic steps through which you can use footnotes and endnotes. Further, you can use them up to your needs for the documents. Follow the below steps to try out the footnotes and endnotes:
- Open the Microsoft Word by double-clicking the shortcut or searching it through the Windows search feature.
- You can start a new file or open an existing document by clicking on File and choosing the Open option.
- Click at the end of any sentence/paragraph. Now click on the References tab and click on the Insert Footnote button.
Note: If you are adding Endnote, then click on the Insert Endnote option.
Use footnotes and endnotes to explain, comment on, or provide references to something in a document. Usually, footnotes appear at the bottom of the page, while endnotes come at the end of the document or section.
If you’re in Reading View, switch to Editing View by clicking Edit Document > Edit in Word for the web.
Add a footnote
Click where you want to add the footnote.
Click Insert > Insert Footnote.
Word inserts a reference mark in the text and adds the footnote mark at the bottom of the page.
Type the footnote text.
Add an endnote
Click where you want to add the endnote.
Click Insert > Insert Endnote.
Word inserts a reference mark in the text and adds the endnote mark at the end of the document.
Type the endnote text.
Customize your footnotes and endnotes
To customize a footnote or endnote:
Click the reference number or mark in the body of the text or click Insert > Show Footnotes (for endnotes, click Insert > Show Endnotes ).
In the footnote/endnote view, click Format Footnotes or Format Endnotes to display the Format Options dialog, where you can change the size, font, and indentation of one or all of your footnotes or endnotes.
Note: If you want to convert footnotes to endnotes or the other way around, use the Open in Word command and convert them there. When you save the doc in Word, it’s saved where you opened it in Word for the web.
This tutorial shows how to insert footnotes and endnotes in Microsoft Word using the tools in the ribbon.
Manually inserting individual footnotes and endnotes in Word is relatively straightforward: type a superscript number in the main text and then scroll to the bottom of the page, section, or document to type your note.
But manually inserting notes can get tricky if your document is more than a couple of pages long or has a lot of notes because you also have to manually update number sequencing and text placement as notes are added or deleted.
That’s when Word’s footnote and endnote tools really come in handy. These tools automatically maintain sequential note numbers, create space for endnotes at the end of the document or section, and make sure that your footnotes stay with their associated text—even if that text moves to a different page. Best of all, the tools are easy to use.
The images below are from Word for Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365). The steps are the same for Word 2019, Word 2016, Word 2013, and Word 2010. However, your interface may look slightly different in those older versions.
This tutorial is also available as a YouTube video showing all the steps in real time.
Watch more than fifty other videos about Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat on my YouTube channel.
Don’t miss the three benefits of using Word’s footnote and endnote tools explained at the end of this tutorial.
How to Insert Footnotes and Endnotes in Word
1. Place your cursor where the superscript number for the first note should appear.
Figure 1. Cursor in text
2. Select the References tab in the ribbon.
Figure 2. References tab
3. Select the dialog box launcher in the Footnotes group.
Figure 3. Footnote and Endnote dialog box launcher
4. Select Footnotes or Endnotes in the Footnote and Endnote dialog box.
Figure 4. Note selection in the Footnote and Endnote dialog box
5. Select the note’s location from the drop-down menu.
Figure 5. Note locations in the Footnote and Endnote dialog box
You can also choose additional options in the Footnote and Endnote dialog box such as number formatting and whether the numbering applies to the whole document or to a specific section.
6. Select the Insert button to create the first note.
Figure 6. Insert button in the Footnote and Endnote dialog box
After Word creates the superscript number, your cursor will automatically move to the note location selected in the Footnote and Endnote dialog box.
7. Write your note.
Figure 7. Note example
8. Double-click on the number before the note to return to the location of the corresponding superscript number in the main text.
Figure 8. Example of note number
9. Place your cursor where the superscript number for the next note should appear in the text and then select Insert Footnote or Insert Endnote in the Footnotes group in the ribbon to insert the next note.
Figure 9. Insert Footnote button in the ribbon
The options you selected in the Footnote and Endnote dialog box during step 5 will be maintained.
10. Save your document to save your new footnotes or endnotes.
Three Benefits of the Footnote and Endnote Tools in Word
Here are three benefits to keep in mind when working with footnotes and endnotes in Word:
1. You can use footnotes and endnotes in the same document. If you choose to use both, the first type inserted will be assigned superscript numbers and the second type inserted will be assigned superscript letters. However, these options can be changed in the Footnote and Endnote dialog box (see figures 4 and 5).
2. If you move the text connected to footnotes or endnotes, the sequencing of the superscript numbers (or letters) and the notes themselves will be automatically updated. Additionally, if you add or delete footnotes or endnotes between existing notes, the sequencing of the superscript numbers (or letters) and the notes themselves will be automatically updated.
3. You can modify the style of all the footnotes or all the endnotes, plus the reference numbers and the separator lines that appear above the notes.
Footnotes and Endnotes in Microsoft Word allow you to reference additional information or credit external sources in a document. You will have seen them in reference books, press releases and research papers (and many other documents besides that). The purpose of these text notes is to to cite a reference or give greater context to, or expand upon, a point in the main body of the document, where it would be difficult to include this is the main body.
The difference between a footnote and an endnote
The primary difference between footnotes and endnotes is simply the placement with a document; footnotes are found at the bottom of a page (i.e. in the footer) and endnotes are located at the end of a document, or sometimes at the end of a chapter or section.
Footnotes and endnotes fundamentally look the same, and contain the same or similar information, one difference they have is the numbering system used which allows the reader to determine where they should look for the additional information (either in the footer of the page, or at the end of the document).
When deciding whether to use a footnote or endnote, this can depend upon the nature of the text. For example, if you have a very long piece of text to enter, it might be more appropriate to add this as an endnote as long footnotes will by default flow onto the bottom of the following page which may confuse a reader. Similarly with references, where the reader is more likely to need this information after they have read your paper, these should be added as endnotes. However, for short explanations where the text note is relevant to add context to the main body of the content, these descriptions should be added as a footnote.
Of course, these are just guidelines; sometimes where to use a footnote or endnote depends upon corporate style guides, publisher preferences or simply how you want things to look. Microsoft Word has a standard style for numbering and styling footnotes and endnotes, however, at times where guidelines force you to style the text differently, it is possible to do if you know how and we will look at this in our next article.
How to enter a text note:
- Start by placing the cursor at the point you would like to enter you footnote
- Click ‘References’ tab > ‘Footnotes’ group > ‘Insert footnote’ or ‘insert endnote’
- You’ll then see a small superscripted number appear at the insertion point in the main body text, and the footnote or endnote appear with the same number in the relevant area of the document, with a small horizontal line above it.
- The cursor will jump down to the note section, so that you can enter the text for your note.
All footnotes and endnotes are automatically numbered for you by Microsoft Word. If you decide to add in a note at a later time, the numbering will automatically update to keep everything in sequence
A clever point to remember when work with footnotes and endnotes is that you don’t need to scroll down to the bottom of the page or end of the document to view the note, you can simply hover your mouse over the insertion number and the note will show up as a screen tip.
Another clever action is that if you then decide to save your file as a HTML page to upload to your website, the footnotes are automatically saved as hyperlinks so that the user can clink the link and jump straight to the relevant footnote.
Note: You can enter footnotes and endnotes using keyboard shortcuts too:
Cross-referencing is defined as discussing a detail found in another location, often within the same book, paper, or article.
To cross-reference, you may use an endnote or a footnote to refer to more than one part of a text containing related information.
For example, if you discuss the need to switch to environmentally friendly packaging in three different parts of a text, it is unnecessary to have three separate endnotes or footnotes. You can use one and ‘cross-reference it’ in the other two locations.
This article will guide you on how to cross-reference in Word.
Open the document where you would like to cross-reference
The first step is adding the footnote(s) or endnote(s)
First, go to the section of the text where you would like to add the footnote or endnote. Leave the clicker at the end of a sentence or a paragraph.
Go to the references tab at the top of your screen and select the large ‘Insert Footnote’ icon.
Two superscript numbers will appear when you do this, one besides the text area where you want to note your source and a corresponding one at the bottom of the page. This number will guide the reader on which footnote belongs to which text.
At the bottom of the text, you can start typing out your footnote.
For endnotes, in the references tab, click ‘Insert Endnote.’
The same superscript numbers will appear, and you can type out your endnote under the long horizontal line that appears.
Now let us get to cross-referencing.
- After inserting two or three more endnotes/ footnotes, go to the part of your text where you would like to insert a footnote/ endnote you have already used.
- Instead of going to the references tab, go to ‘insert.’
In the sixth column, select ‘cross-reference.’
A pop-up box will appear.
- Reference type
Here, select the kind of reference you would like to have. Choose either the endnote or footnote.
- Insert as hyperlink
- Insert reference to
In step 3, if you selected a footnote, then choose the footnote number (formatted). If you picked an endnote, then the corresponding choice is the endnote number (formatted).
- To which reference
Earlier, we added two or three more endnotes/footnotes.
They will appear under a box with ‘to which reference.’
Select the already existing footnote/endnote that contains related information to the text you want to cross-reference.
When you are done checking all the necessary boxes, click insert,
The same superscript number corresponding to the already existing footnote/endnote will appear next to the text that you have cross-referenced.
You can repeat this for as many parts of a text as you want.
Online learning has become the norm since the novel coronavirus spread to the rest of the world in 2020.
Countries moved from one phase of the mandatory lockdown to the next. It has become crucial to find tools to enable academic institutions to continue functioning as best as they can.
Simul Docs is one such tool. With Simul Docs, students can collaborate on written assignments from different locations simultaneously.
All you have to do is write the first sample in Microsoft Word and upload it to Simul.
Simul will automatically make this the first version.
Your other project partner can now open this version and make their changes and additions, creating another version of the same document.
While you are making your edits, you can also add comments for your group mates for example pointers, books you used or further instructions.
After everyone has made their submissions and changes, you can merge the edited versions to create one complete document.
This document shows tracked changes in Word so everyone can see where edits were made and if they should be rejected or approved. Simul recognises that sometimes you might forget to turn on tracked changes while editing, so these modifications are automatically updated regardless of your online or offline status.
Additionally, you can make these changes simultaneously; this is not a one-login at a time situation.
Even if another colleague wants to make changes but does not have Simul, the document can still be downloaded, emailed, or even uploaded to any cloud storage software like OneDrive. Once they are done with their edits, they can email it back to you, and you can add it to Simul once again, which will create a different version.
- You can insert a footnote or endnote in Word from the References tab of the ribbon.
- Footnotes and endnotes are supplemental information you can add to a document and reference using superscripts in the main text.
- You can add multiple references to the same footnote using the cross-reference tool in the References tab of the ribbon.
- Visit Insider’s Tech Reference library for more stories.
While footnotes aren’t necessarily a commonly used formatting feature in Microsoft Word, you’ll appreciate having access to this ability if you need to create an academic or professional document that requires them.
Footnotes allow you to place supplemental information at the bottom of the page – in other words, the footer – which you reference with a superscript number or symbol in the main body.
Footnotes are different from endnotes; footnotes appear on the page they’re referenced, while endnotes appear at the end of the document. Which one should you use? Whichever you prefer – or more likely, whichever one is called for in the writing or publication standards you’re using.
How to insert a footnote or endnote in Word
Inserting a footnote or an endnote is straightforward; the hardest part is locating the feature. Here’s what to do:
- In Word, place the cursor at the end of the word where you want to place the superscript that references the note.
- Click the “References” tab in the ribbon.
How to customize a footnote or endnote in Word
Those simple steps should be all you need to create footnotes and endnotes for documents, most of the time. You can customize them, though, if you need them to look or work differently.
To get to the options for footnotes and endnotes, click the “References” tab in the ribbon and click the small arrow in the bottom-right corner of the Footnotes section. The Footnote and Endnote dialog box should appear.
There are several options on this small dialog box. Here’s what you can do:
- Control where the notes appear. In the Location section, you can choose “Bottom of page” or “Below text” to set where footnotes appear. If you choose “Below text,” the notes appear immediately under the last text on the page rather than all the way at the bottom.
- Change the footnote or endnote layout. Click the dropdown menu next to “Columns” to arrange footnotes into columns instead of following the format of the main text.
- Change the formatting of the footnotes and endnotes. You can specify the kind of numbering, lettering or other symbols that get used when you add footnotes. This is more than just an aesthetic choice; if you have both footnotes and endnotes in the same document, you’ll want to make sure they’re different to eliminate confusion. In addition, your writing or publishing guidelines might specify what numbering system to use for footnotes.
How to cross-reference your footnotes and endnotes
You might need to repeat the same reference multiple times in a document. Rather than adding the same footnote or endnote repeatedly, you can cross-reference the first instance whenever you need to throughout the document.
Here’s how to do it using footnotes. If you want to cross-reference endnotes, the process is identical; just substitute endnotes for footnotes throughout the process as needed.
- After adding the footnote or endnote in the usual way, position the cursor where you want to insert it the second time.
- Click the “References” tab in the ribbon.
- In the Captions section, click “Cross-reference.”
You should see the superscript number appear that references the desired footnote.
Have a major problem. I’m typing a small book in Word 2003. I wanted to put an endnote amongst my footnotes. I screwed up the commands. Now, all my footnotes are endnotes and I can’t change them back. The choices don’t operate and further I can’t see my footnotes at the bottom of pages. How do I restore all this?
It seems that if you save the document in “Web Page” mode, the endnote/footnote feature doesn’t work anymore. Yet, I don’t think I saved it as a Web page and/or how do you reverse this. This is driving me nutty.
Report abuse
Replies (4)
Possibly you are just in Normal or Web Layout view. Have you confirmed that you are in Print Layout view?
If you really have converted all your footnotes to endnotes, it is not the end of the world. Convert them all back to footnotes. Delete the one that’s supposed to be an endnote, and then reinsert it as an endnote.
Report abuse
Was this reply helpful?
Sorry this didn’t help.
Great! Thanks for your feedback.
How satisfied are you with this reply?
Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.
How satisfied are you with this reply?
Thanks for your feedback.
Thanks for your reply. The footnotes appear in the Print Layout. But then the font grows larger in Print Layout so I want to work in Normal view.
I used to view the footnotes at the end of the page in Normal View. Why won’t they appear?
On the “Convert box”, none of the choices are available. I can NOT click on any of them. It is frozen. Why is this? And when I try to paste to a new document with the current material, the same problem transfers over.
On my other documents, I can put footnotes at the bottom of a page and they remain there.
Well, now I take that back, I look at my document and it is the same font but in “print view” and the footnotes show up.
So I am guessing that footnotes ONLY appear in “Print view”–Do I have this right?
And then why does the font change from Normal to Print for?
Report abuse
Was this reply helpful?
Sorry this didn’t help.
Great! Thanks for your feedback.
How satisfied are you with this reply?
Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.
Adding footnotes and endnotes in Word isn’t difficult; removing one, some, or even all, is even easier. You can also remove the line that separates footnotes and endnotes from body text.
Important: It’s the reference number or mark that you delete (in the body of the text), NOT the footnote or endnote itself. If you delete the footnote or endnote itself, Word renumbers the notes in a new order.
Remove a footnote
Here’s an example of a footnote; the footnote is at the bottom of the page:
If you want to delete the footnote (that’s at the bottom of the page), delete the number “1” in the body. When you do that, the footnote itself disappears. Another way you can do this is to right-click the footnote at the bottom of the page, select Go to Footnote and then delete the number there.
Remove an endnote
Removing an endnote works the same way as removing a footnote:
To remove the endnote, delete the “i” in the body of the text (the one with the pink box around it in the image above) and that endnote disappears. As well, if you find an endnote you want to delete, you can right-click it, select Go To Endnote, and delete the number there.
Remove all footnotes or endnotes from a document
To find and remove all footnotes or endnotes, use the Find and Replace tool:
Place your cursor at the top of your document, and then open the Advanced Find and Replace dialog box.
In Word 2013 or Word 2016, press Ctrl + H.
In Word 2016 for Mac, on the Edit menu, click Find > Advanced Find and Replace.
In the Find and Replace dialog box, click the Replace tab.
In the Find what box, enter either ^f for footnote or ^e for endnote.
Alternatively, you can enter these symbols by clicking the More button to expand the dialog box, clicking Special, and choosing either Endnote Mark or Footnote Mark in the list. In Word 2016 for Mac, click the arrow at the bottom of the Find and Replace dialog box to show all options.
Make sure the Replace with box is blank, and then click Replace All.
Remove or change a footnote or endnote separator
You can remove or change the line that separates footnotes and endnotes from body text.
Click the View tab, and then click Draft in the Views group.
Double-click any footnote or endnote in the body of your text.
The Footnotes pane appears at the bottom of your document.
You can edit the color or style of the separator by choosing options on the Home tab, or, to delete the separators, click Footnote Separator in the Footnotes list, and then select and delete the separator line.
Use the View tab to return to Read Mode, Print Layout view, or Web Layout view.
Note: In Word 2016 for Mac, Read Mode view is not available.
