Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007 and 2010. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Changing the Footnote Separator.
If you are using footnotes in Word, you have control over where they appear in your document. In other issues of WordTips you learned that you can place them at the end of the text on a page, or at the bottom of the page itself. Regardless of the placement, Word can print a separator between your main document text and the footnotes. The default separator is a solid line, but you can either change or delete the footnote separator, as desired.
To change the footnote separator, follow these steps:
Figure 1. The Show Notes dialog box.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (6033) applies to Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Changing the Footnote Separator.
Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!
Automatic footnotes are easy to insert in Word documents. The default settings are usually fine for most projects. However, ...
Discover MoreWhen you add a footnote to a document, Word's normal formatting adds a space after the footnote number and before the body of ...
Discover MoreIf you've got a lot of short footnotes in a document, you might be looking for a way to save space by "crunching up" the ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2017-03-07 08:48:21
Grant: Just like with Marlene, you need to perform step 1 -- you need to be in Draft view. If you aren't, you'll never see the drop-down mentioned in step 5.
-Allen
2017-03-06 23:17:29
Grant
Unfortunately does not seem to work with Word 2016 . I can't get beyond step 3!
2016-08-18 09:24:46
allen@sharonparq.com
Marlene: Note step 1 -- you have to be viewing your document in Draft view.
-Allen
2016-08-17 23:35:07
Marlene Smith-Baranzini
Can you give instructions for working on a PC with Word 2013. The Show Notes window doesn't have a drop down that I can find that allows the choice of viewing either fns or endnotes.
Thanks!
2016-07-29 15:25:03
Amy Christian
I have been using Word for years and years and yet can never remember how to do this. Thanks for the quick instructions that work!
2016-05-24 22:38:40
Joyce
THANKS! This was the only answer, out of all the pages I looked at, that WORKED. :)
Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2017 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007 and 2010. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: 
Comments