Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. 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: Controlling Footnote Placement.

Controlling Footnote Placement

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 18, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021

In Word, footnotes can be placed either at the bottom of a page or at the bottom of the text appearing on the page. While this may not seem to be a big difference, it typically comes into play on the last page of a document. The final page may actually end after only a couple lines, sentences, or paragraphs. If you choose to have footnotes placed at the bottom of the page, a large white area may appear between the text and the first footnote on the page. If, instead, you place them at the bottom of the text, the first footnote will appear right after the final text on the page.

To specify where Word places footnotes on a page, follow these steps:

Display the Reference tab of the ribbon.
Click the small arrow icon at the bottom-right of the Footnotes group. Word displays the Footnote and Endnote dialog box.
Make sure the Footnotes radio button is selected. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Footnote and Endnote dialog box.

Using the drop-down list to the right of the Footnotes radio button, select where you want Word to place your footnotes.
Click on Apply to make your change effective.
Click on Cancel if you don't want to add a footnote at this time; otherwise click on Insert.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (6063) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Controlling Footnote Placement.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Searching for Adjectives and Adverbs

Searching for different types of words in your documents is a nice thing to contemplate, but it is much harder to do in ...

Discover More

Changing Page Orientation

Page orientation controls the way in which information is printed on the page. Here's how you can control the page ...

Discover More

Selecting the First Cell In a Row

When creating macros, you'll often have a need to select different cells in the worksheet. Here's how to select the first ...

Discover More

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!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Standardizing Note Reference Placement

Want to modify where an endnote or footnote reference appears in relation to the punctuation in a sentence? Here's a way ...

Discover More

Deleting All Footnotes

Tired of all those footnotes hanging on the bottom of each page in your document? You can get rid of them in one step, as ...

Discover More

Reference to a Range of Endnotes

When multiple endnote references are used at a given point in your document, you may wonder if there is a way to compress ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is six minus 4?

2023-07-22 22:23:46

Royce Singleton

According to Step 2: "Click the small arrow icon at the bottom-right of the Footnotes group." There is no "small arrow icon in the Footnotes group, and I am unable to access the Footnote and Endnote Dialog Box. Now what do I do?

This Site

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.