Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 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: Inserting and Deleting Footnotes.

Inserting and Deleting Footnotes

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 21, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

Footnotes are used to provide printed annotations or references for a document. If you want to insert a footnote in your document, follow these steps:

Position the insertion point where you want the footnote mark to be located.
Display the References tab of the ribbon.
Click the Insert Footnote tool, in the Footnotes group. A footnote mark appears in your document. If you are in Print Layout view, the insertion point moves to the bottom of the page on which the footnote appears. If you are in Draft view, the Footnotes window is displayed at the bottom of the document window.
Enter your footnote, formatting it as you would any other text in your document.
If the Footnotes window is visible, close the window by double-clicking the line that divides the window from the main portion of your document.

If you previously inserted footnotes into your document and you want to later delete one of them, follow these steps:

Highlight the footnote reference mark in your document.
Press either Del or Ctrl+X.

The footnote is deleted and, if you are using auto-numbered footnotes, the remaining footnotes in your document are renumbered.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9082) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Inserting and Deleting Footnotes.

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...

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