Numbering Endnotes and Adding Chapter Headings

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 14, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365


Jim has an 800-page book divided into chapters, each chapter in its own section of a single document. The book includes numerous endnotes, which appear at the end of the document, just as Jim wants. He would like, however, to have endnote numbering begin anew for each chapter, and for a heading (something like "Chapter 2 Endnotes") to automatically appear between each chapter's endnotes.

This is only partially possible in Word. Assuming that the only place you use section breaks is at the beginning of each chapter, then follow these steps:

  1. Display the References tab of the ribbon.
  2. Click the small arrow at the bottom-right of the Footnotes group. Word displays the Footnote and Endnote dialog box.
  3. Choose the Endnotes radio button. (See Figure 1.)
  4. Figure 1. The Footnote and Endnote dialog box.

  5. Using the drop-down list to the right of the Endnotes radio button, choose End of Document. (This makes sure that your endnotes are at the end of the entire document, not at the end of each section of the document.)
  6. Use the Number Format drop-down list to choose the type of numbering you want used for your endnotes. (In Jim's case, Arabic numbers would probably be preferred.)
  7. Set Start At to 1.
  8. Using the Numbering drop-down list, choose Restart Each Section.
  9. Make sure Apply Changes is set to whole document.
  10. Click on Apply.
  11. If the dialog box is still open, click on Cancel to close it.

Your endnotes should now be numbered as you want, restarting at 1 for each chapter. The automatic headings, in the endnotes, is the part that doesn't work automatically. You'll need to add these headings manually, but locating the proper place to do the addition should be relatively easy—just look for places where endnote numbering restarts and then put the heading before that point. If you have any chapters that have no endnotes, then you'll want to make sure you skip that chapter in the headings you add.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9535) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365.

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. ...

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