Returning to Your Document after Adding an Endnote

Daniel has a document in which he ended up creating a lot of endnotes. When he clicks on the tool to add the endnote, he's taken to the end of the document and he can type his endnote. Daniel wonders if there is a shortcut key he can then use to return to where he was in the main document before he clicked on the tool to add the endnote.

There are a number of approaches you can use to this issue. First, if you want to return to the document immediately after typing the endnote text, just press Shift+F5. This immediately returns you to your last editing location in the main document, which happens to be where you inserted the endnote.

Another option is to simply double-click on the endnote reference, at the beginning of the endnote. That action returns you to the endnote mark within the main document. (You can also double-click on the endnote mark and Word transports you to the appropriate endnote.) The problem with this approach is that it positions the insertion point before the endnote mark, so you can't just start typing away; you may still need to move the insertion point to where you want to make your next edit.

Still another approach is helpful if you remember the page number you were on when you inserted the endnote. If you were on, for instance, page 16, you can press F5 to display the GoTo tab of the Find and Replace dialog box, type 16, and then press Enter. This takes you back to page 16, although it is unlikely that this will coincide, exactly, with where the endnote was inserted.

You could also put some sort of marker in your document just before inserting the endnote, and then use the marker to jump back to that location. For instance, you could type XXX just before inserting the endnote. When you are ready to jump back, just do a quick search (Ctrl+F) to locate the XXX characters and return to your spot.

Finally, you can create a flexible way of returning to wherever you want in a document (not just where you insert an endnote) by creating a couple of simple macros.

Sub MarkCurrent()
    With ActiveDocument.Bookmarks
        .Add Range:=Selection.Range, Name:="Current"
    End With
End Sub

Sub GotoCurrent()
    Selection.GoTo What:=wdGoToBookmark, Name:="Current"
    ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Current").Delete
End Sub

When you want to remember where you are (such as just before inserting your endnote), you run the MarkCurrent macro. It inserts a bookmark (named "Current") in the document at the location of the insertion point. When you later want to return to that location, just run the GotoCurrent macro.

To make these macros the most useful, just assign them shortcut keys. Press one shortcut key to "remember" your location and the other shortcut key to return to that location at a later time.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9887) 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: Returning to Your Document after Adding an Endnote.