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: Adding Footnotes to Endnotes.

Adding Footnotes to Endnotes

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 26, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


Peter notes that he is working on a document that has both extensive footnotes and endnotes. He has a need to add additional footnotes to his existing endnotes, but he can't find a way to do it.

The reason you can't find a way to do it is because there is no way to do it in Word. Footnotes and endnotes are singular in nature, meaning that you can have one set of footnotes and one set of endnotes per document; that's it. (Endnotes can be placed in different places in a document—the end of a section or the end of the document—but there is still only one set.) You can't add notes within notes, which is what would be required if you wanted to footnote your endnotes.

In addition, all of the style guides we've been able to locate indicate that your endnotes should not have their own footnotes. In most cases, you should simply incorporate the footnote material within the endnote to which it applies. Many people do this by having an endnote contain multiple paragraphs, which is perfectly legal in Word.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12842) 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: Adding Footnotes to Endnotes.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Returning the Left-most Characters

When working with text in a formula, you may need to extract the left-most characters from a string of text or from a ...

Discover More

Editing a Toolbar Button Image

Don't like the toolbar button images in your version of Excel? Don't fret; you can pull up the button editor and make ...

Discover More

Highlighting Cells Containing both Letters and Numbers

Conditional formatting is a great tool for changing the format of cells based on whether certain conditions (rules) are ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Changing the Footnote Separator

When you print a document that uses footnotes, Word normally places a small line between the end of the document body ...

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

Footnotes in Two Columns

When laying out how your printed pages will look, you might want to place your footnotes into more than one column. The ...

Discover More
Subscribe

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.

What is four more than 2?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


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.

Videos
Subscribe

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

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.