Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 24, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365
Michel is editing a document that has, within the text, information that really should be in footnotes. He wonders if there is an easy way to select the text, have a footnote automatically created, and the selected text be moved to the footnote.
This can, of course, be done manually. All you need to do is to follow these general steps:
If you have to do this process quite a bit, you could automate it by creating a macro that does the same things. (Well, the same things except for steps 1 and 5—you will still need to select the text you want moved to the footnote and you will still need to format it once it is in the footnote.)
Sub TextToFootnote() Dim sTemp As String sTemp = Selection Selection.Delete Selection.TypeBackspace ActiveDocument.Footnotes.Add Range:=Selection.Range, Text:=sTemp End Sub
The macro copies whatever text you selected into the sTemp variable. It then deletes the selection, types a backspace, and inserts a footnote that is equivalent to the text stored in sTemp. Note that since the macro backspaces after deleting the text from the main document, it assumes that what you selected (and what is being moved to the footnote) does not include the leading space.
You can, of course, make the macro more usable by assigning a shortcut key to it or adding it to the Quick Access Toolbar. Either method will allow you to easily move text from the body of the document into the footnotes.
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2025-05-27 03:57:30
Alan
After pasting use the shortcut/accelerator: Ctrl key followed by 'T' for Keep Text Only so it formats per the footnote rather than copies formatting from the body text.
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