Restarting Footnote Numbering after Page Breaks

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 1, 2026)

Elsen is working on his dissertation, and the style he must follow requires that footnote numbers restart at 1 after each page break. Elsen wonders how he can make sure that Word restarts the footnote numbering as he needs.

This is relatively easy to do in Word. Here's how:

Display the References tab of the ribbon.
Click the small icon at the lower-right corner of the Footnotes group. Word displays the Footnote and Endnote dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Footnote and Endnote dialog box.

Change the Start At value to 1.
Change the Numbering drop-down list to Restart Each Page.
If your document has multiple sections in it (as implemented by adding section breaks), use the Apply Changes To drop-down list to specify whether you want this numbering scheme to apply to the entire document or just the current section.
Click Apply.
Click Cancel to close the Footnote and Endnote dialog box.

The result is that your footnotes should start over, at 1, for each page in your document.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13682) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, 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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Inserting Different Dashes

Dashes have a lot of different uses in writing. Word supports three types of dashes, as discussed in this tip.

Discover More

Ignoring Words Containing Numbers

If your writing often contains words that include numbers, you'll want to make sure you set up the spelling checker to ...

Discover More

Paragraph Numbers in Headers or Footers

If your documents routinely use numbered paragraphs, you may want to place the number of the page's first paragraph in ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Word Adds Extra Space before Footnote Marker

When using full justification of your text, you may get extra spaces in places you never wanted. This tip examines one ...

Discover More

Printing without Footnotes

Want to print your document without all those footnotes included? It's not quite as easy as you might think, as this tip ...

Discover More

Moving Footnote Text into the Document

Need to move the contents of a footnote up into the main body of your document? You can use normal editing techniques to ...

Discover More

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.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is six less than 7?

2026-08-01 05:10:33

Simon Freeman

Starting from 1 at each page is not quite the same as starting from 1 after each page break. Allen's response makes more sense, though.

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.