Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Viewing Footnotes.
Word implements a full-featured footnote system that allows you total control over where and how footnotes are printed. If you are viewing your document in Print Layout view, the footnotes appear on your document the same as any other text.
If you are viewing your document in Normal view, the footnotes are not normally visible. Word opens the footnotes pane at the bottom of the document window whenever you insert a footnote. Most users, when they are through entering the footnote text, close the footnotes window so they will be able to see more of their document at once. If you later want to view the footnotes pane, you can use the Footnotes option from the View menu. When you select this, the footnotes pane is displayed. You can then make changes to footnotes in the window, if you so desire.
To close the footnotes pane, you can either click on the Close button at the top of the footnotes pane, or you can again choose Footnotes from the View menu.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1101) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Viewing Footnotes.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: 
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