Center-column Footnotes

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 15, 2024)

Word has a powerful footnoting and endnoting system that allows you to place references of your choosing within your document and link them to footnotes or endnotes that can appear at a couple of different places in your document. Unfortunately, a "center column" is not one of the places you can automatically place footnotes. This precludes you from using footnotes to place references between columns of text, as is done in some editions of the Bible.

This does not mean that you cannot place your notes between columns, just that you cannot use Word to do it automatically. For instance, instead of using footnotes, you could manually place your "footnote" reference marks, and then manually place a simulated footnote in the center column. You, of course, would be responsible for figuring out placement on the page and controlling page breaking—not a trivial task, by any means.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1484) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

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

Making Pictures Show in Word

What are you to do if you can't see all the pictures you know are in your document? The answer may lie in where those ...

Discover More

Changing the Default Highlighting Color

One of the tools that Word makes available on the Home tab of the ribbon is the Text Highlight tool. This functions ...

Discover More

Inserting the Document Revision Number

Need to know how many times your document has been saved? Word keeps track of this information, and makes it easily ...

Discover More

Discover the Power of Microsoft Office This beginner-friendly guide reveals the expert tips and strategies you need to skyrocket your productivity and use Office 365 like a pro. Mastering software like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint is essential to be more efficient and advance your career. Simple lessons guide you through every step, providing the knowledge you need to get started. Check out Microsoft Office 365 For Beginners today!

More WordTips (menu)

Changing How Footnote References Appear

Footnote references normally appear as superscripted digits, both in the main body of your document and in the footnotes ...

Discover More

Putting Your Index after Your Endnotes

Endnotes are supposed to be at the end of your document, right? Not necessarily. You may want something else at the end, ...

Discover More

Automatically Adding Tabs in Footnotes

When you add a footnote to a document, Word's normal formatting adds a space after the footnote number and before the ...

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 minus 5?

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 menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.