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: Inserting Footnotes.

Inserting Footnotes

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated December 9, 2015)

Footnotes are used to provide printed annotations or references for a document. If you want to insert a footnote in your document, follow these steps:

  1. Position the insertion point where you want the footnote mark to be located.
  2. In Word 97 and Word 2000, choose Footnote from the Insert menu. In Word 2002 and Word 2003, you choose Reference from the Insert menu, then choose Footnote from the submenu. Word displays the Footnote and Endnote dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

    3. Figure 1. The Footnote and Endnote dialog box.

  3. Click OK.
  4. A footnote mark appears in your document and the Footnotes window is displayed at the bottom of the document window. If you are in Print Layout view (Page Layout view in Word 97), a footnote mark appears in your document and the insertion point moves to the bottom of the page where the footnote will appear.
  5. Enter your footnote, formatting it as you would any other text in your document.
  6. If the Footnotes window is visible, click on Close at the top of the Footnotes window.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1682) 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: Inserting Footnotes.

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. ...

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