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

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 6, 2018)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

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:

Position the insertion point where you want the footnote mark to be located.
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.)

Figure 1. The Footnote and Endnote dialog box.

Click OK.
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.
Enter your footnote, formatting it as you would any other text in your document.
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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Non-Tiled Background Pictures

Background images for a worksheet are automatically repeated over and over (tiled) by Excel. This tip describes a ...

Discover More

Sorting Files

The Open dialog box allows you to sort the files it presents to you. How you do the sorting depends on the version of ...

Discover More

Hiding Macros

Need to hide some macros in your workbook? There are three ways you can do it, as covered in this discussion.

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (menu)

Where Do You Want Your Endnotes?

Endnotes can be placed in a couple of different places in your document, not just at the very end. Here's how you can ...

Discover More

Converting Endnotes to Regular Text

If you have a document with lots of endnotes, you may need them converted to regular text so that they can be used ...

Discover More

Changing the Footnote Separator

When you print a document that uses footnotes, Word normally places a small line between the end of the document body ...

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 7 - 6?

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.