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: Changing the Footnote Continuation Separator.

Changing the Footnote Continuation Separator

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 10, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

If you have a very long footnote that won't entirely fit in the space allocated for footnotes on the current page, Word automatically continues the footnote on the following page. In these cases, you can specify that Word use a different footnote separator to indicate that the footnotes are a continuation from the previous page. To change the continuation separator, follow these steps:

Make sure you are viewing your document in Normal view. (Click on the Normal View icon on the status bar of the document, or choose Normal from the View menu.)
Select Footnotes from the View menu.
If you are using Word 2000 or a later version, and you have both footnotes and endnotes defined in your document, Word displays the View Footnotes dialog box. (See Figure 1.) Click on the View Footnote Area radio button and then click on OK.

Figure 1. The View Footnotes dialog box.

Using the Footnotes drop-down list at the top of the Footnotes window, choose Footnote Continuation Separator. The current separator appears in the window.
Change or delete the separator, as desired.
When you are satisfied with the appearance of the separator, click on Close.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1878) 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: Changing the Footnote Continuation Separator.

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

Selecting an Entire Worksheet

While editing, you may need to select everything in a worksheet. Excel provides three easy ways you can accomplish this.

Discover More

Working with Multiple Printers

Word does not keep printer information associated with documents. You can define a macro for each printer you use and put ...

Discover More

Moving Through a Table in a Macro

Do you need to step through a table, cell by cell, in a macro? It's easy to do using the Move method, as described 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 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Copying and Moving Footnotes and Endnotes

If you need to move footnotes or endnotes from one location to another in a document, you can use editing techniques you ...

Discover More

Default Numbering Format for Endnotes

The default format for endnote numbers is lowercase Roman numerals. If you want the numbers to use a different format, ...

Discover More

Adding Information after the Endnotes

Endnotes appear at the end of the document, right? Not always, as Word provides a way that you can actually add as much ...

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 0 + 7?

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.