WD: Footnote Text Displayed, Printed on Top of Footer

In Microsoft Word, footnote text is displayed on top of (overlays) the footer text in page layout view and print preview. The footnote text is also printed on top of the footer text.

This problem occurs when all of the following conditions are true:

• The footer text exceeds five lines.
  
  -and-
• The footnote text exceeds five lines.
  
  -and-
• Text follows the footnote reference mark in the body of the document.
  
  -and-
• A section break is placed after the footnote reference mark.

To prevent the footnote text from overlapping the footer text, use either of the following methods:

Method 1:

Open the footnote pane, place the insertion point after the footnote text, and press ENTER to add one or more blank lines (paragraphs).

Method 2:

Delete the section break.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the versions of Microsoft Word listed at the beginning of this article.