WD: How to Remove Footnote/Endnote Separators (Lines) in Word

This article describes how to remove the separator from a footnote or endnote in Microsoft Word.

Use the method appropriate for your version of Word.

Microsoft Word 6.x, 7.x, 98 Macintosh Edition

1. On the View menu, click Normal.
2. On the View menu, click Footnotes.
3. In the Footnotes pane, click the down arrow next to All Footnotes or All Endnotes, and select Footnote Separator or Endnote Separator. The separator appears.
4. Select the separator and delete it.

Word for the Macintosh, version 5.0

1. On the Insert menu, click Footnote.
2. Click Separator.
3. Select the separator and delete it.

Word for the Macintosh, version 4.0

To remove the footnote separator (or footnote continuation separator) from a Word 4.0 document, you must replace it with at least one character (for example, a space).

This restriction exists to prevent problems with empty text areas in Page View.

Word for Windows, versions 1.0 and 2.0

1. On the Insert Menu, click Footnote.
2. Click Options.
3. Click Separator.
4. Select the separator line with the mouse, with the insertion point positioned before the separator line.
5. Once the separator is selected, press the SPACEBAR once (to replace the separator with a space).
6. Click Close.

To avoid an extra blank line between the text and the footnotes, format the remaining paragraph in the footnote separator window for -1 point line spacing.