Use footnotes and endnotes to explain, comment on, or provide references to something in a document. Usually, footnotes appear at the bottom of the page, while endnotes come at the end of the document or section.

If you’re in Reading View, switch to Editing View by clicking Edit Document > Edit in Word for the web.

Add a footnote

  1. Click where you want to add the footnote.

  2. Click Insert > Insert Footnote.

    insert footnote in Word Online

    Word inserts a reference mark in the text and adds the footnote mark at the bottom of the page.

  3. Type the footnote text.

Add an endnote

  1. Click where you want to add the endnote.

  2. Click Insert > Insert Endnote.

    Insert Endnote button in Word ONline

    Word inserts a reference mark in the text and adds the endnote mark at the end of the document.

  3. Type the endnote text.

Customize your footnotes and endnotes

To customize a footnote or endnote:

  1. Click the reference number or mark in the body of the text or click Insert > Show Footnotes(for endnotes, click Insert > Show Endnotes).

    Footnote or endnote reference numbers in a document

    Show Footnotes button in Word Online

  2. In the footnote/endnote view, click Format Footnotes or Format Endnotes to display the Format Options dialog, where you can change the size, font, and indentation of one or all of your footnotes or endnotes.

    Format Footnotes button in the Footnote editing area of Word Online

Note: If you want to convert footnotes to endnotes or the other way around, use the Open in Word command and convert them there. When you save the doc in Word, it's saved where you opened it in Word for the web.

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