How to Insert a Footnote in Word 2010

Footnotes are found in a variety of different document types, as they can be useful when a topic requires further explanation, but may not fit within the context of the document.

Due to the importance that a footnote can have to a document, you may eventually encounter a scenario where you need to add one to your document in Microsoft Word 2010.

Our tutorial below will show you how to insert a new footnote in Word 2010, plus show you how to find the menu that allows you to customize the appearance of the footnotes that you have inserted.

Adding a Footnote in Microsoft Word 2010

In this tutorial, we will be creating a single footnote that will display at the bottom of the page.

If you wish to change something about the display of your footnotes, then you can do so by modifying the relevant option on the Footnote and Endnote window referenced in Step 6 below.

Our method below will use the navigational ribbon to insert the footnote. However, you can use the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl + Alt + F if you prefer.

Step 1: Open your document in Word 2010.

Step 2: Click the location in the document where you wish to insert the footnote reference.

click the spot for the footnote

Step 2: Click the References tab at the top of the window.

click the references tab

Step 3: Click the Insert Footnote button in the Footnotes section of the navigational ribbon.

click the insert footnote button

Step 4: Type the content of your footnote.

type the footnote

Step 5: If you wish to make adjustments to how the footnotes are displayed, then click the Footnote and Endnote menu button at the bottom-right corner of the Footnotes section of the navigational ribbon.

click the footnote and endnote menu button

Step 6: You then have a menu full of options that you can adjust to change the format of your footnotes. For example, clicking the drop-down menu to the right of Numbering allows you to change your footnotes so that they restart at the beginning of each page or section, instead of continuously increasing throughout the document.

format your footnote

Once you have finished formatting your footnotes, click the Apply button at the bottom of the window.

click the apply button

Now that you know how to insert a footnote in Word 2010, you can use this option to include additional information at the bottom of your document pages.

Are you constantly fixing the formatting of information that you have copied and pasted into Word? This article will show you how to paste information into Microsoft Word 2010 without any of the formatting that it previously had.

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