Are you drafting a document in Word, need to add some footnotes but don’t know how to do it? Don’t worry, it’s really a piece of cake. All you have to do is take five minutes of your free time, follow the instructions in the guide on how to insert footnotes in Word that I am about to propose and put them into practice.
In the tutorial I will also deal with endnotes, which are very similar to footnotes but are automatically placed at the end of the document (instead of at the end of the selected page); comments, which are used to suggest corrections and changes to the file; and bibliographic notes. At the end of the reading, in short, you will have a rather complete picture of the possibilities available to you.
If everything is clear, I’d say we can take action: you’ll find the explanations you need right below. The instructions cover all the latest versions of Word, both for computers and mobile devices, including the online version of the famous Microsoft application. It only remains for me to wish you a good read and good work!
How to insert notes in a Word document
If you want to find out how to insert notes into a Word document from the classic desktop version of the Microsoft program, via Word Online or through the official Word app for smartphones and tablets, read on: you’ll find all the relevant instructions right below.
How to insert notes in Word on PC
If you want to learn how to enter notes in Word from the classic desktop version of the program for Windows and macOS, the first step you have to take is to start Word by selecting the corresponding shortcut from the Windows Start menu or the Launchpad on macOS.
Once you see the main screen of the program, open the document you want to act on, selecting it from the recent ones in the Home section of the software, or from the files saved on your computer or on OneDrive, choosing the element of your interest from the Open section. Next, place the Word cursor in the position where you want the first reference to the information in the footer to appear.
Now select the References tab from the toolbar at the top and click the Insert Footnote button. Then type the footnote to be displayed at the selected location in the document and you are done.
Then repeat the operation for each note you want to insert into your file and you will have all the footer information numbered and automatically linked to the selected Word sheet points.
If you are a lover of keyboard shortcuts, you can also insert new footnotes in your document by going to the place on the sheet where you want to insert the note and pressing the key combination Alt+Ctrl+F (on Windows) or option+command+f (on macOS) on your computer’s keyboard.
After inserting footnotes, you can also change the type of numbering (e.g. using Roman numeration) and the position within the file, moving it to the end of the text they refer to or to the last page of the document.
To customize these and other parameters of notes entered in Word, select the References tab from the program’s toolbar and click the arrow-shaped button next to the Footnotes heading.
In the window that opens, you can change the position of the notes in the document by using the Footnotes drop-down menu or by clicking the Convert button (in this case, the notes are transformed into endnotes and moved to the end of the document), you can change the type of numbering of the notes by using the Number format menu and you can choose from which number to start numbering the notes by setting a value in the Start from field.
Changes take immediate effect on all footnotes previously entered in the document. In addition, by using the appropriate buttons on the References tab of Word, you can switch between notes with one click and automatically view the contents of footnotes without having to search for them manually in the document pages. Better than that?
Do you want to add notes in Word to indicate changes and corrections to a document? In this case, you can use the comment feature, which allows you to add comments to specific parts of a document to indicate changes and corrections in the document. This is an extremely useful tool when you are working with other people and want to indicate changes to be made to the file.
To add a comment in Word, select the portion of text you want to “comment” on, go to the Review tab of the program, click the Comments button in the upper center and then click New Comment from the menu that opens. After that, a box will appear on the right where you can write your comment.
Repeat the operation with all the parts of the document you are interested in. The person who will be in charge of reviewing the document can in turn add notes or respond directly to your comments by clicking on the appropriate button in the comment box.
If Word does not automatically show the comments in a document, to solve it, you should go to the Review tab of the program, click on the Comments button and then on the Show Comments item in the menu that appears.
How to insert notes in Word Online
Let’s see now how to insert notes in Word using the online version of the application, which can be used directly from the browser without installing additional software. To use it, go to its home page and log in to your Microsoft account (if necessary).
Once you have logged in, open the document you are interested in working on, selecting it from those already uploaded in the past or clicking on the option to upload a new document (top right). Once you see the text editor screen, click where in the document you want to insert your footnote, then select the References tab at the top and click on the Insert Footnote item from the menu at the top of the screen.
After you have completed the above steps, type the footnote to be shown in the appropriate field that you see appearing at the bottom. Then repeat these steps for all the footnotes you intend to insert in the document.
You can also customize the footnotes you have entered, changing their font type and size, by clicking on them, then on the Footnote Format button in the box that appears at the bottom and acting on the Font menus in the window that opens. To apply the changes to a single note, click on the Apply button, and to apply the changes to all notes, click on the Apply to All button.
If you are interested in inserting endnotes, click on Insert Endnote in the References tab of the top menu, type the note in the appropriate field at the bottom and you are done. Repeat these steps for all the endnotes you want to insert. If you want, you can also customize the characters by clicking on the Format closing note button.
If you are interested, you can view all footnotes and endnotes in your document by expanding the options in the References tab menu, clicking the down arrow in the top right corner and selecting Show footnotes and Show endnotes in the top left corner.
To add comments, on the other hand, proceed as follows: select the portion of text you are interested in, select the Review tab and click the New Comment button on the menu at the top of the screen. Then type your comment in the box you see on the right and click the button with the paper airplane to save it. Then repeat these steps for all the parts of the document you want to comment.
If after being entered, the comments are not automatically displayed in Word, in order to view them, click the Show Comments button found in the Review tab menu and you’re done.
How to insert notes in Word on smartphones and tablets
The features related to footnotes, endnotes and comments are also available in the versions of Word for smartphones and tablets, available as apps for Android and iOS/iPadOS (free on devices up to 10.1″, otherwise require a Microsoft 365 subscription from 7 euros/month).
To use the app in question, launch it and open the document you’re interested in acting on, selecting it from the Home section or clicking on the folder icon at the bottom right, and taking it from the files on your device or OneDrive.
Once the document is displayed, to insert a footnote, tap on the point of the file you are interested in, press the (…) button located at the bottom right and select the Insert option from the menu on the left. If you are using a tablet, go directly to the Insert tab by selecting the appropriate item at the top.
At this point, tap on the Footnote option and type your footnote in the appropriate field. Then repeat the steps I have just given you for each footnote you want to insert in the document.
I also inform you that, if you want, you can make any customizations to the notes using the formatting tools that appear at the bottom of the screen after selecting them.
You can follow the same process I mentioned earlier for closing notes as well. The only difference is that after opening the menu or the Insert tab, you need to tap on the Closing Note option at the bottom of the screen.
As I told you, even in the case of Word for smartphones and tablets you can insert comments. To do so, do this: select the portion of text to “comment”, go to the menu or the Insert tab, proceeding as I explained, and then tap on the Comment option.
Type your comment in the text field and press the paper airplane button to enter it. Then you will be able to view your comments by simply selecting the relevant portion of text.
If you cannot see the comments in the text, if you are using a smartphone tap on the (…) button and select Review from the menu on the left, if you are using a tablet go directly to the Review tab at the top of the screen. Next, tap on the View for Review option and choose the All (embedded) comments item from the menu that opens.
How to insert bibliographic notes in Word
Now let’s see how to insert bibliographic notes in Word. In this case, keep in mind, however, that this function is only available on the desktop version of the famous Microsoft word processing program.
Therefore, what you have to do, after starting Word on your PC or Mac and opening the document you are interested in, is to place the cursor at the end of the text you want to quote, select the Reference tab at the top and choose the citation style you prefer from the Style menu at the top of the screen.
Then, click on the Insert citation button at the top of the screen, choose the Add new source option from the menu that opens and fill in the fields in the new window that appears on the screen with the information about the source of your interest, then press the OK button and the citation will be immediately inserted.
If you want, you can insert additional citations using the data already entered, by positioning the Word cursor at the point in the document you prefer, clicking on the Insert Citation button, and choosing the reference source from the menu that is shown.
To make changes to the citations you have entered, for example, to add page numbers if you are quoting a book, select the citation, then click on the button with the arrow next to it, choose the Edit Citation option from the menu that appears and take action through the new window that appears on the screen.
To create a bibliography using the sources cited in the document, on the other hand, proceed as follows: bring the mouse pointer to the point in the document you are interested in, select the References tab at the top of the Word window, click on the Bibliography menu and choose one of the available formats from it.
If you need to change the sources of your bibliographic notes, you can do so by clicking the Manage Sources button at the top of the References tab in Word and then using the options and menus in the new window that appears on the screen.