Multiple Footnotes with the Same Reference in MS Word
Recently a reader wrote to me about Multiple Footnotes with the same reference. Her question was:
"I know how to do footnotes & cross referencing (MSWord 2003). My question is, if I am using the same reference for 2 or 3 other footnotes, is the reference supposed to show at the bottom of each page that a footnote is made, or does the reference only show on the first page that has the first footnote? For example, if I have a footnote (#1) on page 2, my reference will show at the bottom of page 2. If I have a footnote on page 4 that uses the exact same reference as #1, is the reference supposed to show at the bottom of page 4 also, or, since it is also a #1 footnote, will it just show on page 2 and people just know to go back to page 2 to see the reference?"
My reply:
If you are using cross-references, the footnote does not show up at the bottom of a page where you use the cross-reference. If you need to have the footnote at the bottom of every page where it is referenced, you might be better served by inserting a new footnote and using the same text as your original footnote.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with cross-referencing footnotes, see below.
In some scholarly and academic documents there may be footnotes with cross-references. MS Word allows you to automatically cross reference footnotes. Follow the steps below to learn how:
- In the text in your document, select the footnote reference mark that you want to cross-reference.
- Assign this footnote reference mark a bookmark name.
- Position your insertion point in the footnotes where you want to place the cross-reference.
- Press CTRL + F9 to insert field brackets.
- Make sure the insertion point is between the brackets.
- Type ftnref followed by the name of the bookmark used above.
- Click on F9 to update the field information.
Word replaces the field with the footnote number to which the bookmark was assigned.
Another way to accomplish this is below:
- Insert your primary footnote as you usually would.
- Position the insertion point where you want the secondary reference to the original footnote to appear.
- Click on Insert | Cross-reference.
- Word displays the Cross-reference dialog box.
- Using the Reference Type drop-down menu, select Footnote.
- Word will display a list of footnotes in the dialog box.
- Select the footnote you want used for this reference.
- Click Insert.
- The Cross-reference is inserted but is not formatted as a footnote reference.
- Click on Close to close the Cross-reference dialog box.
- Your insertion point should be just to the right of the cross-reference you have just inserted.
- Holding down the SHIFT key, press the LEFT ARROW.
- The cross-reference should now be selected.
- Click SHIFT + F9.
- The contents of the field used for the cross-reference are displayed. It will look something like {NOTEREF _Ref 521136008 \h}.
- Position your insertion point between the last space and the closing brace in the field and type \f.
- This field switch will cause the field to u se the same formatting as your other footnote references. The field should now look like this:
- {NOTEREF _Ref 521136008 \h \f}
- Click on SHIFT + F9 to collapse the field.
- Click on F9 to update the field.
I hope this has cleared up any multiple footnote questions you may have had.
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