Use Multiple References to the Same Footnote: MS Word

Dennis Faas's picture

Microsoft Word includes a feature that allows you to add footnotes and endnotes to your documents. This can come in real handy for some type of scholarly or scientific documents; however, in some instances, you may need to use only a single footnote for multiple references within a document.

To do so:

  1. Insert your first (primary) footnote as normal.
     
  2. Position the insertion point in the document where you want the secondary reference to the footnote.
     
  3. Choose Insert | Reference | Cross-reference. MS Word will display the Cross-reference dialog box.
     
  4. Using the Reference Type drop-down list, choose Footnote. Word displays a list of footnotes in the dialog box.
     
  5. Select the footnote you want used for this reference.
     
  6. Click Insert. The cross-reference is inserted, but it is still not formatted as a footnote reference.
     
  7. Click on Close to dismiss the Cross-reference dialog box. The insertion point should be just to the right of the cross-reference you just inserted.
     
  8. Hold down the SHIFT key as you press the Left Arrow button. The cross-reference should be selected.
     
  9. Press SHIFT+F9. The contents of the field used for the cross-reference are displayed. It should look similar to the following: { NOTEREF _Ref123456 \h }
     
  10. Position the insertion point between the last space and the closing brace in the field.
     
  11. Add into the field: \f. This causes the field to use the same formatting as your other footnote references. The field should now appear similar to the following: { NOTEREF _Ref123456 \h \f}
     
  12. Press SHIFT+F9 to collapse the field.
     
  13. Press F9 to update the field.

Now wasn't that easy?

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