Hello, my name is Erin.
This tutorial shows how to restart footnote numbers in Microsoft Word.
You can restart the numbers on every page or within every section or chapter.
Please note that these steps assume you have already inserted section breaks
at the end of your sections or chapters.
However, don’t worry if you’re unfamiliar with inserting section breaks
because we’ll quickly walk through that process in the bonus section at the end.
I will be using Word for Microsoft 365.
These steps also apply to Word for Mac and the single-purchase versions of the software back to Word 2013.
These steps don’t apply to Word for the web (Word online).
To begin restarting your footnote numbers, PC users can select the References tab in the ribbon.
Followed by the Footnotes dialog box launcher.
Mac users can select the Insert menu.
Followed by Footnote from the drop-down menu.
When the Footnotes and Endnotes dialog box appears, ensure that Footnotes is selected.
If you want to start with a number other than 1, enter that number in the Start at text box.
And then select Restart each section or Restart each page from the Numbering menu.
Next, select This section or Whole document from the Apply changes to menu.
Finally, select the Apply button.
Your existing and future footnote numbers should now be restarted according to the settings you just chose.
Before inserting section breaks,
I recommend selecting the Show/Hide button in the Home tab to reveal your formatting marks.
Then, place your cursor where you want the second section or chapter to begin.
Next, select the Layout tab,
followed by the Breaks button.
From there, select Next Page in the drop-down menu.
You can also choose to insert a Continuous section break, which doesn’t create any space between sections.
However, Next Page is usually a better option when working with footnotes.
If you scroll up, you will now see a section break at the end of the first section or chapter.
Continue to repeat this process until you have created a section break between all your sections or chapters.
You can then restart your footnote numbers by selecting the References tab,
followed by the Footnotes dialog box launcher.
Or selecting the Insert menu,
followed by Footnote if you are on a Mac.
Once again, ensure that Footnotes is selected in the Footnotes and Endnotes dialog box.
Select Restart each section from the Numbering menu.
And then select This Section or Whole document from the Apply changes to menu.
Finally, select the Apply button.
Your existing and future footnote numbers should now restart in each section or chapter.
For a full tutorial on section breaks, please see my previous video “How to Insert Section Breaks in Microsoft Word.”
And for more information on footnotes, please see “How to Insert Footnotes and Endnotes in Microsoft Word,”
both of which are linked in the description box below along with my website,
erinwrightwriting.com, which lists all the steps we just performed with images.
Feel free to leave me a comment if there’s a specific topic that you would like me to talk about in the future.
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Thank you so much for watching!
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