Footnote Separator Line Disappears

[MsHistory]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Processor: Intel This question was posted by someone in September; no reply is shown.

When I insert a footnote in a Word for Mac document, a line separates the last line of text from the footnote. Then the separating line disappears. I've tried re-doing the footnotes numerous times.

Also, is there a way to apply the style of a footnote reference number (in text) to all of them? I modified the style to superscript, but the others are in Style 1. If I select all, it selects the whole document (which is in Style 1).

Thanks, I have wasted my whole morning on this.

 

[John McGhie]

OK, I can see your problem

The Style name in Word labels the various parts of the document.

If you insert footnotes, Word will automatically insert the reference in the
style "Footnote Reference" and the text in "Footnote Text". These styles
enable Word to control the formatting, positioning, and footnote line, etc.

If you apply a different style to Footnotes, various things won't work.

I suspect the fact that you have the whole document in Style 1 is the real
problem, and was possibly caused by careless editing at some stage.

I suggest that you go to the Formatting Palette and DELETE Style 1 from the
document. Then you will see the underlying styles that you have left.

That might solve the problem for that document. If it doesn't, re-style the
document using Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3 for the headings, Normal for
the text, List Bullet for the bullets and List Number for the numbers. Use
Footnote Reference for the reference to a footnote (or: copy the footnote,
delete it, and put it back in, Word will automatically apply the styles for
you).

After that, your document should work correctly.

Cheers

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Processor: Intel This
question was posted by someone in September; no reply is shown.

When I insert a footnote in a Word for Mac document, a line separates the last
line of text from the footnote. Then the separating line disappears. I've
tried re-doing the footnotes numerous times.

Also, is there a way to apply the style of a footnote reference number (in
text) to all of them? I modified the style to superscript, but the others are
in Style 1. If I select all, it selects the whole document (which is in Style
1).

Thanks, I have wasted my whole morning on this.

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[MsHistory]

Thanks, John, you helped me once before

Before I follow your instructions, let me add:

I have modified many styles and created new ones to meet my needs; in this case, thesis requirements. Many documents have to have these same styles.

For instance--I don't think you addressed this from last msg--I need my footnote number (not reference) in Arabic numerals, not superscript. And the footnote text indented .5".

I modified Style 1 for my text instead of messing with Normal (at least I don't think I've modified Normal).

Does any of this change your answer?

 

[John McGhie]

Oh, OK. "Style 1" is a default style name that indicates the thing may have
happened "by accident".

I would have chosen "Body Text" for the body text. But if you have
customised it, feel free to keep it.

On Insert>Footnote>Options you get to choose the footnote number formatting
for the whole document.

The footnote indents are set by the style "Footnote text". The superscript
is set by the Footnote Reference style, which is a character style. You can
remove the superscript from that style if you wish.

The key to it is that you need to customise the styles, not use different
styles, or Word's footnoting mechanism will be working against you.

It's a good idea to avoid changing Normal because by default every other
style in the document refers to it. By default, it is "empty" (it has no
formatting, it accepts all the document defaults) and it's not a bad idea to
leave it that way.

Hope this helps

Thanks, John, you helped me once before

Before I follow your instructions, let me add:

I have modified many styles and created new ones to meet my needs; in this
case, thesis requirements. Many documents have to have these same styles.

For instance--I don't think you addressed this from last msg--I need my
footnote number (not reference) in Arabic numerals, not superscript. And the
footnote text indented .5".

I modified Style 1 for my text instead of messing with Normal (at least I
don't think I've modified Normal).

Does any of this change your answer?

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]