Share via

Asterisk followed by numbers in footnotes

Anonymous
2013-08-10T06:42:21+00:00

In a journal I’m editing the title of the article is footnoted with an asterisk and the footnote gives brief biographical details of the author. The next footnote starts with number 1 and the numbers are consecutive after that. Unfortunately some of the original Word versions of the articles start with number one after the title instead of an asterisk.

Is there an easy way to change that number one to an asterisk and have the footnote numbers starting at one after that? The only way I’ve found to do it is to put a continuous section break after the title and footnote 1 and using References, Footnotes, Number Format change the footnote 1 after the title to an asterisk and hit Restart each section. Then I go into the next section and select Number format 1,2,3.

Is there an easier way?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
  1. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2013-08-10T13:39:44+00:00

    Yes, there is an easier and better way.

    1. Select the text in the first footnote and Cut it (Ctrl+X).
    2. Then delete that footnote by deleting the footnote reference in the document body.
    3. Now go to the References tab and click the dialog launcher (tiny arrow) in the bottom right corner of the Footnotes group to open the Footnote and Endnote dialog.
    4. Type an asterisk in the "Custom mark" box, and click Insert.
    5. In the new footnote, paste (Ctrl+V) the text you cut from the original footnote.

    By default, the asterisk will be superscripted. You can select the reference mark (both in the document body and in the footnote) and press Ctrl+Spacebar to unsuperscript it.

    200+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments

4 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2013-08-10T22:22:24+00:00

    Thanks Suzanne - that's a great help.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2015-04-13T21:23:41+00:00

    Thanks Suzanne. That was very helpful.

    0 comments
  3. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 322.9K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-02-15T22:00:19+00:00

    It would be better to ask in the Office for Mac forum at

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac/forum/macword?tab=Threads

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2015-02-15T16:23:01+00:00

    I'm in the exact same position as Alison82, but I can't find the "References" tab.  I'm using Microsoft 2011.  How do I finish the process of amending a footnote to an asterisk?  Thank you very much for your help!

    0 comments