Footnotes don't send!

Rania Savvidi 0 Reputation points
2026-10-19T20:57:08.86+00:00

I just finished a Word document with an assessment for Uni, changed the font as required, and all of a sudden my footnotes - although I CAN SEE THEM and they are working just fine - they don't send! I tried sending the Word document to my husband and There is the Word document with superscript numbers but no footnotes! Colour in automatic, Hidden unticked, tried everything! In MY Word document everything looks and works fine! Do I need to redo them?!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For education | Windows
0 comments

2 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Stefan Blom 354.9K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2026-10-20T11:06:29.9333333+00:00

    Is it possible that the footnotes are missing from an attachment preview when your husband receives the document?

    Ask your husband to download the document and open it in Word. Ensure that Print Layout view is selected. Then do the footnotes display properly?

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Kai-L 20,225 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-10-19T21:15:31.96+00:00

    Dear Rania,

    You should not need to redo the footnotes. Since the superscript numbers remain but the notes disappear for the recipient, first save a fresh copy:

    1. In Microsoft Word, select File > Save As.
    2. Save it as a new.docx file, not an older .doc format.
    3. Open the new copy and select File > Print to check whether the footnotes appear in Print Preview. Footnotes should appear at the bottom of their referenced pages. 
    4. Send the new file as an attachment, rather than sharing a cloud link.

    Also ask your husband to open it in the desktop Word app and use View > Print Layout. If he is viewing it in an email preview, browser, or mobile viewer, the notes may not display correctly.

    For a university submission, I recommend also exporting a PDF and verifying every footnote before uploading. Keep the editable .docx as your original.

    Most important: do not delete or recreate the footnotes while they are still working in your original document.

    I hope this helps. Looking forward to your reply.

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Yes" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".  

    Note: Please follow the steps in the forum documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.  

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.