Footnotes or Endnotes? Choosing and Formatting Notes in a Self-Published Book

Footnotes sit at the bottom of the same page as their reference and suit books where readers want the note immediately, while endnotes collect all the notes at the back of a chapter or book and keep the reading pages clean. Word's References tab inserts and renumbers both automatically, you can set numbering to restart each chapter, and it helps to remember that footnotes anchor to a fixed page in print but ebooks turn every note into a tappable link regardless of which you choose.

If your book cites sources, adds asides, or explains terms, you will need notes, and one of the first decisions is where they live. This choice shapes how your reader experiences the book, so it is worth a moment's thought rather than defaulting to whatever the software does first. The good news is that Word handles the mechanics for you, and switching between the two is painless. Here is how to decide and how to format them well.

Footnotes versus endnotes, the core difference

A footnote appears at the foot of the same page where its little superscript number sits in the text. The reader's eye can drop down, read the note, and come back without turning a page. An endnote uses the same superscript number, but the note itself is gathered with all the others in a list, either at the end of each chapter or at the very back of the book.

Neither is more correct than the other. They serve different reading experiences, and the right pick depends on your genre and on how essential the notes are to the main text.

What genre convention suggests

Reader expectations vary by category, and matching them makes your book feel at home on its shelf:

• Academic and scholarly work: footnotes are common when readers consult sources constantly, though many academic presses use endnotes to keep pages uncluttered. Either is accepted.
• Popular nonfiction and history: endnotes are the frequent choice. They keep the reading pages clean and inviting for a general audience while still giving diligent readers full citations at the back.
• Memoir and narrative nonfiction: sparse footnotes can add a warm, conversational aside, but heavy citation usually moves to the back.
• Fiction: notes are rare. When used for effect, occasional footnotes can be charming, but most novels avoid them.

A useful test: if a note is something the reader genuinely wants in the moment, such as a translation or a clarifying aside, lean toward footnotes. If it is a source citation that only a fraction of readers will check, endnotes keep the page serene.

Reader experience on the page

Footnotes reward the curious reader with instant access, but a page crowded with long footnotes can feel dense and can push the main text into a thin strip. Endnotes give you pristine reading pages, but they ask the reader to flip to the back and find their place again, which some readers simply will not do. Many authors split the difference: brief, genuinely useful remarks go in footnotes, and full bibliographic citations go in endnotes. There is no wrong answer, only the experience you want to create.

Word's References tools do the heavy lifting

Both kinds of notes are inserted from the References tab, and Word manages the numbering for you:

1. Place your cursor right where the reference number should appear, immediately after the word or punctuation.
2. Click Insert Footnote or Insert Endnote. Word drops a superscript number in the text and moves your cursor to the note area to type.
3. To convert between the two, or to control placement and numbering, click the small arrow at the corner of the Footnotes group to open the Footnote and Endnote dialog.

The best part is automatic renumbering. Insert a new note in the middle of a chapter, and every note after it renumbers itself. Delete one, and the sequence closes up. You never manage the numbers by hand, which removes an entire category of error.

Numbering restarts and placement

In the Footnote and Endnote dialog you control how numbering behaves. For a book, the two most useful settings are:

• Numbering: choose Restart each section so numbers begin again at 1 in every chapter, rather than climbing into the hundreds across the whole book. This relies on your chapters being separated by section breaks, which is standard book structure.
• Endnote placement: decide between End of section, which groups notes after each chapter, and End of document, which pools them all at the back under a Notes heading.

Restarting per chapter keeps the reference numbers small and readable, and it matches how most printed nonfiction handles its notes.

What print needs versus what ebook needs

This is where the two formats part ways, and it is worth understanding. In a print book, a footnote is physically anchored to the bottom of a fixed page, so page layout matters: a very long footnote may need to break carefully, and the note must fit alongside the text. Endnotes in print are simply a list at the back with page or chapter references.

In an ebook, there are no fixed pages, because the text reflows to whatever screen the reader uses. Ereaders convert both footnotes and endnotes into tappable links: the reader taps the number, jumps to the note, and taps back. This means the footnote-versus-endnote distinction softens in ebooks, since both become linked notes. A well-built book file keeps your notes correctly linked in the ebook while laying them out properly on the printed page, so you author them once and both editions behave.

Our Leadership book template and our other nonfiction designs carry note styling that reads cleanly in print and converts to linked notes in the ebook, so your citations look right in both editions from a single file.

Frequently asked questions

Are footnotes or endnotes better for nonfiction?

Both are common and accepted. Popular nonfiction and history often favor endnotes to keep reading pages clean for a general audience, while academic work sometimes prefers footnotes for instant access to sources. A frequent compromise is footnotes for short useful asides and endnotes for full source citations.

How do I make footnote numbers restart each chapter in Word?

Open the Footnote and Endnote dialog from the small arrow in the References tab's Footnotes group, and set Numbering to Restart each section. This works when your chapters are separated by section breaks, which is standard book structure, so each chapter's notes begin again at 1.

Do footnotes work in ebooks?

Yes. Ereaders convert both footnotes and endnotes into tappable links, since ebooks have no fixed pages. The reader taps the reference number to jump to the note and taps back to return. A properly built file keeps these links intact in the ebook while formatting the notes correctly for print.

Prefer to have your notes formatted and linked correctly for both print and ebook? Cantos, our AI book designer at BookDesigner.ai, handles footnotes and endnotes across both editions and lets you preview 30 pages of your own book free.