HELP! Un-editable Carriage Returns in Footnotes

Maura

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Nov 30, 2012, 2:53:35 PM11/30/12

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I have carriage returns in all my footnotes, after the footnote
separator bar (2 carriage returns) and before the footnotes. All
footnotes are like this as if the formatting is corrupted. I can delete
them all and put them all back in with the same format. I can change
everything except I cannot select or backup over, or anyway delete those
pesky horrific carriage returns. Help! I have to deliver this document
in 2 hours!

--
Maura

Peter T. Daniels

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Nov 30, 2012, 6:34:02 PM11/30/12

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They're not "in" the footnotes; they're "in" the footnote separator.

The way to access that -- and change its formatting, in case you don't
like the line length or its indent or whatever -- is to switch to
Draft View, then go to Show Footnotes (I don't remember how to do that
in earlier Word, but if you have a Ribbon, it's at the lower right of
the Footnotes group of the References tab).

You then get a window at the bottom of the document window with a bar
above it, and in that bar is a dropdown from which you access the
Separator. Choose that, and (since you have your Non-Printing
Characters turned on) you'll see some stray paragraphs down there.
Just delete them.

Go back to Print View, and all is copasetic!

itkat...@gmail.com

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Mar 19, 2015, 10:20:25 AM3/19/15

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your answer totally fixed the problem, Peter, youre the man! i love when you can find a man who knows the answer and theres no need for further searching.. thanks!!
Kate

Peter T. Daniels

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Mar 19, 2015, 10:58:23 AM3/19/15

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:-)

jc...@taskforce.org

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Jan 26, 2016, 4:31:57 PM1/26/16

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Thank you, Peter. 3+ years later since you posted this--this is still the best solution and advice I could find for this problem. Been combing help pages and getting nowhere.

Peter T. Daniels

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Jan 26, 2016, 11:10:19 PM1/26/16

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I hope the folks who maintain the newer help system at the MS web site see this!

jedr...@gmail.com

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Mar 18, 2016, 6:03:10 PM3/18/16

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Ditto - huge help, exactly what I needed. Thank you!!

justr...@gmail.com

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Jun 14, 2016, 8:45:21 AM6/14/16

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Peter still works! Thank you this was driving me crazy

riffraf...@gmail.com

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Aug 9, 2016, 3:44:16 PM8/9/16

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This was so helpful Peter Thank you so much

Peter T. Daniels

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Aug 9, 2016, 4:16:59 PM8/9/16

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On Tuesday, August 9, 2016 at 3:44:16 PM UTC-4, riffraf...@gmail.com wrote:

> This was so helpful Peter Thank you so much

Nice that things haven't changed through four years of upgrades!

thoma...@gmail.com

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May 28, 2017, 2:32:58 PM5/28/17

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Almost 5 years, and this is still the best answer on the Interwebz for this. Thanks Peter!

Peter T. Daniels

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May 28, 2017, 2:51:37 PM5/28/17

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On Sunday, May 28, 2017 at 2:32:58 PM UTC-4, thoma...@gmail.com wrote:

> Almost 5 years, and this is still the best answer on the Interwebz for this. Thanks Peter!

;-)

arby

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Sep 14, 2017, 2:49:32 PM9/14/17

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But how about when there is a stray return in only one footnote and I cannot delete or even click on it and it cannot be found in the footnote separator line as described above?

Peter T. Daniels

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Sep 14, 2017, 9:48:07 PM9/14/17

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Maybe you marked a footnote reference Hidden Text?

Maybe the one you can't select is an actual footnote-ender and the _other_ one is the stray paragraph mark.

rbas...@gmail.com

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Sep 15, 2017, 12:01:40 PM9/15/17

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I have footnote 8, 9, 10 on one page with a stray hard return after (on the following line) footnote 10. I cannot get to that hard return. If I create a page break to force footnote 10 to the next page, footnote 10 appears just above footnote 11 and the stray hard return is gone (from the original page and did not move with fn #10 to the next).?. I do not know what is happening here.

Peter T. Daniels

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Sep 15, 2017, 1:21:16 PM9/15/17

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Is it in the footer?

Is it interfering with the page layout? If not, leave it be.

rbas...@gmail.com

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Sep 18, 2017, 7:43:09 AM9/18/17

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Not in the footer and seemingly not affecting layout, mostly a bothersome unknown.

rbas...@gmail.com

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Sep 18, 2017, 7:43:42 AM9/18/17

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Thanks, Peter!

jacquib...@gmail.com

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Nov 5, 2017, 1:10:48 PM11/5/17

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Not working for me - been to draft view, deleted the footnote separator and still have a paragraph mark before, after and even sometimes in the middle and when I try to delete them it tells me its an invalid request

>
>

Peter T. Daniels

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Nov 5, 2017, 3:33:38 PM11/5/17

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You can't "delete" a footnote separator. You can only edit it.

The paragraph marks you can't delete are the marks marking the ends of footnotes.

You need to find in the text the places where there are footnotes even if (somehow)
their reference-numbers have disappeared.

mo.d...@gmail.com

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Nov 10, 2017, 4:49:48 PM11/10/17

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Peter, you're amazing. Thank you sir!

jhud...@sfu.ca

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Nov 14, 2017, 10:36:42 PM11/14/17

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I wish this would work. I've been fighting with it for days. As soon as I touch Footnote Separator the footnotes disappear. I have a MacBook Pro, Yosemite, 10.10.

lars...@gmail.com

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Dec 22, 2018, 3:58:50 PM12/22/18

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Still an awesome solution at the end of 2018! Thanks.....

mercur...@gmail.com

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Apr 19, 2020, 7:56:21 AM4/19/20

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This has helped me too. Thank you so much Peter Daniels. You rock.

Thank you thank you...

greg.r....@gmail.com

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Apr 20, 2020, 8:52:41 PM4/20/20

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Eight years later and it worked for me too. Thanks Peter!

Vegans in the Wild Over 50

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Sep 21, 2020, 3:30:14 AM9/21/20

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Peter, you are amazing, thank you!

joe Baker

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Nov 3, 2020, 5:43:16 PM11/3/20

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Thanks a million Peter, spent hours trying to remove these returns, MS uninstalled my Office suite (trying to upgrade me to 365) and still couldn't offer this simple solution. November, 2020

Kym Welch

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Apr 20, 2021, 12:55:00 PM4/20/21

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Almost a decade later -

I'd never seen this issue before today. Glad your answer was here, easy to find, and an immediate fix. Thank you!

Mariam Asaad

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Oct 7, 2021, 9:11:23 AM10/7/21

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Wasn't working for me for some reason still-- it wouldn't let me select the space at all let alone delete it.

Here's what ended up working for me
Chose the footnote, right-clicked to "make endnote", and voila. Changed font colour of endnotes to white etc etc.

Joseph Ireland

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Dec 20, 2021, 5:31:00 PM12/20/21

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Thanks Peter!

Peter T. Daniels

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Dec 21, 2021, 10:13:02 AM12/21/21

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On Monday, December 20, 2021 at 5:31:00 PM UTC-5, Joseph Ireland wrote:
> Thanks Peter!

Glad it's still useful after a decade and umpteen updates/upgrades!

Rob Gasparini

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Jul 31, 2022, 10:00:43 AM7/31/22

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Reading this in 2022 and it just saved me. Great advice.

Phil

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Jan 15, 2023, 3:11:05 AM1/15/23

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Reading this in 2023 and it just saved me too! Great advice.

Jenny Grinnell

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Mar 9, 2023, 1:40:01 AM3/9/23

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On Sunday, January 15, 2023 at 3:11:05 AM UTC-5, Phil wrote:
> Reading this in 2023 and it just saved me too! Great advice.

Thank you Peter! 9 March 2023 at 1:39 a.m. while I try to finish a report for work!

Cetungrty Ketungetu

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Oct 13, 2023, 4:09:14 PM10/13/23

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