How can I remove the space above the footnote separator?

Anonymous
2012-03-10T06:23:19+00:00

I have a long document with many footnotes. On some pages, a large space, sometimes only enough for one double-spaced line, sometimes enough for two, appears above the footnote separator. How can I get rid of this space? I've turned widow-orphan control off, so it shouldn't be related to that. I've looked at the separator under "show notes" in draft view, and it doesn't appear to have any extra spaces associated with it. This actually happens with all of my Word documents.

Thanks for your insight.

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
Stefan Blom 352.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2012-03-10T13:52:16+00:00

When viewing the footnote separator (in the footnotes pane), right-click and select Paragraph from the context menu. In the Paragraph dialog box, click the Indents and Spacing tab, and make sure that Spacing Before is set to zero. You may also want to change the Line Spacing to "Single."

Also, to make sure no blank paragraphs is included with the separator, click the ¶ button on the Home tab. Paragraph marks are represented by pilcrows, ¶. Delete any excessive paragraphs if present.

Was this answer helpful?

10+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

55 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2012-03-10T15:06:03+00:00

    Thanks for the reply. Everything regarding the footnote separator is already set as you indicate--zero space before, line spacing at "single." Also, I checked the separator with the paragraph button and it reveals no additional paragraphs to explain the large spaces. I don't see anything to indicate that the separator is the culprit.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2012-03-10T15:08:18+00:00

    See http://WordFAQs.mvps.org/BottomLine.htm for further discussion of these issues.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2012-03-10T15:41:50+00:00

    Thanks a lot for this. Many of the paragraphs that have spaces large enough to fit as many as two double spaced lines underneath do not have headings nearby. Nor are there paragraph breaks nearby, though I have widow/orphan control off anyway.

    But this sheet is really helpful in indicating just how difficult it would be to fix the problem should I discover its source.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Stefan Blom 352.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2012-03-16T19:33:41+00:00

    Try this: In the footnote options dialog box, make sure the "Location" for footnotes is set to "Bottom of page" (as opposed to "Below text").

    To display the dialog box, you can right-click a footnote paragraph (in the footnote area) and click the Note Options command on the context menu.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments