Disappearing footnotes when files are merged

[MarlaMa]

I have Word 2016 for a PC. I have separate files that need to be merged together to create a book manuscript. Each of the files had footnotes. When I went to merge the files, which I did by opening the first file and then copying and pasting each of the other files into the first file, the footnotes all disappeared, except for the ones in the original I I started with.



I tried to go back and add the footnotes manually, but Word won't let me. That function is grayed out.

Thanks for your help!

[Stefan Blom]

When you can't add footnotes (or endnotes), most likely the insertion point is inside an area where you are not allowed to add footnotes, such as a text box. Which kind of content is in this file exactly?

Could you share an example file (remove any sensitive information first)?

[MarlaMa]

Thanks for your reply. There are no text boxes in this document. It's just straight text. I've attached a sample of a portion of the file. I've discovered that you can add additional footnotes before the first footnote occurs, which in this case is the first file. But after that file, in which I cut and paste the next chapter, you can't add any additional footnotes. That function is greyed out. You will also see the rule from the footnote is copied at the top of the succeeding pages. That must have something to do with it.

I also tried to insert a file after the first chapter with the footnote at the end, but I can't find how to do that. I also tried adding a blank page or page break to see if that helps, but those functions are greyed out too.

[Stefan Blom]

On your second page, what you have there is not a footnote, but an endnote, and the text that starts with "Chapter 1" has been added into the endnote area, which explains why you are not allowed to insert footnotes there. You have to move the content out of the endnote.

[MarlaMa]

How can I move the content out of the endnote? Whenever I try inserting text after it, what happens is in the attached file. Suggestions?

[Stefan Blom]

Did you intend to use an endnote? If not, you can convert it to a footnote instead.

If you did plan to use an endnote, you will have to set endnote placement to "End of section" (in Page Setup). After that you can add a new section with content at the end of text (immediately above the endnote area).

This is a brief reply; feel free to post back if you need detailed instructions.

[MarlaMa]

Thank you for trying to help. I still couldn't figure it out, so I gave up and asked the writer to figure it and do it. She found some archaic way of fixing it.

[macropod]

Originally Posted by MarlaMa

I still couldn't figure it out, so I gave up and asked the writer to figure it and do it. She found some archaic way of fixing it.

The only way to fix it is as Stefan said. Essentially, that means cutting the content out of the endnote and pasting it back in the body of the document where it belongs.

When you do that, though, you're still liable to find that any footnotes/endnotes that had been in the content you've just cut & pasted back into the body of the document will have been lost. If so, you'd do better to start over and copy from the source documents again, but this time make sure you paste into the body of the document.

[Stefan Blom]

To add to what Paul has said, for more on "text after endnotes," see http://word.mvps.org/faqs/formatting/FootnoteFAQContent.htm#TextAfterNotes. (The article hasn't been updated for recent versions of Word, though.)

However, it still isn't clear if endnotes are required for your purposes.