I created four separate documents with different page numbering systems in the foot notes. Now I want to merge them into one file but preserve the separate footnote numbers.

I have tried using the insert function but it seems the default is to strip out page numbering when merging.

Thanks in advance.

Footnotes or Footers?

Sorry. I wasn't clear.

I mean footers, of course.

I downloaded Foxfit in order to work with PDF files- a free 14 trial.

Saved all the MS Word sections to PDF and then used Foxfit to make a single document with all the different numbering intact.

Yes, that would work fine so long as you do not want to edit.
You can get Adobe Acrobat Pro 8.0 for free. It will do the same thing.
It is dated. It will install and run on Windows 10.
https://www.techworld.com/download/o...al-80-3328874/

If you need it to be a Word document, write back and I or someone else will walk you through the process.

Free sounds good. Thank you, sir!