Using MS Word 2016. When I click to add footnote to any word on the final line of text on a given page, it puts the footnote text on the following page.



The footnote reference number in the text body, and the footnote text, must be on the same page. At least the footnote text must begin on the same page as the footnote reference number in the text body. If the entire footnote text doesn't fit on that page it is fine, but it must begin on the same page as the footnote reference number. If there isn't enough space for this to occur, then MS word should push that line of body text to the following text so that the footnote reference and the footnote text will coincide on the same page.

What is the solution? Is this a bug in the program?

No, it's not a bug, it's a limitation of what Word can do with your content. You might try moving the footnote reference higher on the page, inserting a formatted cross-reference to it, then, formatting the original reference as hidden text.

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Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

It seems to happen any time I put a footnote on a word of the final line of text. Not just once, but any time I have tried this it has happened. If it is the case that there is not space for the program to have the reference and the footnote text on the same page, I would think the proper response of the program would be to push that line of text from the final line of that page to the first page of the next. I'm surprised this is not an automatic response, so as to ensure that the two things occur on the same page.

That will only happen if the 'final line' is too close to the bottom of the page to allow even a one-line footnote to fit.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

I'm not seeing this problem or not understanding your issue.

The reason a 'last line' on a page is the last line is that there is no more space on the page. If you then take away some of the space with a footnote then there is now even less space and that 'last line' HAS to move to the next page. The footnote and its reference will both appear on the Next page. If you reduce the content above the referenced paragraph such that there is space on the preceding page for both then both can move back onto the original page.

Are you seeing the footnote and its reference being displayed on different pages to each other?

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Yes, this is exactly what I am seeing. MS Word is allowing the 'last line' containing the footnote reference to remain as the last line, and putting the footnote text on the succeeding page. This is the entire reason for my thread. How could MS Word do this?! And how could this not be a bug?! The program should never allow a footnote reference to remain on one page, and its footnote text to begin on the next. That creates a completely confusing situation for the reader.

Ok, but then MS Word should not permit it to remain like this. For such a developed program, it should be an automatic feature that in this case it will push the 'final line' to the next page so that the reference and its footnote coincide on the same page.

So you'd rather have half the page empty because of this when someone has formatted the paragraph containing the footnote reference as 'keep lines together' and maybe even the previous one as 'keep with next'?

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

We'd have to consider what is best in a variety of scenarios; but I am talking about the final line of the page, and not an extreme situation as you have presented. MS Word has been developed with immense sophistication and would have I think the capacity to distinguish between a single line being moved versus making half a page empty.

Perhaps you have something special on your document that is causing the behaviour. On my version of Word 2016 it works exactly as expected.

Are you using docx format or doc? Can you post a sample document so we can see what the attributes of the paragraphs are around this reference?

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

If you have widow/orphan control activated (which is quite normal), that would require Word to move at least two lines of text to the next page.

Your particular issue might be addressed by changing the format of the footnote separator, the footnotes themselves, and/or your page setup. Since we haven't seen the document, we're not in a position to give more specific advice than I've already given.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

I am using format docx. And I have widow/orphan control turned off, so am only dealing with one line of text needing to be moved forward.

Since this thread began, I've been continuing to work ahead in my file. And I have found several occasions in which ms word has gone ahead and moved the last line of the page to the next page in order to keep the footnote reference and footnote text on the same page. So right now I am left with a particular single scenario in which it did not do it; there must be something unique about that one, although I cannot see what it is.

Without actually seeing the problem document, it can be difficult to diagnose the issue. Can you attach a document to a post with some representative data (delete anything sensitive)? You do this via the paperclip symbol on the 'Go Advanced' tab at the bottom of this screen.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

At one point after this thread began, the MS Word program closed suddenly and unexpectedly because Windows 10 wanted to do an update (I was quite displeased about that). Anyhow MS word created a repaired version of the file the next time I opened it. And now, I just went back to the problem page, and I am seeing that the program has fixed the issue and there is no longer any page discrepancy. So whatever was the cause of the problem, it is now resolved! Thanks very much for both of your help. I hope I don't face it again going forward-- will let you know if I do and maybe we can solve it then.