How to Add Footnotes in Google Docs: Complete Guide with Keyboard Shortcuts

Professional documents demand proper citations, but managing footnotes manually is time-consuming and error-prone. Google Docs automates the entire process—automatically numbering, formatting, and placing footnotes while you focus on your content.

What Are Google Docs Footnotes?

Google Docs footnotes are built-in reference markers that automatically number and format citations at the bottom of your page or end of your document. Unlike manual footnote management, Google Docs handles all formatting, numbering, and placement automatically—meaning you can add, delete, or reorganize footnotes without breaking your document structure. This feature is essential for anyone creating professional research papers, academic reports, or cited content where credibility depends on proper attribution.

Current as of: Google Docs 2024-2025

Why Use Footnotes in Google Docs?

• Automatic numbering and formatting: Every time you add, delete, or reorganize a footnote, Google Docs instantly renumbers the entire document—no manual updates required
• Saves hours of editing time: Professional citation formatting happens automatically, eliminating tedious manual formatting that slows down research and writing projects
• Eliminates errors and orphaned references: When you delete a footnote, the corresponding reference disappears instantly with no cleanup work or broken links left behind
• Improves document credibility: Properly formatted footnotes signal professionalism to readers, colleagues, and academic reviewers, making your work more trustworthy and authoritative

Things to Consider Before You Start

• Endnotes are not available natively: Google Docs supports footnotes only. If your project requires endnotes (references at document end instead of page bottom), you’ll need to use third-party add-ons from the Google Workspace Marketplace such as Endnote Generator or EndNote Cite While You Write
• Pageless documents automatically place footnotes at the end: In Google Docs’ pageless format mode, footnotes automatically appear at the document end rather than at the page bottom. Traditional paginated documents offer more placement flexibility
• Right-to-left language users may experience formatting issues: Users working in Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi, or Urdu may encounter known issues when mixing right-to-left and left-to-right text with footnotes. Test your document layout carefully if using RTL languages

How to Add and Manage Footnotes—Step by Step

Step 1: Position Your Cursor at the Citation Point Open your Google Docs document and position your cursor at the exact point in your text where you want to insert a footnote reference—typically at the end of a sentence or after quoted material. This is usually after the closing quotation mark and before the punctuation.

Step 2: Insert the Footnote Click the Insert menu in the top navigation bar, then select Footnote from the dropdown menu. Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut:

• Mac: Cmd+Option+F
• Windows: Ctrl+Alt+F

Step 3: Google Docs Creates the Footnote Automatically Google Docs instantly places a superscript number in your text and creates a corresponding reference area at the bottom of the page (or end of document, depending on your settings). Your cursor automatically jumps to the footnote area, ready for you to type your citation.

Step 4: Type Your Footnote Content Type your footnote content directly into the reference area. Include the author, publication, date, and URL if applicable. Example citation format:

Smith, J. (2024). The Future of Remote Work. Tech Review Magazine. Retrieved from example.com

Or for web sources: “Understanding Cloud Security.” AWS Documentation. Amazon Web Services. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/security

Step 5: Add Multiple Footnotes To add more footnotes, position your cursor at the next citation point in your text and repeat steps 2–4. Google Docs automatically increments the numbering—no manual updates needed. Each new footnote receives the next sequential number.

Step 6: Navigate Between Text and Footnotes Efficiently Click on any superscript number in your text to jump directly to that footnote. Alternatively, click the anchor icon in the footnote to return to the exact spot in your text where that footnote was referenced. This eliminates scrolling and keeps your workflow efficient.

Step 7: Change Footnote Placement (Page Bottom or Document End) To change where footnotes appear, click the three dots (⋯) button in the footnote box itself. You’ll see three placement options:

• Bottom of page – Footnotes appear at the bottom of each individual page
• End of document – All footnotes appear together at the end of your entire document
• Below text – Footnotes appear immediately after the content

Note: This setting applies to ALL footnotes in your document, not individual ones. In pageless format documents, footnotes automatically appear at the end regardless of this setting.

Step 8: Delete Footnotes (Clean Removal with Auto-Renumbering) To delete a footnote, simply delete the superscript number from your text. Google Docs automatically removes the corresponding footnote content and renumbers all remaining footnotes—no orphaned references or manual cleanup required.

Example: If you delete footnote 3 from a document with 5 footnotes, the remaining footnotes automatically renumber from 1 to 4.

Bonus Tip: Combine Footnotes with Automatic Bibliography Google Docs also includes a separate citations feature (Tools > Citations) that can generate automatic bibliographies in MLA, APA, or Chicago style. You can use both footnotes and automatic bibliography together—footnotes for in-text citations and bibliography for a complete source list. Note: Bibliographies require manual regeneration after you finalize all sources.

Google Docs footnotes transform your research and writing workflow from error-prone manual management to streamlined automation. With keyboard shortcuts for faster insertion and automatic renumbering that handles all the tedious updates, you can focus on your ideas instead of formatting details.