Both footnotes and endnotes in Word 2016 contain bonus information, a clarification, or an aside to supplement text on a page. Each is marked by a superscripted number or letter in the text1.
1 See? It works!
The difference between a footnote and an endnote is in the placement: A footnote appears on the bottom of the page and an endnote appears at the end of a document. Otherwise, both references are created in a similar way:
Click the mouse so that the insertion pointer is to the immediate right of a word or text that you want the footnote or endnote to reference.
There's no need to type the note's number; it's done automatically.
Click the References tab.
From the Footnotes group, choose either the Insert Footnote or Insert Endnote command button.
A superscripted number is inserted into the text, and you're instantly whisked to the bottom of the page (footnote) or the end of the document (endnote).
Type the footnote or endnote.
To return to where you were in the document, press Shift+F5.
The Shift+F5 keyboard shortcut returns to the previous spot in your document where you were editing.
Here are some footnote endnote notes:
The keyboard shortcut for inserting a footnote is Alt+Ctrl+F.
The keyboard shortcut for inserting an endnote is Atl+Ctrl+D.
If you're curious, you'll want to know that the keyboard shortcut Alt+Ctrl+E enables and disables Word's Revision Marks feature.
The footnote and endnote numbers are updated automatically so that all footnotes and endnotes are sequential in your document.
To browse footnotes and endnotes, click the References tab. In the Footnotes group, use the Next Footnote button's menu to browse between footnote and endnote references.
You can preview a footnote's or endnote's contents by hovering the mouse pointer at the superscripted number in the document's text.
Use the Show Notes button (References tab, Footnotes group) to examine footnotes or endnotes as they appear on the page.
To delete a footnote or an endnote, highlight its reference number in the text and press the Delete key. Word magically renumbers any remaining footnotes or endnotes.
To convert a footnote to an endnote, right-click the footnote's text at the bottom of the page. Choose the command Convert to Endnote. Likewise, you can convert endnotes to footnotes by right-clicking the endnote text and choosing the command Convert to Footnote.
For additional control over footnotes and endnotes, click the dialog box launcher button in the Footnotes group. Use the Footnote and Endnote dialog box to customize the reference text location, format, starting number, and other options.