How to convert footnotes to endnotes in Google Docs
Google Docs only does footnotes. If your style guide, publisher or university wants endnotes instead, the footnotes you've written have to be moved to the end and replaced with numbers in the text. Here's how to do it by hand, through Word, or in one click.
Updated October 2026
Before you start
Make a copy first (File → Make a copy), or note the time so you can go back with File → Version history.
Method 1: by hand
- Add a heading called Notes at the end of the document.
- Click into footnote 1 at the bottom of the page, select its text, copy it, and paste it under Notes as 1. ….
- Back in the text, click just after the footnote number and type 1 in its place. Select it and press Ctrl + . (⌘ + . on a Mac) for superscript.
- Delete the footnote number (press Backspace on it). Its footnote text disappears with it.
- Repeat for every footnote, in order.
Fine for five footnotes; slow and error-prone for fifty. And the numbers are now plain text, so adding a note later means renumbering by hand.
Method 2: through Microsoft Word
If you're going to finish the document in Word anyway:
- Choose File → Download → Microsoft Word (.docx).
- In Word, open References, click the small arrow in the corner of the Footnotes group, press Convert… and choose Convert all footnotes to endnotes.
Word's endnotes are real, self-numbering endnotes, but only in Word. Google Docs has no endnotes, so this only helps if the document stays in Word from here on.
Method 3: Live Endnotes, in one click
Live Endnotes is an add-on for Google Docs. Converting footnotes is free, however many there are.
- In your document, choose Extensions → Live Endnotes → Open.
- The sidebar says how many footnotes the document has. Press Convert all to endnotes.
Every footnote becomes a superscript marker linked to its note in a Notes section at the end, numbered in the order they appear, with the notes' formatting kept. A 300-footnote document converts in well under a minute. Documents with tabs get a Notes section per tab, and notes can go after each chapter instead (each Heading 1).
The difference from a one-off converter is what happens next. Add a note mid-chapter, move a paragraph or delete a sentence, then press Rebuild endnotes: every marker and note is renumbered and put back in order. Notes whose marker you deleted are kept and labelled "?" rather than lost. Up to 10 endnotes per document can be added and rebuilt on the free plan; Pro (£3.99 a month or £24 a year) removes the limit.
Can I go back to footnotes?
By hand, yes: copy a note's text, delete its marker, and use Insert → Footnote in its place. Straight after converting with Live Endnotes, Edit → Undo brings the footnotes back, and version history always can. An automatic endnotes-to-footnotes button is planned.
Google Docs™ is a trademark of Google LLC. Microsoft Word is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.