How to Quickly Create a Dynamic Table of Contents

Creating a table of contents manually can be a pain and consume much more time and attention than it should.¹

Fortunately, you can let Word do the heavy lifting by creating a dynamic table of contents that updates automatically with your document.

1. Prepare your document.

Word can manage a table of contents multiple ways. Rather than discussing all of these, I’m going to describe what seems the simplest method.

So for the purposes of this tutorial, I’m going to assume two things:²

You’re using heading styles to format the headings within your document.
You’ve set up the page numbers for your table of contents in Word as described in the Student Supplement for The SBL Handbook of Style.

If either of these isn’t true, update your document accordingly.³ Then come back here, and go through the steps in the next section to add your table of contents.

2. Add your table of contents.

Once you have your document prepared:

2.1. Create your contents page header.

Place your cursor at the start of the page in your document where you want to insert your table of contents (e.g., the page numbered “ii”).

2.1.1. What SBL Style Requires

Then, type “Contents” at the top of this page. SBL style wants you to

place this term one inch from the top edge of the page,
center this heading across the page,
have the word “Contents” in all uppercase letters, and
have two blank lines between this heading and the start of your table of contents.⁴

2.1.2. How to Produce What SBL Style Requires

From this list, especially items 2–4 follow what SBL style asks for with your document’s primary headings (e.g., “Heading 1”).⁵ But you shouldn’t use your primary heading style to format the “Contents” heading. If you do, your automated table of contents will make its first entry “Contents.” 😛

To avoid this issue, however, you can format the “Contents” heading with the “TOC Heading” style. And just like any other style, you can adjust this style’s formatting to meet the requirements of SBL style. That way, it’ll be ready and waiting for you when you need to use it in a new project.

After you’ve typed and formatted this heading, place your cursor on the next line available for text below the heading.

2.2. Start inserting your table of contents.

Go to the “References” tab, find the “Table of Contents” section, and click the “Table of Contents” button.

Word has a few different tables of contents predefined. But it’ll probably be easiest for you to use the “Custom Table of Contents…” option at the bottom of the “Table of Contents” button menu.

This will open the “Table of Contents” tab in the “Table of Contents” dialog box. (The names are quite creative, aren’t they?)

2.3. Set the basic formatting for your table of contents.

Where you see “Tab leader,” change the option from “……” to “none.”

(If you’re following the Student Supplement, you’ll have the dotted leader only for your primary headings.⁶ So it’s easiest just to add them there rather than remove them everywhere else.)

Still on the “Table of Contents” tab in the “Table of Contents” dialog box, also find the “Show levels” option. Increase this number to “9.”

You may not have that many heading levels (and probably shouldn’t). But per the Student Supplement, the table of contents should include “every element of the paper that follows.”⁷

Increasing this number to the maximum now should prevent you from having to change it later or miss headings out of your table of contents.

Click “OK” to create your table of contents.

2.4 Review your initial table of contents.

At this point, you should see a table of contents in your document that looks something like the sample below.

Of course, what the table actually shows will depend on the headings you’ve included in your document.

If you don’t see what you were expecting, double check that you’ve used heading styles in the appropriate places and at the appropriate levels in the body of your document.

Add or change these where necessary (e.g., from “Heading 3” to “Heading 2”).

Also note that the casing for each line in the table of contents will be as it is in that heading, even though the heading might be formatted in all caps.

If you see capitals or lowercase where you were expecting the other, retype that heading in the body of your document, with the proper casing.

Your table of contents will update automatically at different times. But to force an update at any point, right click inside the table, and choose “Update Field,” then “Update entire table,” and click “OK.”

The individual lines of the table of contents are also linked to the corresponding places in your document. So to jump there, just Ctrl + click on a given line in the table.

Conclusion

At this point, you’re saving yourself a huge amount of time and effort managing your table of contents. You’re also able to use the table in Word to skip easily to different parts of your document.

But you may notice that the formatting of the table of contents isn’t yet quite what the Student Supplement is asking for.⁸ So you’ll want to take careful stock of how the formatting needs to be adjusted, which can be done with styles as well.

Tired of fighting with Word? Want to be done with frustrated hours fussing over how to get the formatting you need?

My new guide shows you how to bypass all of this so you can let Word work for you while you focus on your research.

Get the Guide

For students in any graduate program, mastering the full range of available research tools is crucial for efficient and consistent productivity. Dr. Stark has mastered these tools—the most important of which is Microsoft Word…. Students eager to take their work to the next level would do well to follow Dr. Stark’s in-depth guidance.

Header image provided by Kaitlyn Baker. ↩
I’m also assuming you have a current version of Word via Office 365. These instructions are based on v16.0.12430.20046. They should work on other recent versions as well. But you’ll notice greater differences in the process if you have an older version of Word. ↩
If you need to paginate your table of contents differently, however, simply substitute your requirements in the appropriate steps below. ↩
The first three requirements are clear from Melanie Greer Nogalski et al., Student Supplement for The SBL Handbook of Style, Second Edition, ed. Joel M. LeMon and Brennan W. Breed, rev. ed. (Atlanta: SBL, 2015), §3.2. The fourth isn’t explicitly specified in the student supplement. So, in this case, SBL style defers to the authorities for Chicago style. And the spacing between the table of contents heading and the table itself is specified in Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers, ed. Wayne C. Booth et al., 9th ed., Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018), §A.2.1.7. ↩
Cf. Nogalski et al., Student Supplement, §2.6. ↩
Nogalski et al., Student Supplement, §3.2. ↩
Nogalski et al., Student Supplement, §3.2. ↩
Nogalski et al., Student Supplement, §3.2. ↩

The No-fail Way to Space Footnotes

Style manuals often require that footnotes be single spaced but have a blank line between them.¹

This is true for SBL style if you’re a student.² It’s also true if you use Turabian.³

You shouldn’t try to create this spacing by entering a new paragraph after each note. You also shouldn’t try to adjust the paragraph formatting for each note.

Instead, the best way to space footnotes is by altering the “Footnote Text” style.

Once you edit the “Footnote Text” style, the formatting you specify will apply to all footnotes in your document, regardless of when you create them.

How You Should Actually Space Footnotes

To edit the “Footnote Text” style takes just a few simple steps.⁴

First, from the Home tab, expand the Styles panel.

Second, scroll through the list until you see the style titled “Footnote Text.” Click the drop-down button to the right of this style title, and choose “Modify….”

In the “Modify Style” dialog box, choose “Format” in the lower left-hand corner. Then click “Paragraph….”

From here, change the spacing “after” to 10 or 12 points.

If you use 10-point font in your footnotes, use a 10-point space after your footnote paragraphs. If you use 12-point font, use a 12-point space.

Press “OK.”

This will take you back to the “Modify Style” dialog box.

Decide whether you want to use this same style formatting in other documents based on the same Word template.

If so, choose the “New documents based on this template” option at the bottom of the “Modify Style” dialog box. Otherwise, leave the default “Only in this document” selected.

Press “OK” at the bottom of the “Modify Style” dialog box.

One Thing to Watch For

At this point, your document should automatically create and format footnotes with the proper spacing after them.

The only time you should need to give additional attention to footnote spacing is if you have a long footnote with more than one paragraph in it.

In this case, you’ll first want to consider whether the footnote is long enough to make it more helpful for your readers to have any discussion in it in the main text of your document.

If so, you could potentially split up the larger footnote into more than one and use the notes more purely for citations.

If you decide you want a longer, multi-paragraph note, you’ll only want to have additional spacing between that note and a following note. You won’t want additional spacing between the paragraphs within that note.

In Word, however, the “Footnote Text” style and the additional spacing you added to the end of it will apply to each paragraph in your multi-paragraph note.

In this case, you’ll need to remove the extra spacing from all but the final paragraph in the note.

You can do this either by directly modifying the formatting of the particular paragraphs where you need to omit the spacing. Or you can create and apply a different style to the paragraphs that shouldn’t have extra spacing after them.

Conclusion

Whenever you’ve finished a document, you’ll want to proofread it carefully to ensure you’re satisfied with its content and formatting.

But by adjusting the “Footnote Text” style, you’ll radically reduce the amount of time and effort you put into massaging your footnote spacing.

And having gained this back, you can reinvest it into the people and projects that matter most to you.

Tired of fighting with Word? Want to be done with frustrated hours fussing over how to get the formatting you need?

My new guide shows you how to bypass all of this so you can let Word work for you while you focus on your research.

Get the Guide

Header image provided by Fabien Barral. ↩
See the Student Supplement for The SBL Handbook of Style, §3.3. ↩
See Manual for Writers, 9th ed., §16.3.4.1. ↩
I’m assuming you have a current version of Word via Office 365. These instructions are based on v16.0.12430.20198. They should work on other recent versions as well. But you’ll notice greater differences in the process if you have an older version of Word. ↩

Do You Make One of These Common Mistakes with Footnote Spacing?

Style manuals often require that footnotes be single spaced but have a blank line between them.¹

This is true for SBL style if you’re a student.² It’s also true if you use Turabian.³

You can insert this blank line a few different ways. Unfortunately, two of the more common ones can have undesirable side effects.

How Not to Space Footnotes

The two ways to space footnotes that might be most apparent are to:

Enter an extra paragraph after each footnote or
Format each footnote paragraph to insert extra space after it.

But each of these methods has downsides. These can cost you additional time if you want to avoid a mess at the bottom of a page.

What’s Wrong with Extra Paragraphs

If you decide to space your footnotes by inserting a new paragraph after each one (e.g., by pressing “Enter”), you can end up with a few different problems.

First, you have to manually enter the new paragraph after each footnote. So if you forget one, it won’t be there.

Second, your extra paragraph can move from after the last footnote on a page to above the first footnote on the next page.

This happens when there’s too much text on the page where the note starts to accommodate the full note and the extra paragraph that follows it. When this happens, you get an extra blank line that shouldn’t be there between the footnote rule and the first footnote on that next page (see below).

Third, Word uses a “continuation rule” whenever a footnote comes over from the bottom of one page to the next. By default, the continuation rule runs the full width of the page rather than just the first few inches.

So if your blank paragraph comes over from one page onto the next, you’ll also see the continuation rule when you shouldn’t. You’ll then get something that looks like this.

Fourth, in order to avoid these issues, you have to pay attention to the spacing after each footnote. As you edit, you may need to manually insert or remove extra paragraphs to avoid the problems they create.

All of this takes time and attention away from much more significant things you could be focusing on instead.

What’s Wrong with Formatting Each Footnote

You’re probably familiar with single or double spacing within a paragraph. But Word also allows you to insert extra space before or after a paragraph.

You can do this from the paragraph formatting dialog box. Footnotes are no exception.

You can even add spacing to all your footnotes at once with this method if you click into a given footnote, select all the footnotes (e.g., Ctrl+A), and then add the appropriate number of points after the footnote paragraphs.

If you space your footnotes using this method, you’ll get a lot fewer problems than you will with entering extra paragraphs.

In particular, Word will know that the extra space “attaches” only to the bottom of a footnote and so won’t allow just an extra blank line to roll over to the top of the footnote section on a following page.

The main downside of adding spacing via the paragraph dialog box is that your extra lines apply only once you’ve formatted each footnote paragraph individually.

In large part, you can avoid this being a problem by formatting your footnote to include extra space after them only in bulk when you think you’re finished editing.

But even then, if you continue editing and insert a new footnote, you’ll need to format that footnote as well.

So this method improves on the first but still requires you to “babysit” your footnotes more than you really need to.

Conclusion

In short, either of these common ways to space footnotes can get you a blank line between notes in a document.

They just require more hassle and cajoling than they’re worth.

Thankfully, there’s a better way to space between notes. This involves editing the style that drives those notes’ formatting in the first place.

Tired of fighting with Word? Want to be done with frustrated hours fussing over how to get the formatting you need?

My new guide shows you how to bypass all of this so you can let Word work for you while you focus on your research.

Get the Guide

Header image provided by Fabien Barral. ↩
See the Student Supplement for The SBL Handbook of Style, §3.3. ↩
See Manual for Writers, 9th ed., §16.3.4.1. ↩

What You Need to Know about Editing Tables of Contents Styles

So you’re creating a dynamic table of contents in your document and want to format it as described in the Student Supplement for The SBL Handbook of Style.

You know you need to use styles to get the table of contents formatting to “stick.” But how?

If you’ve used heading styles, prepared an initial table of contents, and taken stock of what formatting needs adjustment, you can edit the relevant style in just 3 steps.

1. Open the “Styles” panel.

I’m assuming here that the formatting you need to change is what I’ve described.

If you need to make other adjustments, you can use the same principles described below to make those other changes too.

To start, go to the “Home” tab, and click the arrow in the lower right corner of the “Styles” section to show the styles panel.

2. Start to modify the “TOC 1” style.

Scroll in the alphabetical list of styles until you find the entry “TOC 1.”

Right click this listing, and choose “Modify….”

You’ll then see the “Modify Style” dialog box where you’ll need to make two changes.

2.1. Make “TOC 1” display in all capital letters.

First, go to “Format” (bottom left corner), and choose “Font….”

You’ll then see the “Font” dialog box.

Under “Effects” in the bottom third, find the option for “All caps,” and check this. Then click “OK.”

2.2. Give “TOC 1” a dotted line leader.

Then you should be back to the “Modify Style” dialog box. Here, go to “Format” again, and this time, choose “Tabs….”

Assuming you’re using the 1-inch left and right margins that the Student Supplement specifies on 8.5-inch wide paper, enter “6.5” in the “Tab stop position” box.¹

Then, under “Alignment,” choose “Right.” And under “Leader,” choose the second option for a dotted leader (……). Then click “OK.”

You’ll then see the “Modify Style” dialog box again.

If you need an extra blank line between each heading in your table of contents, edit this now by going to “Format.” Then choose “Paragraph…,” and change the spacing after the paragraph to 12 points. Then click “OK.” You’ll need to repeat this process on the style for each heading level in your table of contents (i.e., “TOC 2” through “TOC 9”).

Decide whether you want to use this modified TOC 1 style in other documents in the future.

If so, choose “New documents based on this template” at the very bottom of the dialog box.

If not, simply leave the default option “Only in this document” selected.

Then click “OK.”

3. Refresh your table of contents.

The font for the primary headings in the table of contents may change immediately. But to see the dotted line leaders, you’ll need to refresh the whole table.

To do so, right click inside the table, and choose “Update Field.” Then, choose the “Update entire table” option, and click “OK.”

Conclusion

Voila! You should now have a table of contents in your document that

Follows the formatting required by the Student Supplement,
Updates as you update your document, and
Doesn’t need to take any more of your time with adjustments as you finalize your document.

Congratulations, and I hope you enjoy the time and attention you get to invest elsewhere now that you don’t have to manage your table of contents any more.

Tired of fighting with Word? Want to be done with frustrated hours fussing over how to get the formatting you need?

My new guide shows you how to bypass all of this so you can let Word work for you while you focus on your research.

Get the Guide

Header image provided by Kaitlyn Baker

8.5 inches, less one inch for each margin (left and right) means that the inner edge of the right-hand margin is 6.5 inches from the inner edge of the left-hand margin. ↩

What You Need to Know about Formatting Tables of Contents

You can pretty easily get Word to generate a table of contents that automatically updates with your document.¹

But if you need to follow some special formatting for the table, like in the Student Supplement for The SBL Handbook of Style, it’s less clear how to do that.

If you simply format the table directly, your formatting will get lost the next time the table updates.

The key to make the formatting “stick” is modifying the styles that drive the table of contents.

1. Take stock of how your table looks now.

If you followed along with my process for inserting a table of contents, you may initially see something like this:

The casing for each line of the table of contents will be as it is in that heading.

You won’t have any line leaders, and your page numbers will be listed straight down the right margin.

2. Take stock of how your table should look.

If this is how you’re table of contents looks, you’re in the ballpark. But you still need a few minor changes to get what the Student Supplement asks for (§3.2).

That is, in the table of contents, when you have

Primary headings, you need the headings in all caps and a dotted line leader between the heading and the page number.
First-level subheadings, you need the headings indented three spaces from the left-hand margin.
Second-level subheadings, you need the heading indented three more spaces (six total) from the left-hand margin and so on with subsequent levels of subheadings.²

3. Identify what formatting you need to adjust.

From our example table of contents above, you’ll just need to change the primary headings’ casing and line leader format.

Depending on how you have the rest of your document formatted, you may also need to change the line spacing in your table of contents so that it’s double spaced as the Student Supplement requires.

But the Student Supplement’s “three spaces” of indentation is essentially equivalent to the 0.15 inches.

This distance is the indentation that Word applies to these subheadings by default. So you shouldn’t need to adjust this indentation at all.

Conclusion

If you try to apply formatting directly to any of these portions of your table of contents, your formatting will be lost when your full table is refreshed.

Fortunately, each level in your table of contents has a specific style associated with it that controls how that level in your table appears.

So all you need to do to change the formatting of a given heading level in your table of contents is to edit the corresponding style.

Header image provided by Kaitlyn Baker. ↩
To me, it seems that this practice is most in keeping with the Student Supplement’s intent. Otherwise, it won’t be clear in the table of contents where second-level subheadings come underneath first-level subheadings in the paper. The headings in the table of contents will both be indented by the same amount. But this is what the example in the Student Supplement §3.2 shows. The Student Supplement doesn’t give further information about indenting third- through fifth-level subheadings in a table of contents. Presumably, therefore, these would be indented underneath second- through fourth-level subheadings. Consequently, I am interpreting the example in the Student Supplement §3.2 as slightly awry and the intention as being to have second-level subheadings indented three spaces more than first-level subheadings. I’ve written SBL Press to confirm this interpretation but have yet to hear back as of this writing. ↩

Change Word Styles to Direct Formatting in 10 Steps

One of the best ways to ensure consistent formatting in a Word document is to use styles.¹ But, you might also need to be able to turn these styles into “direct” formatting.

If you apply a style to text, the text will be formatted as the style specifies (e.g., a first-level heading, a block quotation). This helps keep things consistent and avoid forgetting something like applying italics or bold here or there as you’ve done elsewhere.

If you need to change the formatting, just modify the style, and the formatting for all text with that style will update accordingly. There’s no need to update every place the style occurs individually.

So far so good, but making a single document out of many with different style definitions can be a real headache. And styles may not always transfer completely from one computer to another.

Consequently, SBL Press prescribes,

Do not use your word processor’s style option to mark different elements of the text (body text, headings, subheads). (SBL Handbook of Style, §2.1.3)

Other publishers have similar requirements.

If we’re writing for SBL Press or a publisher with similar requirements, does this mean we can’t use styles? Or, if we do use styles, do we consign ourselves to hours more editing work in order to remove them when we’re preparing to send off a typescript?

Fortunately, no. Word styles can be converted to the direct formatting that SBL Press and others want. Here are 10 steps to do just that.²¹

1. Add two macros to Word.

If your document doesn’t have footnotes (e.g., parenthetical citations), you can skip down below and just do steps 4–6.

If your document has footnotes, you’ll want to start by creating two macros in Word. A “macro” is a small program that runs inside an Office application like Word.

Don’t worry. You don’t need to know anything about writing a macro. Assuming you use Office 365, just open Word, and go to View > Macros > Create to get started.³

Scroll to the bottom of any macro list that comes up. Press Enter or click on a blank line after anything else in the window.

Copy and paste there the following:

Sub UnLinkNotes()
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim nRng As Range, fNote As Footnote, nRef As String
With ActiveDocument
  For Each fNote In .Footnotes
    With fNote
      With .Reference.Characters.First
        .InsertAfter "]"
        .Characters.Last.Font.Superscript = True
        .Collapse wdCollapseStart
        .InsertCrossReference wdRefTypeFootnote, wdFootnoteNumberFormatted, fNote.Index
        nRef = .Characters.First.Fields(1).Result
        .Characters.First.Fields(1).Unlink
        .InsertBefore "["
        .Characters.First.Font.Superscript = True
      End With
      .Range.Cut
    End With
    Set nRng = .Range
    With nRng
      .Collapse wdCollapseEnd
      .End = .End - 1
      If .Characters.Last <> Chr(12) Then .InsertAfter vbCr
      .InsertAfter nRef & " "
      With .Paragraphs.Last.Range
        .Style = "Footnote Text"
        .Words.First.Style = "Footnote Reference"
      End With
      .Collapse wdCollapseEnd
      .Paste
      If .Characters.Last = Chr(12) Then .InsertAfter vbCr
    End With
  Next
  For Each fNote In .Footnotes
    fNote.Delete
  Next
End With
Set nRng = Nothing
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

After this, press Enter to go to a new line again. Then, copy and paste the following:

Sub ReLinkNotes()
Dim i As Integer, j As Integer, k As Integer, l As Integer, FtRng As Range
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
With ActiveDocument
  Set FtRng = Selection.Range
  With FtRng
    .Style = "Footnote Text"
    With .Find
      .ClearFormatting
      .Replacement.ClearFormatting
      .Text = "\[([0-9]{1,})\]"
      .Replacement.Text = "\1"
      .Forward = True
      .Wrap = wdFindStop
      .Format = False
      .MatchCase = False
      .MatchWholeWord = False
      .MatchAllWordForms = False
      .MatchSoundsLike = False
      .MatchWildcards = True
      .Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    End With
    k = .Paragraphs(1).Range.Words(1) - 1
    j = k
    l = ActiveDocument.Footnotes.Count - k
    For i = 1 To .Paragraphs.Count
      If .Paragraphs(i).Range.Words(1) = j + 1 Then
        j = j + 1
      End If
    Next i
  End With
  For i = k + 1 To j
    StatusBar = "Finding Footnote Location: " & i + l
    With .Content.Find
      .Text = "[" & i & "]"
      .Font.Superscript = True
      .MatchWholeWord = True
      .MatchWildcards = False
      .Execute
      If .Found = True Then
        .Parent.Select
        With Selection
          .Delete
          .Footnotes.Add Range:=Selection.Range, Text:=""
        End With
      End If
    End With
  Next i
  With FtRng
    For i = k + 1 To j
      StatusBar = "Transferring Footnote: " & i + l
      With .Paragraphs(1).Range
        .Cut
        With ActiveDocument.Footnotes(i + l).Range
          .Paste
          .Words(1).Delete
          .Characters.Last.Delete
        End With
      End With
    Next i
  On Error Resume Next
  End With
  Set FtRng = Nothing
End With
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

Click the save button, and you can close the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

Congratulations! You just added two macros to Word. One is tilted UnLinkNotes. The other is titled ReLinkNotes.

You only have to do this step once.⁴ Now when you go to View > Macros, you should see both UnLinkNotes and ReLinkNotes in the macro list.⁵

2. Save a backup copy of your file.

Just in case something goes wrong, make a backup copy of your document before you run the first macro. That way, you don’t risk losing anything in the unlikely event that something goes awry.

3. Unlink your footnotes.

In order to move Word styles to direct formatting, you’ll need to open the file in WordPad. Unfortunately, WordPad doesn’t support footnotes. So, in order not to lose your footnotes, you need to “unlink” them so that they’re saved as body text that appears in the main page area at the end of your document.⁶

To do this, open your document, and go to View > Macros. Click the UnLinkNotes macro, and click Run.

Be patient. Depending on how long your document is, how many footnotes you have, and how fast your computer is, unlinking the notes may take some time.

When the screen refreshes and you see “^[1]” where the anchor was for your first footnote, the macro should be done.

4. Save your file in RTF.

If it isn’t already, save your file in RTF (“Rich Text Format”). RTF is much like the default DOC(X) format for Word but more basic.

You can do this in Word for Office 365 by going to the File tab > Save a Copy.⁷ Input your desired file name, and choose where you want to save the file.

From the file type dropdown box, choose to save the file in “Rich Text Format (*.rtf).” Then, click Save.

5. Open and resave your RTF file in WordPad.

Open your RTF file in WordPad, or a similar program. Make some minor change to the file (e.g., adding a space somewhere). Save the file. Delete your change, and save the file again.

This process will get WordPad to overwrite the existing RTF file with all Word’s styles in it. When WordPad overwrites the file, it will change all the formatting to “direct” formatting and reset the style for the whole document to “Normal.”

So, for instance, you won’t have a “Heading 1” style in use any more. But, the formatting for the Heading 1 style will still show up where you had applied that style.

Once you’ve completed this step, you can close WordPad.

6. Open your RTF in Word, and resave it in whatever format you need.

If you need to submit the file in DOC or DOCX format, go ahead and resave it in that format now. To do so, open it in Word, and use the same process as in step 4 above.

When you choose the file format, just choose whatever format besides RTF that you actually need.

7. Check for a stray period, and edit accordingly.

When you ran the UnLinkNotes macro, the final punctuation mark (probably a period) in your conclusion may have gotten moved to after your last footnote. If so, you may see no punctuation at the end of your conclusion and two at the end of your last footnote.

If this has happened, add a period after your conclusion, and delete one of the two after your last footnote.

8. Select your footnotes.

Scroll to the end of the document, and find the “¹” that indicates the start of the text of your first footnote.

Use the mouse or keyboard to select the “¹” and all the following text in all of your footnotes. That is, at the end of this step, you should have all your footnotes selected at the same time.

9. Relink your footnotes.

Relink your footnotes by going to View > Macros. Click the ReLinkNotes macro, and click Run.

Be patient. Depending on how long your document is, how many footnotes you have, and how fast your computer is, relinking the notes may take some time.

10. Add any needed paragraph formatting to your footnotes.

After the ReLinkNotes macro finishes, your footnotes will all be back in their places and all flush with the left-hand margin.

If you need to add a first-line indentation, add spacing between footnotes, or adjust the line spacing within the notes, you can do that now by selecting all your footnotes and applying the appropriate formatting.

Conclusion

After these steps, you’ll have a document with the only “Normal” style and direct formatting in use throughout. If you need to shift styles to direct formatting in another document, just repeat steps 2–10 above for that document.

By doing so, you’ll get the benefit of formatting consistency by using styles and save yourself a good amount of work if you need to remove those styles as you prepare to submit your typescript. Happy editing!

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Header image provided by NordWood Themes. ↩
For pointing me in the right direction when I was initially mulling over this question, I’m very grateful to the MS Office Forums. ↩
If you use an earlier version of Word, the way you get to the macros tool may be a bit different. If you have difficulty finding it, try Googling for “how to create a macro in Microsoft Word [your Word year or version].” ↩
You will need to perform this step once per computer. So, if you start using a new machine, just come back to this post to follow the instructions and find the macro text to copy and paste into Word on your new machine. ↩
Greg Maxey has worked out a different macro that will also relink footnotes, but this macro may require a bit more preparatory work than the one recommended here. ↩
If you use Zotero or a similar citation manager, you may want to unlink your citations before going through this process. ↩
If you use an earlier version of Word and have difficulty saving your file in RTF, try Googling for “how to save a file in RTF in Microsoft Word [your Word year or version].” ↩