Fix Word Footnote Numbering Restarting at 1 After Scrivener Export
Question details
Footnote numbering restarts at 1 for newly added footnotes in a Word document exported from Scrivener, despite having continuous numbering selected.
- Product
- Word
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Adding new footnotes to a manuscript that was recently compiled and exported from Scrivener to a Word document format.
- Observed behavior
- Newly inserted footnotes do not follow the existing numbering sequence and restart at number 1, usually because the exported footnotes are not recognized as native Word footnote fields.
Before troubleshooting, make a duplicate copy of your exported document to ensure you do not accidentally lose any existing footnote text during the conversion process.
Verify and Recreate Native Footnotes
Check if your word processor recognizes the imported Scrivener footnotes as real fields and manually replace the damaged or plain-text ones.
When exporting documents from Scrivener, footnotes are sometimes converted into ordinary text or damaged fields. When this happens, your word processor cannot detect them to continue the numbering sequence for newly added notes.
Right-click the text of an existing footnote at the bottom of your page. Check the context menu to see if options like 'Go to Footnote' or 'Note Options' appear. If they are missing, the note is just plain text.
Highlight the text of the unrecognized footnote and copy it to your clipboard. Do not copy the manual reference number.
Navigate to the main document body, locate the plain-text superscript number that corresponds to the footnote, and delete it.
Go to the 'References' tab on the top ribbon and click 'Insert Footnote'. A new, properly formatted native footnote number will appear.
Paste your copied text into the new footnote space. Repeat this process for all unrecognized footnotes so the software can link them together.
Once all footnotes are native, click the small arrow icon in the bottom right of the Footnotes group on the References tab. In the Note Options dialog, set the 'Numbering' dropdown to 'Continuous' and click Apply.
Seamlessly Manage Continuous Footnotes in WPS Office
WPS Writer provides a highly compatible environment for managing documents with complex formatting, ensuring your footnotes remain continuously numbered without conversion glitches after exporting from other writing software.
- 1. Open your exported document: Launch WPS Writer and open the manuscript you exported from Scrivener.
- 2. Access footnote settings: Navigate to the 'References' tab on the top ribbon to access all native footnote and endnote management tools.
- 3. Add native footnotes: Click 'Insert Footnote' to add new notes that automatically integrate into your continuous numbering sequence.
- 4. Apply continuous numbering: Click the 'Settings' icon in the Footnotes group, select 'Continuous' under the Numbering section, and apply it to the whole document.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my footnote numbering restart at 1 on every page?
This happens if your footnote numbering option is currently set to 'Restart each page'. You can change this by going to the References tab, clicking the Footnote Settings icon to open the dialog box, and changing the Numbering setting from 'Restart each page' to 'Continuous'.
How can I select all footnotes at once to change their formatting?
Place your cursor anywhere inside the footnote area at the bottom of the page and press Ctrl+A (Windows) or Cmd+A (Mac). This will select all footnote text, allowing you to easily apply your desired font style, size, or paragraph formatting.
Can I convert ordinary text numbers into native footnotes automatically?
Unfortunately, word processors cannot automatically distinguish typed plain-text superscripts and bottom-page text as linked footnotes. You must manually copy the text, insert a native footnote field via the References tab, and paste the text into the newly generated field.
