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