Word Remove Endnotes: How to Delete Them

This article explains how to remove endnotes in Microsoft Word, covering both individual and bulk deletion methods. You’ll learn the exact steps for Windows, Mac, and Word Online, along with how to convert endnotes to footnotes and troubleshoot common issues.

Why Endnotes Are Tricky to Remove

Endnotes in Microsoft Word are not like regular text. They are tied to a reference mark in the body of your document, and the note text itself lives in a dedicated section at the end. If you simply select and delete the note text at the bottom, you’ll often find that the reference number still remains in the text, and sometimes the note reappears after you close and reopen the file. This is because Word stores the link between the reference mark and the note content as a single object. To truly remove an endnote, you must delete the reference mark in the body text, not the note text at the end.

Method 1: Deleting a Single Endnote

The most reliable way to remove one endnote is to delete its reference mark in the body of the document. Here’s how:

1. Open your document in Word.
2. Scroll to the location in the main text where the endnote number appears as a superscript (e.g., a small raised “1”).
3. Click immediately to the left of that number, then press the Delete key on your keyboard. Alternatively, click to the right and press Backspace.
4. Word will remove both the reference mark and the corresponding endnote text at the end of the document.

If you prefer to work from the endnote area itself, you can also right-click the endnote text and choose “Go to Endnote” — this jumps you to the reference mark in the body, which you can then delete. This method works in Word for Windows, Mac, and Word Online.

Method 2: Removing All Endnotes at Once

If you want to strip every endnote from a document, you can use Word’s Find and Replace feature. This is a two-step process: first, replace the endnote marks with nothing, then delete the now-empty endnote section. Here are the steps for Word 2016 and later:

1. Press Ctrl + H (Windows) or Cmd + H (Mac) to open the Find and Replace dialog.
2. Click the “More >>” button to expand the dialog if needed.
3. Click in the “Find what” box, then click the “Special” button and choose “Endnote Mark” from the list. You’ll see ^e appear in the box.
4. Leave the “Replace with” box completely empty.
5. Click “Replace All.” Word will remove all endnote reference marks from the text.
6. Now scroll to the end of the document. You may still see a horizontal line and an empty area where the endnotes were. Select that section (including the line) and delete it manually.

This method does not work in Word Online, which lacks the Special menu. In that case, you’ll need to delete each endnote individually.

Converting Endnotes to Footnotes (or Vice Versa)

Sometimes you don’t want to delete endnotes — you want to change them into footnotes that appear at the bottom of each page. Word makes this easy:

1. Go to the References tab in the ribbon.
2. Click the small arrow in the bottom-right corner of the “Footnotes” group to open the Footnote and Endnote dialog.
3. Click the “Convert” button.
4. Choose “Convert all endnotes to footnotes” (or the reverse) and click OK.

This is especially useful if you’re reformatting a paper for a different citation style. Note that converting does not delete any content — it just moves the notes from the end of the document to the bottom of the relevant pages.

Common Problems and Fixes

Even when you follow the steps above, you might run into a few snags:

• Endnote numbers are not superscript: If the reference marks look like normal numbers, you may have accidentally unlinked them from the endnote. Check the References tab and make sure “Endnotes” is selected in the Footnote & Endnote dialog. If the numbers are plain text, you’ll need to delete them manually and then remove the corresponding note text.
• Endnote section won’t delete: After using Find and Replace, the empty endnote area might persist. Click just above the separator line and press Delete, or click at the very end of the document and press Backspace until the line disappears.
• Endnotes reappear after saving: This usually means you deleted the note text but not the reference mark. Use the Find and Replace method to ensure all marks are gone.
• Find and Replace says “0 replacements”: If no endnote marks are found, your document may use footnotes instead, or the endnotes might have been converted to plain text. Check the References tab to see which type is active.

What About Word Online and Google Docs?

Word Online (the free browser version) supports endnotes, but its deletion options are limited. You can delete individual endnotes by selecting the reference mark in the text and pressing Delete. However, there is no Find and Replace with special characters, so you cannot remove all endnotes at once. You’ll need to do them one by one.

Google Docs does not have a native endnote feature at all — it only supports footnotes. If you import a Word document with endnotes into Google Docs, the endnotes are typically converted to footnotes automatically. To remove them in Google Docs, you’d delete the footnote reference in the text, just like in Word.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why can’t I just select all the endnote text and delete it?

Deleting the endnote text at the bottom of the document does not remove the reference mark in the body. When you do this, Word may keep the note structure intact, and the reference number will still appear in the text. The correct way is to delete the reference mark, which automatically removes the note text.

Will deleting an endnote renumber the rest of my notes?

Yes. By default, Word automatically renumbers endnotes sequentially when you delete one. For example, if you delete endnote 3, the old endnote 4 becomes 3, and so on. If you don’t want renumbering, you can change the numbering to “Restart each section” in the Footnote and Endnote dialog, but that’s a separate formatting choice.

Can I remove endnotes from a PDF file?

No, not directly. A PDF is a fixed layout, and endnotes are just text and numbers. To remove them, you’d need to edit the original Word document and then re-export to PDF. If you only have the PDF, you’d need a PDF editor to manually delete the text, which is tedious and can break formatting.

How do I delete endnotes in Word for Mac?

The steps are nearly identical to Windows. Use Cmd + H to open Find and Replace, click “Special” (it may be under a gear icon), choose “Endnote Mark,” and replace with nothing. For individual deletion, click before the superscript number and press Delete.

Is there a way to remove endnotes without losing the text?

Yes. You can copy the endnote text to a separate document first, then delete the endnotes from the original. Alternatively, convert the endnotes to footnotes, then copy the footnote text — but that still leaves the notes in the document. If you want the text but not the note structure, you’ll need to copy each note’s content manually and paste it elsewhere.

Why does my endnote section show a line I can’t delete?

That horizontal line is the endnote separator, which is part of Word’s note layout. To remove it after all endnotes are deleted, go to Draft view (View tab > Draft), then References > Show Notes. In the dropdown at the bottom, choose “Endnote Separator,” select the line, and delete it. Then switch back to Print Layout.

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