Footnotes in LaTeX

Use \footnote{} to add a numbered footnote at the bottom of the page.

Quick Answer

latex

This sentence has a footnote.\footnote{This is the footnote text.}

Basic Usage

Place \footnote{} immediately after the word or sentence it refers to (no space before it). LaTeX automatically numbers footnotes and places them at the page bottom.

latex

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}

Einstein introduced the theory of relativity.\footnote{Albert Einstein,
\textit{Relativity: The Special and the General Theory}, 1916.}

The experiment confirmed the hypothesis.\footnote{Data collected in
laboratory conditions; see Appendix B for full methodology.}

\end{document}

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Footnote in Floats and Captions

\footnote doesn't work inside floating environments (figure, table) or \caption. Use the two-step approach:

latex

\begin{table}[h]
  \caption{Results overview\footnotemark}
  \begin{tabular}{ll}
    ...
  \end{tabular}
\end{table}
\footnotetext{Data from the 2024 survey.}

Citation Footnotes with BibLaTeX

For footnote-based citation styles (Chicago, Turabian), BibLaTeX can automatically place citations as footnotes.

latex

\usepackage[backend=biber, style=verbose-note]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{references.bib}

% In document:
Einstein introduced relativity.\cite{einstein1920}
% Produces a numbered footnote with the full citation.

Use style=verbose-trad2 for subsequent short-form citations (ibid.).

Footnote Formatting

latex

% Adjust spacing above footnote rule:
\setlength{\skip\footins}{12pt}

% Reset footnote counter (e.g., per chapter):
\setcounter{footnote}{0}

% Custom footnote symbols instead of numbers:
\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\fnsymbol{footnote}}

Style Guide Notes

ChicagoPrefers footnotes for citations in humanities fields.

APA 7thPrefers inline citations. Use footnotes only for content notes.

MLA 9thFootnotes used sparingly, mainly for supplementary content.

Footnotes in LaTeX

Basic Usage

Footnote in Floats and Captions

Citation Footnotes with BibLaTeX

Footnote Formatting

Style Guide Notes

Related Topics