LaTeX Footnotes: Add, Reuse and Customize Footnotes (Including in Tables)

A plain \footnote{...} covers most needs. The trouble starts with tables, where footnotes silently disappear, with a note you want to cite twice, and with journal styles that want symbols instead of numbers.

Add a footnote

Put \footnote{...} directly after the word or punctuation mark the note refers to. A space before the command becomes a space before the superscript number, so either keep it on the same line or end the previous line with %.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
Most journals limit footnotes in the main text.\footnote{Check the
  author guidelines before you add many.} Some forbid them entirely.
\end{document}

English style usually places the number after punctuation, as above. The number is a link to the note if you load hyperref.

Footnotes in tables

A \footnote inside a tabular that sits in a table float does not print, because the float has no footnote area. There are three good fixes.

The quick fix is to mark the place in the table and write the text after it:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}[ht]
\centering
\begin{tabular}{lr}
Group & Mean\footnotemark \\
A & 3.2 \\
\end{tabular}
\caption{Results.}
\end{table}
\footnotetext{Adjusted for age.}
Text continues here.
\end{document}

For journal tables, notes directly under the table are usually what the style guide wants. The threeparttable package does this and keeps the notes the same width as the table:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{threeparttable}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}[ht]
\centering
\begin{threeparttable}
\caption{Results.}
\begin{tabular}{lr}
Group & Mean\tnote{a} \\
A & 3.2 \\
B & 4.1\tnote{b} \\
\end{tabular}
\begin{tablenotes}
\item[a] Adjusted for age.
\item[b] Two missing values.
\end{tablenotes}
\end{threeparttable}
\end{table}
\end{document}

If you want true page footnotes from inside a table, the tablefootnote package provides \tablefootnote{...}, which works inside floats. Inside a minipage, \footnote works but prints the note at the bottom of the minipage with letters (a, b, c), which is useful for boxed text.

Refer to the same footnote twice

Put a \label inside the first footnote and use \footref where you want the same number again. \footref is built into current LaTeX releases, so no package is needed:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
The first trial\footnote{Data shared on request.\label{fn:data}} and
the second trial\footref{fn:data} used the same data policy.
\end{document}

On an older installation that reports \footref as undefined, load the footmisc package.

Symbols, unnumbered notes and per-page numbering

To use *, †, ‡ and so on, change how the counter is printed. \fnsymbol has nine symbols, so reset the counter if you need more:

\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\fnsymbol{footnote}}

For a note with no number or symbol, for example a funding statement, clear the label for one note only:

{\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{}\footnotetext{Funded by grant 1234.}}

To restart numbering on every page, load footmisc with the perpage option: \usepackage[perpage]{footmisc}. The bottom option of the same package pushes notes below any floats at the foot of the page.

Notes on the title and authors are different. Use \thanks{...} inside \title or \author, which prints a symbol-marked note on the title page.

Endnotes instead of footnotes

Some humanities journals and book publishers want notes at the end. The endnotes package turns \endnote{...} into a list you print with \theendnotes. To convert existing footnotes without editing them, add \let\footnote=\endnote after loading it.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{endnotes}
\let\footnote=\endnote
\begin{document}
A claim.\footnote{The source for the claim.}
\theendnotes
\end{document}

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my footnote not appear in a table?

Floats such as table have no footnote area, so the text is dropped. Use \footnotemark with \footnotetext after the float, the threeparttable package, or \tablefootnote.

How do I cite the same footnote twice in LaTeX?

Add \label{fn:name} inside the first \footnote and use \footref{fn:name} later.

How do I change footnote numbers to symbols?

Add \renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\fnsymbol{footnote}} to the preamble.

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