Select the text frame containing footnotes using the Selection tool.
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Span footnotes across columns
Last updated on
Jun 2, 2026
Learn how to span footnotes across columns in Adobe InDesign to improve footnote layout in multi-column text frames.
Footnotes in multi-column text frames normally appear at the bottom of the column that contains the reference. You can modify this layout so footnotes span across all columns within a text frame or across the entire document, depending on your layout requirements.
Select Object > Text Frame Options.
Select the Footnotes tab.
Select Enable Overrides. The option Span Footnotes Across Columns is selected by default.
Select OK.
The setting applies only to the selected text frame; other text frames retain their existing footnote layout settings.
Note
You can adjust footnote span across document columns from Type > Document Footnote Options, under the Layout tab.
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