w:footnoteReference (Inline Footnote Reference)

Inline element placed in the main document body that creates a superscript reference mark linking to a footnote definition.

Parent elements

Description

w:footnoteReference is an inline run content element placed in the main document body. It renders as a superscript auto-numbered mark (e.g. ¹) and links to the matching w:footnote in footnotes.xml via the shared w:id.

It is defined in ECMA-376 Part 1 §17.11.16.

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Possible Values	Description
`w:id`	`xsd:integer`	Positive integer	ID of the corresponding `w:footnote` element. Must match exactly.
`w:customMarkFollows`	`ST_OnOff`	`true`, `false`, `1`, `0`	When `true`, the superscript mark is provided by a following run rather than auto-generated.

Examples

<!-- In document.xml body -->
<w:p>
  <w:r><w:t xml:space="preserve">See the specification</w:t></w:r>
  <w:r>
    <w:rPr><w:rStyle w:val="FootnoteReference"/></w:rPr>
    <w:footnoteReference w:id="1"/>
  </w:r>
  <w:r><w:t> for details.</w:t></w:r>
</w:p>

using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Wordprocessing;

var refRun = new Run();
refRun.AppendChild(new RunProperties(
    new RunStyle { Val = "FootnoteReference" }
));
refRun.AppendChild(new FootnoteReference { Id = 1 });
paragraph.AppendChild(refRun);

Notes

The w:id must exactly match a w:footnote w:id in footnotes.xml. A mismatch causes an undefined reference.
The rendering of the superscript comes from the FootnoteReference character style, not from the element itself.
w:customMarkFollows="true" is used for custom footnote marks (e.g. a dagger symbol) where the next run provides the literal mark character.