Footnotes Made Easy is a simple but powerful plugin for adding footnotes to your WordPress posts and pages. Wrap any text in double parentheses, and it becomes a footnote; automatically numbered, linked, and displayed at the bottom of your content. Full documentation is available at docs.altvisewp.c
PricingFree downloadThe WordPress.org download is free. Pro versions, add-ons or external services may cost extra.
CompatibilityRequires WordPress 6.0 and PHP 7.4.
SourceWordPress plugins · Nov 4, 2026
01 / Source details
Aboutthistool.
Footnotes Made Easy is a simple but powerful plugin for adding footnotes to your WordPress posts and pages. Wrap any text in double parentheses, and it becomes a footnote; automatically numbered, linked, and displayed at the bottom of your content.
Full documentation is available at docs.altvisewp.com/footnotes-made-easy
Key features:
Simple inline syntax — wrap text in (( )) to create a footnote anywhere in a post or page
Combine identical footnotes automatically
Paginated post support with manual start number control
Reference a previous footnote by number using ((ref:1))
Pretty tooltips — show footnote content on hover using jQuery
Suppress footnotes on specific page types (home, archives, search, feeds)
Exclude footnotes from specific post categories or custom URLs
Dashboard with live usage stats; footnote counts across all posts and pages
Export/import Footnotes Made Easy settings across different sites
Multisite support; network-managed mode or per-subsite override
Compatible with the Classic Editor and the Gutenberg block editor
Lots of configuration options
Upgrade to Footnotes Made Easy Pro
Need to cite sources properly? Footnotes Made Easy Pro turns your footnotes into a full academic referencing system, built right on top of the free plugin you already use.
Pro features:
Academic citations — format references in APA, MLA, and Chicago styles automatically
10 source types — books, journals, websites, newspapers, films, theses, and more, each formatted correctly for every style
DOI & ISBN auto-fetch — paste a DOI or ISBN and the source details (title, author, publisher, year) fill in for you
Suppress — Choose which page types (home, archives, search, feeds, previews) should not display footnotes. Also suppress by post type and exclude footnotes from specific URLs or post categories
Advanced — Change the opening and closing delimiters.
Paginated Posts
By default, each page of a paginated post restarts footnote numbering from 1. To maintain a continuous sequence, add a start number tag between each <!--nextpage--> marker:
<!--startnum=5-->
Replace 5 with the number you want the first footnote on that page to start at.
Referencing
To reference a previous footnote a second time, you can either repeat the exact same text (recommended — works with the Combine Identical Footnotes option) or use the number reference syntax:
((ref:1))
Note: number referencing does not work across pages in a paginated post, and risks pointing to the wrong footnote if new footnotes are inserted before it. The exact-text method is more robust.
Multisite Support
On WordPress multisite networks, the plugin can be configured from the network admin in two modes:
Network managed — all settings controlled centrally; the Footnotes menu is hidden from subsite admins
Subsite override — each subsite admin can manage their own footnote settings independently
Available in 8 Languages
Footnotes Made Easy is fully internationalised and ready for translation.
Thanks to the following translators:
David Artiss , English (UK)
Mark Robson , English (UK)
Annabelle W , English (UK)
maboroshin , Japanese
Laurent MILLET , French (France)
B. Cansmile Cha , Korean
danbilabs , Korean
denelan , Dutch
Peter Smits , Dutch
Pieterjan Deneys , Dutch (Belgium)
Alex Grey , Russian
To add a translation, visit the Translating WordPress page.
See it in action
Screenshots & previews.
Preview showing footnotes on a pageList at the bottom of the pageBehaviour settingsDisplay settingsExclude specific URLsExport/import footnote settings
02 / Source details
Gettingstarted.
Footnotes Made Easy can be found and installed via the Plugin menu within WordPress administration (Plugins → Add New). Alternatively, download from WordPress.org and install manually:
01Upload the entire footnotes-made-easy folder to your wp-content/plugins/ directory.
02Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu in WordPress administration.
No configuration required — the plugin works immediately after activation with the default (( )) syntax.
03 / Source details
Frequently asked questions.
How do I add a footnote?
Wrap your footnote text in double parentheses anywhere in your post or page content:
This is a sentence ((and this is your footnote)).
The plugin replaces the marker with a numbered superscript and appends the reference at the bottom of the post.
Can I change the `(( ))` syntax to something else?
Yes. Go to Footnotes → Footnotes Settings → Advanced and set custom opening and closing delimiters.
Can I style the footnotes output?
Yes. Use the CSS editor in your theme customiser. ol.footnotes targets the footnotes list and ol.footnotes li targets individual footnotes.
Can I disable footnotes on specific pages or categories?
Yes. The Suppress tab lets you disable footnotes on the home page, archives, search results, feeds, and previews. The Advanced tab lets you exclude specific URLs or post categories.
Does the plugin work with the block editor (Gutenberg)?
Yes. Add the (( )) syntax directly inside any text block.
Does the plugin work on multisite?
Yes. See the Multisite section above for configuration details.
What’s the difference between the free version and Pro?
The free version handles everything you need to add, number, link, and display footnotes. Footnotes Made Easy Pro adds a full academic referencing layer on top: automatic citation formatting in APA, MLA, and Chicago styles across 10 source types, DOI and ISBN auto-fetch, a reusable Citation Library, a Gutenberg sidebar panel, and priority support. Learn more on the Pro page .
Will upgrading to Pro change how my existing footnotes work?
No. Pro is built on top of the free plugin, so all your existing footnotes and settings keep working exactly as they do now. Pro simply adds the citation and referencing tools alongside what you already have.
Does the plugin remove its data when uninstalled?
Yes. Deleting the plugin via the WordPress admin removes all stored settings and user meta from the database. If you want to preserve settings for a future reinstall, enable the Preserve settings on uninstall option in the Tools page before deleting.
Where can I find the full documentation?
Full documentation is at docs.altvisewp.com/footnotes-made-easy .
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