i have a large document with two empty footnotes. deleting them gives
message "action not valid for footnotes". how do i get rid of them?
deleting the ones above and below has not worked, neither has changing
footnotes to endnotes and back.

If you know which footnote you want to delete, highlight its index (number
shown in superscript in the document) and press Delete.

Programatically, try:

Sub aa()
For Each fnote In ActiveDocument.Footnotes
If 0 = Len(Replace(fnote.Range.Text, " ", "")) Then
fnote.Range.Delete
End If
Next
End Sub

This will delete footnotes that are empty (len=0) or just spaces (visually
empty).

The correct way to delete a footnote is to delete the reference mark in the
text. If you've already done this and are left with some empty paragraphs in
the footnote pane, you'll need some trial and error. Experiment with using
Backspace and Delete at the beginning of the empty paragraph and at the end
of the previous paragraph. Eventually you'll find a combination that works.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"lrhodes" wrote in message
...
i have a large document with two empty footnotes. deleting them gives
message "action not valid for footnotes". how do i get rid of them?
deleting the ones above and below has not worked, neither has changing
footnotes to endnotes and back.