Title: FD Footnotes Plugin
Author: fd
Published: <strong>April 1, 2008</strong>
Last modified: June 6, 2016

---

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This plugin **hasn’t been tested with the latest 3 major releases of WordPress**.
It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when
used with more recent versions of WordPress.

![](https://s.w.org/plugins/geopattern-icon/fd-footnotes.svg)

# FD Footnotes Plugin

 By [fd](https://profiles.wordpress.org/fd/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/fd-footnotes.zip)

 * [Details](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/fd-footnotes/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/fd-footnotes/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/fd-footnotes/#installation)
 * [Development](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/fd-footnotes/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/fd-footnotes/)

## Description

AS OF MAY 2016, THIS PLUGIN IS NOT BEING MAINTAINED AND WILL NOT RECEIVE ANY FUTURE
UPDATES.
 CONTACT ME IF YOU’D LIKE TO LIST AN ALTERNATIVE HERE.

Alternatives:
 – https://wordpress.org/plugins/footnotation/

This plugin provides an extremely easy way to add elegant looking footnotes to
 
your posts. The syntax is natural, simple to understand, and degrades gracefully
if the plugin is removed. Footnotes are linked unobtrusively and the note itself
links back to the original text where the footnote is referenced.

Adding footnotes to a post is simple. Just type them inline in your post in
 square
brackets like this:

    ```
     [1. This is a footnote.]
    ```

Each footnote must have a number followed by a period and a space and then the
 
actual footnote. They don’t have to be unique but it is recommended. It doesn’t 
matter what the numbers are since the footnotes will be automatically renumbered
when the post is displayed.

Footnotes can contain anything you’d like including links, images, etc.
 Footnotes
are automatically linked back to the spot in the text where the note was made.

#### Settings

**Only show footnotes on single post/page:** This option will hide
 footnotes on
the main blog page. Footnote numbers will still appear but link to the individual
post/page URL.

**Collapse footnotes until clicked:** When checked, footnotes are
 hidden until 
manually expanded or a footnote number is clicked.

_Note:_ Do not include square brackets [] inside the footnotes themselves.

_Note:_ Footnote numbers don’t need to be unique but it is recommended,
 especially
if the text is identical for multiple footnotes. If you have multiple footnotes 
with the exact same text and number then you’ll get weird and incorrect footnotes
on your post.

## Screenshots

 * [[
 * Sample of post and resulting display on blog.

## Installation

 1. Copy the fd-footnotes directory into wp-content/plugins
 2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress

## Reviews

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b7a8876a64b40552b9ca771f669da8eb3af62baa497477a12a118aa88c5ae961?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Simple plugin still works Sep 2018](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/simple-plugin-still-works-sep-2018/)󠁿

 [inge12](https://profiles.wordpress.org/inge12/) September 26, 2018

We’ve been using this plugin for maybe 6 years or more. It is now September 2018,
and the plugin has been apparently abandoned. But apparently the code was good enough
that it is still working flawlessly on our site, where we use footnotes regularly..
I understand the “Footnotation” plugin works with the same [1. Footnote .. ] code.
If this should stop working, we’ll try that one. If someone know of a way to notify
the author, perhaps he could post a minor “update” so it doesn’t look abandoned.

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/378d0c6f10f0469d9c0bc420783034613d9cf7b17c226b18afeb2ba5eaf4d84a?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Good, but currently “abandoned”](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/good-but-currently-abandoned/)󠁿

 [ostinatofreak](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ostinatofreak/) June 9, 2018 1 reply

Would be five stars, except my Wordfence security plugin just notified me today 
that it appears FD Footnotes is “abandoned” (updated June 6, 2016, tested to WP 
4.3.16). I hope the developer does what is necessary to keep this plugin up to date!

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/37687d25704c2f633e48b036a8bb4cd0c5170a9ae9846cd4714724085643b50c?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Easy to use and looking good](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/easy-to-use-and-looking-good/)󠁿

 [JK](https://profiles.wordpress.org/worldwidej/) October 7, 2020

Using it on all my websites, one of my favourite plugins in order to keep content
not really belonging to the post separated, but still mentioning it. Edtit in 10/
2020: Although not maintained since 2016, plugin works for me, very happy with it.

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/714e06f608cb547fe35c5297eb56f4fcdb26b374dfc45eca02d5b06dec8ebee0?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Can't use square brackets in cites](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cant-use-square-brackets-in-cites/)󠁿

 [typotamer](https://profiles.wordpress.org/typotamer/) September 3, 2016

I really like the basic functionality of this plugin, but there is a HUGE issue 
with it, and that is that you cannot use square brackets in your footnotes. MANY
cites require square brackets. However, because this plugin uses square brackets
to denote the beginning and end of a footnote, if you use them elsewhere, the text
within said brackets disappears. Unfortunately, that renders this plugin pretty 
much useless for me. Darn it. 🙁

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f0a1207e00b16fb61423d454017041874b70a2e9875c60bf1afd9d07c35b95b3?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Great plugin](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/great-plugin-7803/)󠁿

 [jdaniel](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jdaniel/) September 3, 2016

I use it since many years and love it. Great plugin!

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b7e0a791933222c64ea70032b54a52bd5606c3c223482a336e96bccae6bdd5ea?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[GREAT PLUGIN](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/great-plugin-7448/)󠁿

 [IslandOwl](https://profiles.wordpress.org/islandowl/) September 3, 2016 2 replies

Here is a slightly updated version to the wonderful code that @johanneseva wrote
to stylize the footnote section to look more like a footnote section (smaller font,
line above section, etc.) The only addition I made is to put a space (bottom margin)
between the footnote line items. I also increased the line size itself from 1em 
to 1.2em for better readability. sup.footnote a { text-decoration: underline; vertical-
align: super; font-weight: bold; font-size: 80%; padding-left: 0.3em; } .footnotedivider{
width: 40%; padding-top: 0.8em; border-top: 1px solid #000; } .footnotes { font-
size: 72%; } .footnotes li { line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 6px; } I have been
using this FD Plugin for a few years now. It is GREAT! Simple to use and just works.

 [ Read all 21 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/fd-footnotes/reviews/)

## Contributors & Developers

“FD Footnotes Plugin” is open source software. The following people have contributed
to this plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ fd ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/fd/)

[Translate “FD Footnotes Plugin” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/fd-footnotes)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/fd-footnotes/), check
out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/fd-footnotes/), or subscribe
to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/fd-footnotes/) by
[RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/fd-footnotes/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

#### 1.36

 * Fixed “Notice: Undefined variable” https://wordpress.org/support/topic/line-130-
   error

#### 1.35

 * Added German translation by Mark Sargent

#### 1.34

 * Fixed jQuery script dependency

#### 1.33

 * Added Greek translation by Dimitrios Kaisaris (http://www.foodblogstarter.com)

#### 1.32

 * Fixed issue when non-breaking space used between footnote number and footnote
   text

#### 1.31

 * Fixed issue when non-breaking space used between footnote number and footnote
   text

#### 1.3

 * Added option for collapsing footnotes into a single line until manually
    expanded.
 * Added option to only show footnotes when viewing a single post/page.
 * Added translation files. Send .po translation files to me for inclusion
    in future
   releases. Thanks.

#### 1.21

 * Fixed problem where sometimes WordPress would not correctly add the closing
    
   paragraph tag in posts with footnotes. This is a stable workaround for a wpautop()
   bug in WordPress. Thanks to Roger Chen for the tip.

## Meta

 *  Version **1.36**
 *  Last updated **10 years ago**
 *  Active installations **1,000+**
 *  WordPress version ** 2.0 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **4.3.34**
 *  Language
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/fd-footnotes/)
 * Tags
 * [editing](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/editing/)[endnotes](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/endnotes/)
   [footnotes](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/footnotes/)[posts](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/posts/)
   [writing](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/writing/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/fd-footnotes/advanced/)

## Ratings

 4.5 out of 5 stars.

 *  [  15 5-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/fd-footnotes/reviews/?filter=5)
 *  [  4 4-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/fd-footnotes/reviews/?filter=4)
 *  [  0 3-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/fd-footnotes/reviews/?filter=3)
 *  [  1 2-star review     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/fd-footnotes/reviews/?filter=2)
 *  [  1 1-star review     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/fd-footnotes/reviews/?filter=1)

[Add my review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/fd-footnotes/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/fd-footnotes/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ fd ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/fd/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/fd-footnotes/)

## Donate

Would you like to support the advancement of this plugin?

 [ Donate to this plugin ](http://flagrantdisregard.com/footnotes-plugin/)