When creating a corporate presentation, you can use footnotes to signal where to go to get more information; assign citations and references; or make asides to the employees or customers reviewing the slideshow. But because Microsoft PowerPoint doesn't contain the same footnote auto-creation feature as in other Office programs, you've got to create the twin elements of a footnote -- the superscript character and the footnote text itself -- on your own. Workarounds for the process are as simple as most of the tasks you already perform in PowerPoint, and the end result looks exactly the same.
Step 1
Select a slide where you want to add a footnote. Go to the Insert tab, and click the "Header & Footer" button on the ribbon to bring up a dialog box.
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Step 2
Place a checkmark in the Footer box on the "Include on slide" section.
Step 3
Type the footnote, including any number reference, into the text box below the check box. For example, if this is your first footnote, your text might be "1. See Resources, slide 22."
Step 4
Click the "Apply" button. Make sure not to click the "Apply to All" button, since you'll likely want different footnotes on each slide. The footnote appears at the bottom of the slide, centered horizontally.
Step 5
Click on the footnote text box and drag it to the left side of the slide, making sure it doesn't overlap off the slide onto the shaded PowerPoint background. Click the cursor anywhere in the text, and go to the Home tab. Click the "Align Text Left" button in the Paragraph area of the ribbon to line up the beginning of the text with the left edge of its text box.
Step 6
Click into an existing text box on the slide, or insert a new one, and type the text you want to footnote, such as the name of a company stakeholder. After typing the text, type any closing punctuation, such as a period. Leave the cursor directly to the right of the last character.
Step 7
Type the footnote number that corresponds with the one you typed in the footer, such as "1."
Step 8
Highlight the number, right-click on it, and select "Font." Place a check in the Superscript box, and click the "OK" button. The footnote reference now appears in superscript.
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