Markdown footnotes

Q: How do I add a footnote in Markdown?

Write [^1] in the text and [^1]: The note. on its own line elsewhere.

Put [^1] where the note should be referenced and [^1]: note text anywhere in the document. The renderer numbers and collects them at the end.

Markdown was created in 2004.[^gruber] CommonMark standardised it later.[^2]

[^gruber]: By John Gruber, with Aaron Swartz.
[^2]: The CommonMark spec was first released in 2014.

Syntax

Reference: [^label] right after the word. Definition: [^label]: text on its own line, anywhere. Labels can be numbers or words but not spaces; output is always numbered in order of first use.

Longer notes

Indent follow-up paragraphs by four spaces under the definition to keep them in the same footnote.

Support

Footnotes are an extension, not core Markdown. GitHub has supported them since 2021; GitLab, Pandoc, Obsidian, MultiMarkdown, Jekyll (kramdown) and this site’s editor support them. Plain CommonMark renderers show the brackets literally.

Exporting

The Markdown to Word converter here turns footnotes into a numbered notes list at the end of the document.

Quick answers

How do I add a footnote in Markdown?

Write [^1] in the text and [^1]: The note. on its own line elsewhere.

Does GitHub support Markdown footnotes?

Yes, in READMEs, issues and comments since 2021.