Word 2016 – How to update a cross-reference

Cross-references in Word are useful for using the same footnote multiple times.

However, they don’t automatically update when new footnotes are inserted.

For example – the footnote ‘A type of animal’ was number 1 – until ‘Another footnote’ was inserted.

This resulted in the footnote number NOT updating and being wrong.

There are two ways to fix this.

Method 2 – Update a single cross-reference

1. Right-click on the footnote
2. Click on ‘Update’
3. 
4. The cross-reference is now updated

Method 2 – Update ALL cross-references in the document

1. On your keyboard, press Ctrl and A to select all
2. Now press F9
3. All fields in the document, including any cross-reference, is now updated