Class Footnote Stay organized with collections Save and categorize content based on your preferences.
Page Summary
A Footnote element represents a footnote within a document and is contained within a ListItem or Paragraph.
Each Footnote element has a corresponding FootnoteSection element for its contents and cannot contain other elements itself.
Key methods for a Footnote element include copying the element, retrieving or setting its attributes, accessing its contents and sibling or parent elements, determining its type, checking if it's at the document end, and removing it from its parent.
An element representing a footnote. EachFootnote is contained within aListorParagraph and has a correspondingFootnote element for the footnote'scontents. TheFootnote itself cannot contain any other element. For more information ondocument structure, see theguide toextending Google Docs.
Methods
| Method | Return type | Brief description |
|---|---|---|
copy() | Footnote | Returns a detached, deep copy of the current element. |
get | Object | Retrieves the element's attributes. |
get | Footnote | Retrieves the contents of the footnote element. |
get | Element|null | Retrieves the element's next sibling element. |
get | Container | Retrieves the element's parent element. |
get | Element|null | Retrieves the element's previous sibling element. |
get | Element | Retrieves the element'sElement. |
is | Boolean | Determines whether the element is at the end of theDocument. |
remove | Footnote|null | Removes the element from its parent. |
set | Footnote | Sets the element's attributes. |
Detailed documentation
copy()
Returns a detached, deep copy of the current element.
Any child elements present in the element are also copied. The new element doesn't have aparent.
Return
Footnote — The new copy.
Authorization
Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonlyhttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents
getAttributes()
Retrieves the element's attributes.
The result is an object containing a property for each valid element attribute where eachproperty name corresponds to an item in theDocument enumeration.
constdoc=DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();constdocumentTab=doc.getActiveTab().asDocumentTab();constbody=documentTab.getBody();// Append a styled paragraph.constpar=body.appendParagraph('A bold, italicized paragraph.');par.setBold(true);par.setItalic(true);// Retrieve the paragraph's attributes.constatts=par.getAttributes();// Log the paragraph attributes.for(constattinatts){Logger.log(`${att}:${atts[att]}`);}
Return
Object — The element's attributes.
Authorization
Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonlyhttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents
getFootnoteContents()
Retrieves the contents of the footnote element.
Return
Footnote — the footnote section
Authorization
Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonlyhttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents
getNextSibling()
Retrieves the element's next sibling element.
The next sibling has the same parent and follows the current element.
Return
Element|null — The next sibling element.
Authorization
Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonlyhttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents
getParent()
Retrieves the element's parent element.
The parent element contains the current element.
Return
Container — The parent element.
Authorization
Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonlyhttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents
getPreviousSibling()
Retrieves the element's previous sibling element.
The previous sibling has the same parent and precedes the current element.
Return
Element|null — The previous sibling element.
Authorization
Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonlyhttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents
getType()
Retrieves the element'sElement.
Useget to determine the exact type of a given element.
constdoc=DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();constdocumentTab=doc.getActiveTab().asDocumentTab();constbody=documentTab.getBody();// Obtain the first element in the active tab's body.constfirstChild=body.getChild(0);// Use getType() to determine the element's type.if(firstChild.getType()===DocumentApp.ElementType.PARAGRAPH){Logger.log('The first element is a paragraph.');}else{Logger.log('The first element is not a paragraph.');}
Return
Element — The element type.
Authorization
Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonlyhttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents
isAtDocumentEnd()
Determines whether the element is at the end of theDocument.
Return
Boolean — Whether the element is at the end of the tab.
Authorization
Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonlyhttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents
removeFromParent()
Removes the element from its parent.
constdoc=DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();constdocumentTab=doc.getActiveTab().asDocumentTab();constbody=documentTab.getBody();// Remove all images in the active tab's body.constimgs=body.getImages();for(leti=0;i <imgs.length;i++){imgs[i].removeFromParent();}
Return
Footnote|null — The removed element.
Authorization
Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonlyhttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents
setAttributes(attributes)
Sets the element's attributes.
The specified attributes parameter must be an object where each property name is an item intheDocument enumeration and each property value is the new value to beapplied.
constdoc=DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();constdocumentTab=doc.getActiveTab().asDocumentTab();constbody=documentTab.getBody();// Define a custom paragraph style.conststyle={};style[DocumentApp.Attribute.HORIZONTAL_ALIGNMENT]=DocumentApp.HorizontalAlignment.RIGHT;style[DocumentApp.Attribute.FONT_FAMILY]='Calibri';style[DocumentApp.Attribute.FONT_SIZE]=18;style[DocumentApp.Attribute.BOLD]=true;// Append a plain paragraph.constpar=body.appendParagraph('A paragraph with custom style.');// Apply the custom style.par.setAttributes(style);
Parameters
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
attributes | Object | The element's attributes. |
Return
Footnote — The current element.
Authorization
Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonlyhttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents
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Last updated 2025-12-11 UTC.