Academic referencing inside WordPress
Footnotes Made Easy Pro extends Footnotes Made Easy with a structured academic referencing system for WordPress posts and pages. It keeps the existing footnote workflow in place while adding tools for creating, formatting, storing, and reusing source citations.
Footnotes remain simple to add: place text inside double parentheses, such as ((this is a footnote)), and the plugin automatically numbers, links, and displays it at the bottom of the content. Pro adds citation features on top of this process for writers, educators, researchers, and publishers who need consistent references.
Format citations in three styles
Pro can automatically format academic citations in APA, MLA, and Chicago styles. This helps keep references consistent when a post contains multiple sources or when content needs to follow a particular referencing convention.
The system supports ten source types, including books, journals, websites, newspapers, films, and theses. Each source type is formatted appropriately for the selected citation style, reducing the need to construct every reference manually.
Fetch source details with DOI or ISBN
When a source has a DOI or ISBN, paste that identifier into the relevant citation workflow. Pro can auto-fetch source details including the title, author, publisher, and year. This provides a quicker way to populate reference information before inserting it into content.
Reuse references across content
The reusable Citation Library lets you save a reference once and use it across any post. Search, filter, and insert saved citations when preparing new articles or revisiting existing pages. This is useful for sites that publish related research, educational material, documentation, or other source-heavy content.
Because the library is reusable, the same source can be selected again without rebuilding its details for every post. The result is a more repeatable workflow for managing references throughout a WordPress site.
Manage citations in Gutenberg
Pro includes a Gutenberg sidebar panel for managing, editing, and inserting footnotes directly from the block editor sidebar. This keeps citation work close to the content being written. The plugin also works with the existing Classic Editor and Gutenberg footnote workflow.
For inline footnotes, add the double-parentheses syntax directly inside a text block. The resulting footnote appears at the bottom of the post or page, with automatic numbering and links. A space before the opening double parentheses is required for the syntax to work.
Existing footnote controls
Everything provided by the underlying Footnotes Made Easy plugin continues to work with Pro. These capabilities include combining identical footnotes, supporting paginated posts with manual start-number control, and referencing a previous footnote by number with the ((ref:1)) format.
Display and behaviour settings cover identifier style, back-link format and position, header and footer text, tooltip behaviour, combining identical footnotes, and processing priority. Footnotes can also be suppressed on selected page types, post types, URLs, or categories.
Installation and first use
Install Footnotes Made Easy and upgrade to the Pro edition. To create a regular footnote, enter the explanatory text between double parentheses in a post or page. For academic references, use the Gutenberg sidebar panel or the citation workflow to select a source type, choose APA, MLA, or Chicago formatting, and insert or reuse the citation.
Pro also includes priority support from the AltviseWP team for assistance with the citation and referencing tools.
