I noticed that Google Docs automatically adds a horizontal line that separates the main document content from footnotes at the bottom of the page. This divider line appears by default whenever you insert footnotes into your document. I’ve looked through all the regular formatting options and menu items in Google Docs, but I can’t find any way to customize this line or get rid of it completely. I’m wondering if there’s a way to control this separator line programmatically through Google Apps Script. Has anyone tried using GAS to either modify the appearance of this line or remove it entirely? I’d appreciate any insights on whether the Apps Script API provides access to this particular formatting element.
yeah, google docs is kinda restricted on this. apps script doesn’t really touch footnote lines at all. maybe give word a shot? you’ll get a lot more options for formatting footnotes there.
Nope, Google Apps Script can’t access the footnote separator line through its Document API. I’ve worked with GAS for document automation quite a bit, and this element just isn’t available programmatically. Google Docs handles the footnote separator internally in its rendering engine - it’s not exposed as something you can modify through script methods like getFootnotes(). Your best options are either exporting to a different format where you have more control over footnote formatting, or ditching the built-in footnote feature entirely and using regular text with manual formatting if removing that line is absolutely critical.
Unfortunately, this goes beyond Apps Script - Google Docs doesn’t expose footnote separator formatting through any of its APIs. I hit the same wall when customizing document templates for academic papers where citation formatting had to be spot-on. The separator line is hardcoded into the rendering system and treated as a non-editable UI element, not actual document content. Even when you debug the document structure through Apps Script, you’ll see footnotes are special objects without accessible properties for their visual separators. I ended up creating custom text blocks at the bottom of pages with manual line breaks, though you obviously lose the automatic footnote numbering and linking.