Error is thrown when importing a Word document - The macro 'footnote' is unknown
Platform notice: Server and Data Center only. This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Server and Data Center platforms.
Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Problem
When importing a Word document, the import fails and the following error is thrown:
The macro 'footnote' is unknown
The following appears in the atlassian-confluence.log
2015-10-05 08:02:17,843 ERROR [http-bio-8443-exec-224] [atlassian.confluence.servlet.ConfluenceServletDispatcher] sendError Could not execute action
-- referer: https://confluence.atlassian.com/pages/worddav/importword.action | url: /pages/worddav/doimportword.action | userName: admin
com.atlassian.confluence.api.service.exceptions.InternalServerException: com.atlassian.confluence.content.render.xhtml.migration.exceptions.UnknownMacroMigrationException: The macro 'footnote' is unknown.
at com.atlassian.confluence.api.impl.service.content.ContentBodyConversionServiceImpl.processMigrationResult(ContentBodyConversionServiceImpl.java:215)
...Cause
There is an issue with the footnote macro/plugin or it is disabled/not installed. In the Office Connector configuration, you can tell Confluence to use the footnote macro for Word footnotes when importing a document.
Workaround
Go to 
-> General Configuration -> Office connector
- Under the 'Importing From Word' section, make sure the 'Use the footnote macro for Word footnotes' option is unchecked
- Click 'Submit' at the bottom
- Import the Word document once more