or... maybe this effort;
Sub RemoveCharacterStylesFromFootnotesExceptSuperscriptInFootnoteReferences() Dim footnoteRange As Range Dim charStyle As Style Dim charRange As Range Dim supRange As Range Dim supStyle As Style ' Set the style for superscript within footnote references On Error Resume Next ' Handle potential error if style doesn't exist Set supStyle = ActiveDocument.Styles("Footnote Reference") On Error GoTo 0 If supStyle Is Nothing Then MsgBox "Footnote Reference style not found. Macro will remove all character styles from footnotes.", vbExclamation End If ' Loop through all footnotes For Each footnoteRange In ActiveDocument.Footnotes ' Loop through all character styles in the footnote For Each charStyle In ActiveDocument.Styles If charStyle.Type = wdStyleTypeCharacter Then ' Loop through all ranges with the current character style Set charRange = footnoteRange.Range.Duplicate With charRange.Find .ClearFormatting .Style = charStyle .Forward = True .Wrap = wdFindStop .Format = True .Execute Do While .Found ' Exclude superscript within footnote references If Not (Not supStyle Is Nothing And charStyle.NameLocal = "Superscript" And charRange.InRange(supStyle.Range)) Then ' Remove the character style charRange.CharacterStyle = "" End If ' Find the next occurrence .Execute Loop End With End If Next charStyle Next footnoteRange End Sub