' IMPORTANT: You NEVER have to open the footnote pane to select footnote text!

' The code below shows how to (a) convert all endnotes to footnotes (if any are present), and (b) cycle through the footnotes within a document -- obtaining both the reference and the associated text (from within the footnote window).

intEndnotes = ActiveDocument.Endnotes.Count ' are endnotes are present?
If intEndnotes > 0 Then ActiveDocument.Endnotes.Convert ' if so, convert to footnotes
intFootnotes = ActiveDocument.Footnotes.Count
If intFootnotes > 0 Then
    Dim MyFootnote As Footnote
    Dim blnAutoNumbering as Boolean
    For Each MyFootnote In ActiveDocument.Footnotes
        MyFootnote.Reference.Select    ' footnote reference selected
        strRef = Selection.Text
        If Asc(strRef) = 2 Then blnAutoNumbering = True ' ascii code 2 = auto-numbering
        MyFootnote.Range.Copy ' footnote text copied to clipboard (retains all formatting)
    ' Could have also used MyFootnote.Range.Cut or MyFootnote.Range.Delete
    Next
End If

' If you'll carefully examine the code above -- you'll note the word "pane" occurs nowhere! We don't care about viewing the footnote pane.

' Also, since you're cycling through the footnotes collection, once the footnote is copied, you can go to a different location in the document and deposit the footnote text (without worrying about setting a bookmark to return to the reference location) since you are able to select the next footnote in the collection (regardless of where it's located).