Footnotes and Endnotes

Both of these features insert a reference into the text flow (usually a number) and create a note either at the bottom of the page on which the reference occurs (a footnote) or later in the document (endnote). Both have a number of options that require more time and decision-making than deep insight. Nonetheless, there are a few important things to note (pardon the pun).

It’s useful to create a paragraph style for the kind of note you’ll be using. It certainly doesn’t have to be perfect because, like all paragraph styles, it can be edited later. But when you adjust the Footnote or Endnote Options, you’ll be asked to choose a style for the note. You can also choose a character style for the reference, though this is slightly less common. For clarity, I’ll use one that makes the reference red in the examples that follow.

Footnotes

When I insert my first footnote (by right-clicking and choosing Insert Footnote), I then go about the business of formatting it via Type > Document Footnote Options….

The Footnote Options dialog that opens has two sections, the first of which is Numbering and Formatting (in the previous figure). This deals with the text formatting of both the reference (the number in the story) and the footnote itself. In that example, I added parentheses to the reference as both Prefix and Suffix (but not to the note) and chose a character style to make the reference number bolder.

Much of the Layout section is dedicated to the space around and between footnotes. The lower third is dedicated to a rule (line) that can be drawn between the story text and the footnote(s). In this example, I’ve set a solid, reddish, .5 point rule between the text and the first footnote.

As a footnote grows more verbose, it gets taller. It is possible that it may even reach up to the line that contains its reference. For this reason, I suggest leaving the Allow Split Footnotes checkbox enabled. This allows the footnote to continue into the next text column (if there is one) or onto the next page.

Note: The menu for Rule Above has two independent settings: one for the first footnote and the other for Continued Footnotes, those that need to flow to another column or page.

There is also an option to Span Footnotes Across Columns, which may lessen the chance that the note will flow to another page. When a footnote continues, the Continued Footnotes Rule Above will be used.

Endnotes

As you might expect, the Endnotes feature is very similar to the Footnotes feature. When we right-click to Insert Endnote, a reference is inserted at that point and our text cursor is now blinking in the note awaiting its content. However, with an endnote, we’re likely looking at another page, possibly one that’s far from where we inserted the reference.

Note: With the text cursor within an endnote, right-click and choose Go to Endnote Reference. When right-clicking with the cursor at the reference point, the choice is Go to Endnote Text.

Choose Type > Document Endnote Options…, and you’ll get options similar to those for footnotes.

Finally, as of fall 2018, you can convert footnotes to endnotes and the other way around. Choose Type > Convert Footnote and Endnote.

In the discussion of “Cross References” (page 328), I used a list of figures as an example. An alternate approach could use endnotes. A Prefix of “Figure” plus a space, and a space as Suffix applied with Normal Position could give us an opportunity like this:

However, if you have independent numbered lists of figures and tables, for example, automatic numbering with named Lists is the better solution. Review “Bullets and Numbering” (page 257).