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footnote numbering problems

Posted: 2020-05-12 07:05:49
by gregory12
I really want to like Nisus writer, but I constantly have problems with the footnotes and the numbering. No matter what I try, I can never get the numbering to be the way I want and be consistent.

At the end of a quote, I "insert footnote" which then places an normal Arabic numeral, ie. 1. Then at the end of the page I place the source information for the quote. All good up to this point.

However, when I save, close and reopen the document all the footnotes now have additional numbers or tags included. For example, the 1. now has a space then a roman numeral I beside it then the citation. the number 2. has a space then "[auto]" added then the citation. the third footnote is the same as the second with [auto] being added. So on and so forth. some having a roman numeral added, others with the bracketed auto being added.

Its driving me crazy. I keep redoing my footnotes, but every time the document is opened the footnotes revert back to this kind of nonsense. Which makes me want to continue using LibreOffice as the word processor in the app doesn't misbehave.

I have tried redoing the paragraph styles for footnotes and character styles as well. I have yet to find a way for the footnotes to save and reopen with just an arabic numeral corresponding to the citations in the document text.

Please help! I am willing to learn as I do want to use Nisus Witer Pro for my lengthy scholarly documents.

Re: footnote numbering problems

Posted: 2020-05-12 13:45:44
by Þorvarður
Hello Gregory, I'm sorry to hear that you are having problems creating consistent footnotes.
If you save, close and reopen the document and then see unwanted additional numbers and tags, this can indicate that you are using a second Footnote style which shouldn't be there in the first place. Nisus allows only one Footnote style and one Endnote style per document.

The best way to fix this and learn how to manage footnotes is to start from ground zero, i.e. with a document having no styles. Do this:

(1) Open a new, empty document
(2) Switch to the Style Sheet View and make sure the Styles column is visible
(3) Select all the styles and hit the backspace to delete them. It should now look like this:

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1.png (21.16 KiB) Viewed 5736 times

(4) Switch to Page View and write a few sentences.
(5) Enter two or three footnotes and then switch back to the Style Sheet.
(6) You should now see this:

2.png
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As you can see, there is no Paragraph Style involved (yet), only two character styles and one Note Style. The character styles are just for the numbers and for you to decide whether the numbers should appear in superscript or not. The Note Style "Footnote" is used to enter or delete spaces, add a dot after the numbers, as well as brackets, etc.

3.png
3.png (142.22 KiB) Viewed 5736 times

(7) Now use the two character styles to format the numbers as you want them to appear in your document.
(8) If you want the note text to have a special font and/or size, then you can create a special paragraph style now and have the Note Style "Footnote" be based on that paragraph style.


(To be continued)

Re: footnote numbering problems

Posted: 2020-05-12 13:48:58
by Þorvarður
[Continuation]
4.png
4.png (36.03 KiB) Viewed 5735 times

(9) Save, close and reopen the document. Are all footnotes correct?
(10) If yes, then it's time to SAVE the 4 styles to your Nisus New File.
(11) Open a new, empty document (based on your Nisus New File). Enter a few footnotes. Is everything all right now?
(12) If yes, then SAVE the new styles additionally to your Style Library.

Re: footnote numbering problems

Posted: 2020-05-13 13:30:57
by martin
gregory12 wrote: 2020-05-12 07:05:49 At the end of a quote, I "insert footnote" which then places an normal Arabic numeral, ie. 1. Then at the end of the page I place the source information for the quote. All good up to this point.

However, when I save, close and reopen the document all the footnotes now have additional numbers or tags included. For example, the 1. now has a space then a roman numeral I beside it then the citation. the number 2. has a space then "[auto]" added then the citation.
Þorvarður has some good tips on managing note styles, and it may indeed help to reset your note styles. But what you described above is clearly incorrect behavior. If you reopen a file none of its footnote references should change like that, no matter how you have your note styles configured.

Your file (or the template on which it is based) is probably peculiar in some specific way. Would you be able to share an example file that shows the unwanted reference changes? You can attach the file here on the forums or send it to us privately. The best way to do that is via the menu Help > Send Feedback. Thanks, and sorry for the trouble!