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A2D2
A2D2
Inspiring
October 18, 2019
Question

Convert footnote refs to static numbers

  • October 18, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 1265 views

Hi. I have an InDesign document with footnotes. There is a reference/marker number in the body and then the note at the bottom of the page. I just need the dynamic refs/markers replaceing with static numbers and the notes deleting.

 

The static numbers do not need to be assigned a character style or linked in any way. Can anybody help?

 

Of course I could do this manually by going to Footnote-1 and typing "1" then Footnote-2 and typing "2" etc. but how would this work in a script?

 

I tried using a convert footnotes to endnotes script but it crashed and, like I say, I don't need to have any links or formatting for the static numbers.

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

L
Community Expert
LaubenderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
October 24, 2019

Hi,

there is no method in scripting that would allow that easily.

 

Would it help if you convert the footnote reference number to a vector path object?

An experiment with method createOutlines() on the special character that represents the footnote reference number below.

 

Addressed is the first footnote in the first story of the active document. With my test document this footnote is 3 digits long with value 100:

 

var footnote = app.documents[0].stories[0].footnotes[0];
var posInStory = footnote.storyOffset.index;
var story = footnote.storyOffset.parent;

story.characters[posInStory].createOutlines();

 

Before running the script snippet:

 

 

After running the script snippet:

 

 

As you can see this could work. Of course text could break differently after doing this.

Warning: With 1-digit footnotes you may have to anchor the result object. And you always have to adjust the position of the result.

 

( Just an idea. )

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

A2D2
A2D2Author
Inspiring
November 5, 2019

Thank you Laubender for your reply. The best solution I found was to create a text file of sequential numbers (1, 2,...n), where n is the number of footnotes.

 

I could quickly make the sequence using a spreadsheet and then copy and pasted into a text file.

 

I then used the script Manan wrote and you helped with (here) to find each footnote and replace with each sequential static number from the text file.

 

 

 

 

A2D2
A2D2Author
Inspiring
October 24, 2019

I thought about splitting a script written by @Peter_Kahrel which converts footnotes to dynamic endnotes. One of the steps in the script is to replace the footnote markers with static numbers. However, in my ignorance, I don't know where to split the script.

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