Inconsistent Footnote Formatting Across Pages in InDesign

[Good Venture]

Hi everyone, 

Any idea why the document footnotes, with a given set of rules and using the same Text Frame Options across all pages, are so wildly different on each page? 

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[Abhishek Rao]

Hello, Good Venture!

Thanks for sharing the screenshot; I can see how frustrating inconsistent footnote formatting can be, especially when you’ve set the same rules across pages. 

Could you please let me know the version of InDesign you're using and your operating system details? These can sometimes affect formatting consistency. 

In the meantime, you can confirm if you did follow the below steps in setting up the footnote: 
1. Ensure that your baseline grid settings are consistent across all text frames. A slight variations in these settings can cause discrepancies.
2. Go to 'Type > Document Footnote Options' and verify that the options for “Spacing” and “Position” are set uniformly. Adjusting the “Space Between Footnotes” and “Minimum Space Before First Footnote” might also help align them consistently.
3. If your footnotes use specific paragraph styles, make sure the styles are exactly the same across your document pages, as any small variation can impact alignment.

Let me know if this helps or if the issue persists. I’m here to assist further if needed!

Thanks, 

Abhishek Rao

[Good Venture]

Hi Abhishek, 

Thanks for your reply.  

1. Yes, I made sure all "Text Frames Options" are consistently formatted.  Every "Text Frame" shares the same "General", and "Baseline Options" settings throughout the article.

2. "verify that the options for “Spacing” and “Position” are set uniformly." uniformly between them? Or what do you mean?

"Adjusting the “Space Between Footnotes” and “Minimum Space Before First Footnote” might also help align them consistently." I am sorry but this is not very helpful. 

This is my current setting:

  

3. Yes, they are using paragraph styles, as you can see above, and yes, every note has the same style.

Thank you!

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@Good Venture 

What are the Space Before / After options  - and Leading - in the Footnote's ParaStyle definition?

[Good Venture]

To be honest, whatever value they are, they all behave completely random. But here is the current setting

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@Good Venture

What is the Baseline Grid setting in your document?

[Good Venture]

Baseline grid is 6.5

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

You probably don't want them to Align to Grid, or at least align only on the first line.

[Good Venture]

Etiehr way (Align all line / Align only first) produce the same result. 

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@Good Venture

Your last screenshot - you've 13pt for the First Baseline Offset? 

[FRIdNGE]

Sure! Instead of 6.5pt!

(^/)  The Jedi

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Pretty standard for those of us that use the half-height baseline method. The top baseline is set to standard leading, usually.

I'd suggest the notes don't need to be aligned to the baseline grid at all.

[Good Venture]

Yes, I've removed the alignment (works better!) but still have inconsistent spacing between the line and the main body text

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Yes, I've removed the alignment (works better!) but still have inconsistent spacing between the line and the main body text

By @Good Venture

And you won't have any consistency there. 

[Good Venture]

That dosen't seem to be the issue unfortunately

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@Good Venture

As pointed out by @Abhishek Rao - you have pretty consistent extra spacing - either because of the Leading value or before / after spacing.

[Good Venture]

Still didn't manage to solve this. After a few changes, I've settled on the following settings because is the combination giving me the best output so far, but still far from perfect. 

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

You'd have to share a sample document for any of us to give any further useful advice. There is something odd going on here, and from experience, these frustrating problems boil down to one of two results: a bug or quirk or "feature" in ID triggered only by an unusual combination of layout choices, or a fairly simple matter of the OP using some collateral setting or overlooking a wonky setting because the right questions haven't been asked.

If you can create/share a sample doc with this fault, I'd bet it can be resolved in a short time, even if it involves working around an ID quirk. But we could play 274 Questions all day and never hit the right answer. 🙂