InDesign: Footnote feature request & Indexing using Cyrillic Macedonian alphabet (was "Information")

[defaultcnsf61k413xx]

Hello!
It's great with the new upgrades in InDesign, but the question is when will you make changes to the insertion of footnotes! The ones we use now are outdated, i.e. with limited capabilities. Why don't you use the solutions of Word and QuarkPress, which have a large range of choices for inserting footnotes. Is that difficult or does it become something else.
And one more thing, is it possible to insert the Cyrillic Macedonian alphabet when creating an index. I am attaching the Cyrillic alphabet in Macedonian (Аа, Бб, Вв, Гг, Дд, Ѓѓ, Ее, Жж, Зз, Ѕѕ, Ии, Јј, Кк, Лл, Љљ, Мм, Нн, Њњ, Оо, Пп, Рр, Сс, Тт, Ќќ, Уу, Фф, Хх, Цц, Чч, Џџ, Шш).

With respect,
Toni Kostoski

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

What features for footnotes does, say, Word have that ID does not?

[defaultcnsf61k413xx]

Hello,
I am sending you a pdf document for creating footnotes in a word document.
The problem is that in InDesign the footnotes cannot be changed like the
example I am sending you.
So footnote 1, then a footnote with a symbol and then it continues
continuously.
Maybe I am not doing it correctly, but I tried the same in Quark Xpress and
it works the same as in word footnotes.

Regards,
Toni Kostoski

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

InDesign has footnote capabillities that are at least as complete and configurable as Word, although they do not work in quite the same way so it can be confusing to a new ID user.

Have you set up your footnotes as you desire them to appear using the Footnote Options menu—

— which is under the Type main menu item?

[Barb Binder]

Hi Toni:

You are correct that we can't just change the numbering system midstream in InDesign footnotes like one can in Word. InDesign note numbers are designed to be all numbers. all letters, all custom characters, etc.

I have a reliable workaround that I can share with you when my footnotes need to begin with *, **, *** etc and then move to numbers, but it sounds like you want to start with numbers, switch to *, and then back to sequential numbers? It's possible, but fussy. 

How about sharing a screenshot that shows an example? There is a button at the top of the reply box when you reply in your browser window not in your email. 

~Barb

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Footnotes can be formatted on a chapter by chapter basis, right? So it would require splitting the book by each section requiring a different format — something so messy I'd think hard about just doing it manually instead. 🙂

[Barb Binder]

This is how I am interpreting "So footnote 1, then a footnote with a symbol and then it continues
continuously." but asking for confirmation before trying to explain my workaround. 

~Barb

[defaultcnsf61k413xx]

Hello,
Thank you for your honest answer, but I'm a little disappointed. I thought
someone would be intrigued by this problem, and try to solve it not only
for me but also for many InDesign users, but we can only console ourselves
that in due time someone will try to make changes to this part of InDesign.
And I was just about to send you a photo of how this was solved in
QuarkXPress 5, but I'm giving up, but you get the point.
Once again, thank you very much and I wish you happiness in the New Year
2025.

Best regards,
Toni Kostoski

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

There are ways to do it in InDesign (as shown), but there is no integral feature to allow different numbering schemes in the same document. (Even with complex academic documents, I can't see a very frequent need for such a thing; when formatting outside the common scope is needed, it's up to the designer to work out a method that suits their project.)

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@defaultcnsf61k413xx

Custom reference markers - not a problem: 

https://id-tasker.com/2024/05/12/mixing-auto-custom-footnotes/

And as long as you don't mind them being mixed - you can have multiple types as well. 

If you don't mind reflowing additional type(s) of Footnotes semi-manually - also not a problem. 

But ID-Tasker isn't free and PC only.

If you would like to try it - I can give you access to the full version for free for some time. 

Custom numbers / bullets / symbols / whatever as a reference numbers would be piece of cake as well - user just need to prepare a TXT file with a custom list.

In this case: 

Аа

Бб

Вв

Гг

Дд

Ѓѓ

... 

and ID-Tasker can use it instead of numbers. 

Or: 

One.Tiff <- image would be placed 

Two.JPEG <- as above 

*** <- would be used as text

4 <- as above 

... 

Of course this isn't limited to Footnotes - any kind of numbered lists - or references in the text - can be done this way. 

[defaultcnsf61k413xx]

Thank you for your exhaustive help, but without any positive solution,
frustrating. So, according to you, we should buy Tasker so that we can
arrange the text as we wish in the footnotes section. I would like someone
to explain to me, but not only to me, but also to a large number of
InDesign users, what is so difficult that it is not possible to insert
CUSTOM MARK into the Footnote palette in InDesign! If it is available in
Word and QuarkXPress, why not in InDesign! Just for information, the first
Word 6.0 had a solution for footnotes! And all this was only inserted in
subsequent Word upgrades.
At the end of the day, InDesign is not only used for making brochures,
business cards or the like, but also serious projects, where InDesign is
unbeatable.
My advice, solve this problem. There are many who complain about this
problem! The solution is not to buy or use additional programs, but rather
it should be an integral part of the InDesign program in the footnotes
section.

Sincerely,
Toni Kostoski
Happy New Year 2025!

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[Peter Kahrel · Accepted solution]

This is a user-to-user forum. If you want Adobe to notice your requests, post them as feature requests at https://indesign.uservoice.com