Make each chapter a section?

[MarieMeyer]

I am working on a book that is set up as one long InDesign document. I'm using a,b,c... for footnotes. I gather that if I want to start over with "a" for the first footnote in a new chapter, I have to make that chapter a new section. How do I do that without buggering up anything else, such as page numbering?

[Gusgsm]

Hello,

One long InDesign document for a book is a not very good practice that in the end brings more headaches than anything. I'd break it InDesign docs by chapters or sections (your take depending on the structure of the book) and I'd build an InDesign book (Indb doc) with them. (About 15-20 minutes work time as much).

All your automatic numbering (sections, page numbers, and notes) will be very easily solved... as long as you use the features for that that InDesign has.

Hope it helps a bit. Best regards

[Peter Spier]

I wholeheartedly concur that you should break the file into multiple docs and build a book (which does not bugger up the numbering), but if you don't want to do that you can just select a chapter start page in the Pages panel, open the numbering and section options dialog, and start a section. But as I recall footnote numbering is not dependent on sections, but rather threads, and should restart if the chapter start page frame is not threaded to the last frame of the previous chapter, and will not restart if it is, even if you create a new section start.

[Peter Kahrel]

Peter S. is right: new threads always restart note numbering. To restart note numbering in a thread, create a new section and set the document's restart policy to 'every section) -- go to Type > Document footnote options.

P.

[Barb Binder]

To clarify: you can restart numbering within threaded frames by starting a new section and enabling Restart Every Section in Footnote Options. 

I think you now have the answer to every possible scenario but if you still need help with which one will work best for you, please ask us. 

~Barbb

[FRIdNGE]

... “to every possible scenario ...”?!

Surely not this one:

https://youtu.be/2AzF_iE9trs

(^/)  The Jedi