Footnotes in PageMaker

Unfortunately, PageMaker does not do footnotes. We've been asking for years, but Adobe hasn’t implemented it. If you'd like to request this feature, the address for Adobe's Feature Request page ishttp://www.adobe.com/support/feature.html.

Now the tips.

You can use the text wrap feature to facilitate placing footnotes at the bottom of the page. This takes advantage of the ability to wrap text around a text block once it has been grouped. This technique is described in more detail in the tip “Easy Drop Caps.”

Start by drawing a box the width of your text column and move it to the pasteboard. This will be your guide for sizing the footnotes.

Next, put all your footnotes in a story on the pasteboard. Put them in a new story, or just flow them from the end of the story (endnotes) to the pasteboard. Make the width of your windowshade equal to the text width. (In 6.5 a frame should work as well). Apply an appropriate style to the notes. I make mine left justified and a few points smaller that the main text, and add a paragraph rule at the top that's about half the width of the paragraph.

Find the first footnote reference in the text and determine how many notes go on that page. Roll up the windowshade on your footnotes so that number of notes appears, click the bottom (+) and reflow the rest of the notes into a second story the same width. In the first story, replace the paragraph break(s) between the notes with line breaks so the paragraph rule only appears at the top of the entire block.

Click the first story (with the footnotes you're ready to place) and GROUP it (Arrange > Group). Select Text Wrap and choose the appropriate boxes (Wrap Option: rectangle, Text Flow: column break) and standoff (I recommend 0p all around except 1p top). Move the grouped notes (you should see the dotted lines for the text wrap) onto your main document window so it aligns with the bottom of the page. (This step could be scripted, if you're clever) and watch in amazement as the text wraps around the notes to the next column/page.

Repeat as necessary for the rest of the notes.

One problem this doesn't address is large notes which can flow over several pages, which could cause body copy to reflow. The note itself can be sized when placed, but manual intervention will be needed if the note is edited.

Another problem is adding, deleting, or otherwise changing the footnote references. Many large projects can have hundreds of footnotes, and deleting or moving one won't renumber the rest. The answer is a script. Jonathan G. Bressel <bressel@sefer.org> has written NoteMaker, a shareware script to help automate footnote and endnote production in PageMaker. It's not perfect, but it's better than doing it by hand! It works by running through your document on command, changing all note references so they are numbered in order. Some caveats from his Readme document:

NoteMaker does not distinguish between the superscripted footnote reference numbers in your text and the superscripted numbers in your footnote list unless you:

1. Tell NoteMaker to process only those pages excluding the final footnote list pages. The relevant buttons are on the "Range" window, or

2. Define a style (say "Footnote list") and apply it to the paragraphs of the final footnote list pages. Then, tell NoteMaker to process only authorized styles and be sure to include "Footnote list" as an authorized style. Also, be sure to check the "Include [no style] text with authorized" checkbox if your standard text has no style attached to it. The relevant buttons are on the "Style" window.

E-mail Jonathan for an evaluation copy of the script. He will e-mail you back the script and a set of instructions.

These tips will help you, but Adobe needs to build a simple database into PageMaker to make footnotes part of the program. I foresee a deadline when I've changed a lot of copy and forgotten to rerun the script and the footnotes aren't renumbered or rearranged, or a case where the footnote reference falls near the bottom of the page and placing the footnote itself causes the footnote reference to flow onto the next page.

Nothing can replace careful production and a sharp eyed proofreader, but Adobe could greatly simplify our lives by integrating footnotes into PageMaker 7.0!