Adding footnotes and endnotes in Layout by Zaweba

Footnotes and endnotes are how serious documents cite sources and add asides without interrupting the main text. Reports, academic books, legal documents, journals and well researched non fiction all depend on them. Layout by Zaweba supports both, with numbering style, restart options and a separator rule.

Footnotes and endnotes

A footnote appears at the foot of the page that refers to it. An endnote is collected at the end, of a chapter or the whole document. Footnotes suit readers who want the reference right there; endnotes keep pages clean and suit general readers who may not look at the notes.

In both cases, a reference number in the text links to the note. Because Layout handles the numbering, adding or removing a note renumbers the rest automatically. That alone is a big improvement on typing note numbers by hand, where one late addition means renumbering everything.

Numbering style and restart

The numbering style decides how references look: ordinary numbers are usual, but other styles are available for documents with their own conventions.

Restart decides when numbering begins again. A journal article might number notes straight through. A book might restart at each chapter, so notes in chapter seven don't run into the hundreds. Pick what your publisher or style guide asks for.

The separator rule

The separator rule is the short line that divides footnotes from the main text on the page. It's a small thing, but it tells the reader where the main text ends. A short, thin rule is the traditional choice, quiet enough not to compete with the text.

Setting notes well

Style the note text with its own paragraph style, usually smaller than the body text but still comfortable to read. Notes are often read closely, especially in academic work.

Keep reference numbers in the text consistent, with a character style for the superscript number, so they look the same throughout.

Agree the conventions before the first note goes in. Whether notes sit at the foot of the page or at the end, where numbering restarts and how the reference number looks are decisions that are easy to make at the start and tedious to change across three hundred notes later. A sample spread with a few real notes, shown to the author or editor, settles them quickly.

Think about how notes interact with pictures and columns on the page. Long footnotes take space at the foot of the page, so pages heavy with notes have less room for the main text.

Footnote slips that editors catch

Mixing footnotes and endnotes in one document without a reason confuses readers. Choose one approach per document unless the publisher's style says otherwise.

Typing a note number by hand rather than inserting a real footnote is the biggest one; it won't renumber or link.

Forgetting to restart numbering where the style requires it leaves chapter notes running on.

Leaving notes until last is a slip of planning rather than typing. Notes change how full each page is, so add them while laying out the text, not after every page has been balanced by hand.

Footnotes and endnotes work alongside cross-references, text variables and the book features in Layout by Zaweba, so a long, carefully referenced document can be produced from start to finish in one place.