How to add footnotes and endnotes to a long document

Put the text cursor where the reference should go in Layout by Zaweba and add a footnote or an endnote. The note number appears in the text and the note itself goes at the foot of the page or the end of the document. You choose the numbering style, whether numbering restarts and the separator rule that divides footnotes from the main text, and the notes move with the text when it reflows.

Footnotes belong to the world of long documents: histories, theses, legal reports, annotated editions and serious non-fiction. They need to stay attached to their place in the text through every edit, which is exactly why they are a job for the layout program rather than something to fake with small text at the bottom of a frame.

Footnotes or endnotes

Footnotes sit at the bottom of the same page as the reference, so the reader can glance down without losing their place. They suit scholarly work where notes are read alongside the text. Endnotes gather at the end of the document or chapter, which keeps the pages clean and suits popular non-fiction where most readers skip the notes. Layout supports both, so choose by the reader rather than by habit.

Setting up the notes

Decide on the numbering style before you start adding notes. Pick the style that suits the book and its readers, and keep to it throughout. Then decide on restarts. Numbering can run continuously through a document or begin again, which is common at each chapter in a long book so that note numbers don't climb into the hundreds.

The separator rule is the short line between the body text and the footnotes. It is a small thing that does a lot to make the page look considered. Set it to suit the page and keep it consistent.

Give footnote text its own paragraph style, usually a size or two smaller than body text with slightly tighter leading. The note numbers in the text are best handled by a character style, so you can set them as superscript or in a particular figure style and change them all at once later.

Working with notes in a long book

Footnotes follow the text as it flows. If an edit pushes a reference onto the next page, its note moves with it. That is the main reason to use real footnotes rather than placing note text by hand.

In a book made of several chapter files, the book file brings things together with continuous page and chapter numbering, synchronised styles from a style source document and book-wide output to one PDF. Keeping the footnote styles in the style source means every chapter's notes look the same.

Other long-document tools sit naturally beside footnotes. Cross-references can point to paragraphs or anchors and update when things move, which is useful for notes that say "see chapter four". Text variables can carry running headers from a paragraph style. The contents and index tools finish the job.

Pitfalls to watch for

Very long footnotes can crowd a page, and a page with more note than text is hard to read. If an author's notes are long, consider endnotes, or talk to the editor about trimming. Watch pages near chapter ends, where a note and its reference can push each other around.

Don't type note numbers by hand. Imported manuscripts sometimes arrive with numbers typed in as plain text, and those won't renumber when notes are added or removed. Convert them to real notes before layout begins.

Finally, proof the notes as carefully as the main text. They are often where errors in names, dates and page references hide, and readers who care about footnotes are the readers most likely to notice.