Adobe’s 2018 update for InDesign includes a great new feature for book designers—live InDesign endnotes. Until now, footnotes and endnotes could be imported from Word to InDesign, but only footnotes continued to be live and linked, allowing us to insert and delete them without messing up the numbering system. Now we have the same flexibility with endnotes!
Importing endnotes into InDesign
When you place your document in InDesign, make sure you first check Show Import Options in the Place dialog box (see right), and then check Endnotes in your Import Options dialog box as shown below (see pages 44-45, Book Design Made Simple).
When you click OK and then place your text on the first page of your InDesign document, you’ll see the first page of your manuscript flow onto that page. InDesign will place a new, separate text frame containing your endnotes on a new page following any existing pages.
If your document has one page to start with, InDesign will place the endnotes text frame on a new page 2; if your document starts with three pages (following our example on page 34, BDMS), then InDesign will place the endnotes text frame on a new page 4. Before flowing the rest of your manuscript into your pages, drag your endnotes text frame onto the pasteboard for now. You’ll be able to position it appropriately in your book later on.
The InDesign endnotes text frame
Here’s what your InDesign endnotes text frame will look like:
Note the following about the endnotes text and text frame:
- Each endnote is enclosed in colored brackets. If you want to make any changes to the text in an endnote, make sure any changes are contained within its colored brackets.
- Any text that is not an actual endnote (such as the heading “Endnotes” shown in the example above or any other headings you’d like to add) must be placed outside of the colored brackets.
- Along the bottom of the InDesign endnotes text frame, note the box partway along the left side. This indicates that this text frame is specifically for endnotes.
Making the most of live InDesign endnotes
Here’s where this new InDesign endnotes feature really shines! Gone are the days of not being able to insert new endnotes or delete existing ones without messing up the numbering system. Now you can do both easily.
Inserting a new endnote
- Place your cursor in the main narrative where you want to insert a new endnote.
- Click Type > Insert Endnote. Your cursor will now be positioned at the appropriate place in your endnotes text frame. Simply type in your new endnote.
- To get back to your place in the main narrative, click Type > Go To Endnote Reference, and you’ll be back at your original spot.
- Voila! All subsequent endnotes are renumbered accordingly, both in the main narrative and in the endnotes text frame.
Deleting an existing endnote
- Select an existing endnote reference number in the main narrative.
- Press the Delete key to delete both the reference number and the endnote text.
- Voila! All subsequent endnotes are renumbered accordingly, both in the main narrative and in the endnotes text frame.
Applying styles to InDesign endnotes
If your endnotes were imported into InDesign from Word, you’ll notice three default styles in your panels: Endnote Title and Endnote Text paragraph styles, and Endnote Reference character style. If you don’t see any endnote styles in your styles panels, create them yourself (or use our specs on pages 85 and 250 of BDMS).
Once your styles are set up, click Type > Document Endnote Options to open your Endnote Options dialog box. Fill out the box as shown below, specifying paragraph and character styles where indicated. (The style names shown below are the defaults imported from Word.) Then click OK to apply all the styles to your endnotes.
Placing the endnotes in your back matter
When you’ve finished typesetting your book, you’ll create an appropriate page or pages in the back matter for your endnotes. When you have a spot ready to go, find your endnotes text frame (it might still be on the pasteboard of page 2 or 4), and cut-and-paste it to the appropriate page in your back matter. Note that the endnotes text frame can be copied- or cut-and-pasted without losing any live links. Isn’t technology grand?
You may want to change or add headings to your endnotes. Endnotes placed in your back matter are entitled “Notes” rather than “Endnotes.” If you choose to add extra headings to show which chapters the endnotes can be found in, be sure to add the headings outside of the colored brackets enclosing the endnotes text.
Remove forced line breaks in Table of Contents
There is one other InDesign 2018 update that is great for book designers: the ability to remove forced line breaks in an automatically generated Table of Contents (TOC).
When typesetting a book, it’s often necessary to insert a forced line break in a chapter title. Let’s say your chapter title runs to two lines, and it isn’t breaking in a great place. What do you do to fix it? You add a forced line break (soft return). But later, when you automatically generate your TOC, the TOC will have forced line breaks where they aren’t needed. In the past, those forced line breaks had to be removed manually every time the TOC was generated.
Now InDesign will remove those forced line breaks for you. All you need to do is click Layout > Table of Contents to open the Table of Contents dialog box. At the bottom, check the new box entitled Remove Forced Line Breaks. Isn’t that great?
We hope you’ll be able to use these two updated InDesign features a lot. We’ve waited 18 years to get live endnotes, so we’re understandably excited about it! And being able to automatically remove forced line breaks from the TOC is an added bonus.
Happy designing, and please feel free to let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Read more: Back matter – what to include in the back of your book »
Read more: Is your image high enough resolution for printing? »
And even more: Your copyright page – Everything you need to know »
Watch InDesign video tutorials – New updates in InDesign CC 2017 »
Book Design Made Simple. You can do it yourself.
Gawrd. InDesign shouldn’t be allowed. Durn endnotes.
ID doesn’t arrange notes by where they occur in a document. Where I have a caption in a separate text box from the main text it does a separate system of numbering and plugs a footnote text somewhere down from where it should. Like, in the second caption text box I click “Insert Endnote,” and it gives it the number ‘2’ and inserts it after ‘8’ and bumps ‘9’ to ’10.’ When it should go after ‘1’ and bump all the rest up one number.
Okay, solved, I think. I apply text wrap to the caption text frames and link them as part of the main text. They stay put. Kind of like chaining the dog to the tree.
It is truly amazing that none of theses supposed book formatting pogroms have links to citation software. The best comment I found on the web was, “Get it right in Word before you import.” Which equals, “Don’t edit in ID.” Followed by lots of explanations of obscure workarounds. “Workarounds” equals bad software.
Premature. That didn’t work.
I totally hear your frustration with getting the live endnotes to appear in order. As you can see from the other comments, you’re not alone!
I like your idea of applying text wrap to the caption text frames and linking them as part of the main text. But you note that it didn’t work. Did you try linking to an anchor in the text?
In my previous reply in the comments to Elizabeth, I wrote “To make the endnote numbering sequential page by page, here’s what to do: Find the first page that has a break-out box with an endnote. On that page only, cut-and-paste each text frame into a new or different document. Then cut-and-paste each text frame back onto the page in the order they will be read. That will get the endnote numbers in the right order. Do this for every page that has a break-out box, but leave all the other pages as they are. That’s the workaround!” I tried this with Elizabeth and found that it worked for us just fine, but also discovered in the comments that it didn’t work for everyone. Did you try this?
I hope that either linking your caption text frames to an anchor in the text or else the cutting-and-pasting method works for you. It’s frustrating to need workarounds for things that we all use in our books.
Your blog. It is so useful. I sorted most of these things and then came here 🙂 But thank you.
Thank you, Serish, for letting us know. We love helping people sort out their InDesign and book design troubles.
Glenna Collett, coauthor
RE: “Open your Endnote Options dialog box by clicking Type>Endnote Options. In the Numbering section change the Mode drop-down box from Continuous to Restart Every Story, and in the Positioning Options section change the Scope drop-down box from Document to Story. Next you’ll need to separate your chapters into stories. Assuming that all the text frames in your document are currently linked, you’ll need to unlink them between chapters.”
The problem with breaking up chapters into separate stories is, then, when I go to export the book to ePUB, the entire book is no longer in one, continuous stream, so it will not export properly. Also, if there are any edits down the road, and there is text reflow, having chapters in separate stories opens up a HUGE can of worms for pagination! Any ideas?
Hi Tara, Thanks for sharing your observations! I agree that breaking your chapters into separate text frames is not the ideal way to go, but is only useful if you must have live endnotes at the end of each chapter rather than at the back of the book. One alternative in this scenario is to create a separate InDesign document for each chapter, then use the Book feature to tie them all together. Whether your chapters are in separate text frames or in separate documents, you’ll still need to be very vigilant with any changes to the flow of text to make sure the pagination is okay.
Regarding exporting to EPUB, I have very limited experience in that department! I understood that InDesign compiles the EPUB using text and image frames in the order they appear in the document? So that chapter 2 would naturally follow chapter 1, and so on? If each chapter is in a separate document and all chapters are linked together using the Book feature, I think you can export to EPUB in a similar way that you can export to PDF?
Sorry for providing more questions than answers! But you raise an interesting point, and perhaps other readers have expertise in this area and can provide some answers?
Now, for greater elegance, we need is a way of making the endnote numbers right-align, which I previously did with a tab BEFORE the number and the appropriate tab position in the stylesheet. Correct me if I am wrong but at the moment there is no way to do this.
Hello Robin,
I would love it if endnote numbers could right align, too. If your notes are not too complex or numerous, you could always disconnect from the endnotes system and typeset them by hand, which would give you the opportunity to right align the numbers. This is what I’ve always done (the same way you do it, with the tabs).
Glenna
Hi. Do you know if there is a way for these endnotes to restart at 1 with each new chapter in a single document? I usually work on 400+ page books with hundreds of end notes. The house style is for them to restart at 1 with each chapter. I am able to set this up in Word before importing to ID but they revert to continous in layout. I don’t want to have to set up multiple ID files.
Hi Maria, there is a way for your endnote numbering to restart at 1 for each chapter when all your chapters are in a single document. You’re right that they revert to Continuous when imported into InDesign, but you can change your Endnote Options to restart the numbering at the beginning of each Story (a story is a set of linked text frames) and then divide your chapters into stories. Here’s what to do:
Open your Endnote Options dialog box by clicking Type>Endnote Options. In the Numbering section change the Mode drop-down box from Continuous to Restart Every Story, and in the Positioning Options section change the Scope drop-down box from Document to Story. Next you’ll need to separate your chapters into stories. Assuming that all the text frames in your document are currently linked, you’ll need to unlink them between chapters. Use the StorySplitter script to do this, and you can read how to do it here on InDesign Secrets.
Hi, I really appreciated your article on endnotes! It’s such a wonderful feature to be able to import everything from Word, however I’m struggling with the endnote numbering in the current document I’m working on. The text is partly in text fields, and partly in break-out boxes, and I don’t seem to be able to make the endnote numbering continuous – InDesign has the text field numbering in sequence, but the breakout boxes on the same page have been allocated seemingly random numbers. Is there anything I can do, besides deleting the lot and inserting manually?
Elizabeth, thanks for asking this great question, and also for working with me to figure out the answer! For those of you having the same problem, here’s what Elizabeth and I figured out:
Endnote numbering is sequential through the entirety of the linked text frames, treating them as one frame. When you add a new text frame that isn’t linked containing an endnote (such as a break-out or call-out box), InDesign will use an endnote number following the last number in the linked text frames. So if the endnotes in your linked text frames are numbered 1 to 50 and you add a break-out box on page 6, any endnotes in the break-out box will begin with number 51 (and appear totally out of sequence!).
To make the endnote numbering sequential page by page, here’s what to do: Find the first page that has a break-out box with an endnote. On that page only, cut-and-paste each text frame into a new or different document. Then cut-and-paste each text frame back onto the page in the order they will be read. That will get the endnote numbers in the right order. Do this for every page that has a break-out box, but leave all the other pages as they are. That’s the workaround!
And one final thing: If you’ve been exporting to PDF and noticing that the endnote links are off by the number of pages in your front matter (which usually has its own page numbering sequence starting with i), worry no more. There is a bug fix in v.13. Simply update your version of InDesign and all will be well.
I tried what you said but it does not work. Perhaps the fly in the ointment is your definition of “each text frame.” Do you mean that I should cut and paste the break out text frame AND the main story frame that may consist of 100+ pages into a new document and then paste them back into the original document–and do that for scores and scores of endnotes? I am afraid something is going to get lost here
Hi Tom,
The only text frame that needs to be moved is the special text frame containing the endnotes. When you imported your Word document into InDesign, a special text frame containing just the endnotes was placed on a new page, separate from the other text in your InDesign document. I suggested that this special endnotes text frame be moved off that new page and onto the pasteboard while you work on your InDesign document. Then, when you’ve finished typesetting your book, you can create a page or pages in the back matter for your endnotes. This is when you’ll cut-and-paste your endnotes text frame from the pasteboard to the page(s) set aside for it in the back matter.
That is the only text frame that needs to be relocated. The main story stays exactly as it is. And nothing gets pasted into a new document. It is simply a matter of moving the endnotes text frame to the back matter.
Tom, I hope I’ve clarified this for you, and answered your question. If it’s still not clear, please ask away!
Fiona
Hi Fiona,
Originally this discussion started with Elizabeth wanting to know how to number endnotes in separate breakout text frames. This is exactly the problem I am trying to solve. There is the additional problem of what to do when you want to move the endnotes at the end of a book and not at the end of each chapter.
The second problem you solved, though there is another way. Once you copy the endnotes in the chapter and paste them into a separate end-of-the-book document you lose all the numbers. You keep them in the text by shoving the endnotes off to side. They can be renumbered easily enough in the end document.
I think a better way is to use a script by Peter Kahrel that makes live endnotes into static endnotes. Of course, this is done once you know there will be no more additions or subtractions of endnotes.
But this still leaves the problem of the out of sequence endnote numbers for those break out text frames. The suggestion you have of cutting those text frames, pasting them into a new document and them pasting them back into the original place does not work for me.
My workaround is to keep the endnotes in the breakouts out of sequence until the end. Once the text is stabilized, I will CUT and paste the endnotes into the end-of-the-book document. Now the links to those are broken (so are all the links in the main text broken in this back document). I’ll just make a series a, b, c, etc. for all the breakouts and the back-end endnotes. Not the best, but a reader can see there is something different about them and they can easily find those endnotes.
By the way I read you book in preparation to format a 1500 page book with many more endnotes than that. Found the book helpful for many other issues. Thanks.
Tom
Hi again Tom,
Sorry for misunderstanding your question, I didn’t realize your first comments were in response to Elizabeth’s original question.
I found that cutting and pasting the main text frames AND the breakout boxes into a new document and back DID in fact correct the numbering of the endnotes. I wonder why it didn’t work for you? Perhaps it doesn’t work as successfully with a 1500-page book? (That would certainly make it more nerve wracking!)
Your workaround using Peter Kahrel’s script to change live endnotes to static ones is a good one, but I’m always reluctant to lose live endnotes in case there are modifications to the book down the road. I worked on a large book with static endnotes and, a few years after publication, the authors created a second edition with lots of added endnotes. We ended up adding letters to the numbering system (like you’ve suggested, 301, 302, 302a, 302b, 303, 303a, and so on), which did work fine, although it would’ve been much nicer if we’d had live endnotes.
It’s so interesting how everyone finds different workarounds. It would be wonderful if we didn’t need to!
Thanks for your comments,
Fiona
I did find another workaround. I keep the endnotes live and make them really small and pushed off the pasteboard (the suggestion you have above). I then duplicate that document, use the script to make them static and put those endnotes into a new document that goes at the end of the book. So now I have live endnotes in case the author wants to add anything and it is easy to change the static endnotes at the end of the book.
As for the out-of-place endnotes, the solution is simple. Make a footnote for the first graphic, chart or table that says where the sources for these items can be found, at the end of the footnotes. Those items will have no endnotes but as each graphic has an identifier (Illustration 2.3, Chart 4.3 etc.) the sources can be found.
Hi Tom,
We love it when our readers figure out workarounds on their own! Thanks for sharing your method–and it’s exactly what I would have done myself.
Glenna
Great article. I’m working on a book project with both footnotes and endnotes. Long story, but I had to insert the endnotes manually into each Indesign chapter/file, so they weren’t imported using your method. Nevertheless, InDesign created the nifty text file for my references at the end of each chapter. I found though, when I cut and pasted each text to a single Appendix page in a separate document in the book, the reference numbers disappear from the originating chapter. Can you clarify what I’m doing wrong?
Hi Nick, unfortunately InDesign CC2018 doesn’t support live endnotes when using the Book feature. So if your chapters are in separate documents and you’re trying to add the endnotes to your back matter (in another separate document), live endnotes won’t work. I think that’s why your reference numbers are disappearing. The live endnote feature doesn’t work across documents, only within one document, so you’ll need to place the endnotes at the end of each document to keep them live.
Alternatively, consider combining all the sections of your book into one document. That way, the endnotes will work just fine.
I hope this helps!
Your blog – and InDesign’s latest update – could not have arrived at a better time!
A question, though:
If a manuscript has been compiled in Word, utilizing footnotes as opposed to Endnotes and . . . if a decision is belatedly made to switch from the footnotes format to Endnotes, can those footnotes be imported into InDesign as Endnotes (albeit with sub-headings manually applied) or does that conversion have to be made, first, in Word and then transferred, later, into InDesign?
L & M
Thanks for a great question, Lyle. The short answer is that footnotes and endnotes import from Word into InDesign exactly the way they are in Word. Once in InDesign, they cannot be changed from footnotes to endnotes or vice versa.
Having said that, it’s easy to convert footnotes to endnotes and vice versa in Word. Simply select a footnote or endnote, right-click, and choose Convert to Footnote/Endnote. To change ALL your footnotes to endnotes (or vice versa), select the References Tab at the top, click the bottom right corner of the footnotes section to open the Footnote and Endnote Dialog Box, click Convert, then click OK or Apply. Easy, right? And you can switch them back and forth as many times as you want.
So be sure to set up your notes the way you want them in Word, and then they’ll import just fine into InDesign.