Footnote issues in FM 7.2

[Combs, Richard]

Shell, Robert wrote: 
 
> Use the default "footnote" para format name in that same box. That
seems to
> trigger the footnote separator line (see below) more regularly than if
you
> used something else.  Maybe this is just superstition.
> 
> Of course you can then change the footnote format to whatever you want
in
> the designer.
<snip> 
> My current gripe is the footnote line that sometimes appears and
sometimes
> does not. Fixing that seems to require putting the cursor in the
footnote
> and formatting manually with the enter key.

The separator line comes from a reference frame named Footnote on the
reference pages. You can change the length, style, and position of the
line or the height of the frame. It works like specifying a Frame Above
on the Advanced tab of the Paragraph Designer, but Frame does it
automagically. (The footnote autonumber is also automagic, rather than
part of the pgf format definition.)

For the magic to happen, the reference frame must have the same name
(Graphics > Object Properties) as the paragraph format designated for
footnotes (Format > Document > Footnote Properties). But the names don't
have to be Footnote. (I'm not sure if case matters.)

Because I like keyboard tagging (and have just a smidge of OCD), in my
templates the pgf and char formats that aren't intended for manual
tagging all begin with z so they drop to the bottom of the catalogs
(zFooter, zFootnote, zBullet, zFignum, etc.). So on my ref pages, the
footnote separator frames are named zFootnote and zTableFootnote. 

If your intermittent separator line isn't just a display anomaly, as
Rick suggested, check the reference frame. Or maybe try specifying that
frame as Frame Above in Paragraph Designer -- but don't be surprised if
there's weird interaction between the automagical and explicit frames
above. :-)

As for footnotes in general, I have no problem with the footnote being
on the facing page, but wouldn't want it overleaf. 

IMHO, YMMV, etc.

Richard


Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
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rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
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