Using Endnotes in InDesign CC 2018

How to use the often-misunderstood 'live' endnotes function in Adobe InDesign CC2018.

[@nukefactory]

They got a bad rep with the way Adobe 'forced' the new endnotes function on users in CC 2018 (no way to turn them off, although that ability is said to be coming) and they can still be troublesome in some edge cases, but for most uses the live endnotes are actually a very useful feature.

[@gracejohnson5408]

This is so helpful, thank you so much!!!

[@Dreoc]

So extremely well done, thank you. Great graphics and just the right pace for my old brain to follow.

[@nukefactory]

Thanks

[@ozonelayerhole1371]

Thank you for your beautiful explanation

[@anthonybehrens3277]

Nice lesson...thanks

[@erichcollar9810]

What is still missing is the ability to export to PDF and have endnotes linked (similar to bookmarks). Frustrating when you are publishing a document that should have this basic interactivity.

[@youtubecanal]

Thank you.

[@nukefactory]

You're welcome!

[@John1954Hoar]

Can you have a document that contains several stories (Chapters) that have Endnotes at the end of each story, but the endnote numbers are continuous for say seven chapters?

[@DJUmoo]

Do the endnotes update when you move texts across pages?

[@stuksy4321]

How does one add commas between double endnote reference numbers in text? i.e. The sentence is here.(superscript)3,4 I'm hoping there is an easy fix I am overlooking.

[@drunemeton]

You’d add in a superscripted comma between the two endnote references.

[@QuangPhamChannel]

I have so many endnotes that I need an extra page for all of them to be shown continously at the end of my document. I cannot figure out how to do that though.

[@nukefactory]

The endnotes frame can be threaded like any other text frame - click on the larger square on the bottom right edge of the frame (or it'll be a red '+' if the text is overset) to load your cursor, and the just drag out another frame on a new page.

[@owensutton4869]

I found the number in my text was not the same in the endnotes. What can I do to get them back on track?

[@nukefactory]

Do you have only a single endnotes frame/story frame? Is the endnotes numbering mode set to ‘Continuous’ or ‘Restart Every Story’? If you have multiple story frames you can have multiple endnotes frames, or you can use a single frame which collects endnotes for every story in the document. A problem that can arise with that though is that you can rearrange the order of the stories in the document, but the endnote numbering will remain in the initial order. Endnotes don’t re-number based on the inferred order of the text frames in the document. This could make it look like the numbering is incorrect. You can work around this by threading the separate text frames together, this will force change the endnote numbers to match the text frame sequence. You could then either cut and paste the text frames, or use a script, to unthread them and then the numbers will be in the correct order.

[@zdenkaplocrova]

Hi, how can I use the Endnotes in the Book? Does it work too? Can I place them at the end of the Book?

[@nukefactory]

Unfortunately no, currently there's no support for live endnotes in an InDesign book file (.indb). The only, *very* hacky, way to get them at the end of the book is to move the endnotes frame onto the pasteboard in each chapter, and then copy/paste the contents from that frame into a new file at the end of the book. This brings all the references in with a marker instead of the reference number. If you paste each chapter's endnotes sequentially, you can use lists/styles to replace the marker and the numbers of the reference text will still match the markers in the body of each chapter. Then if you need to add or remove notes you can do that in each chapter's .indd file as needed, but now with the added step of having to then manually modify the duplicate reference list at the end of the book. As I said: it's a 'hacky' solution and far from ideal, but it does still have the advantage of not having to renumber every single reference manually, which is the only other alternative (and prior to CC 2018 was the *only* available method of updating these things).

[@MetteSofieEliseussen]

@@nukefactory yes I had that happening to me also before I realised that the endnotes were placed in a separate text frame. They got lost behind other frames and I thought I had accidentally unthreaded the frames. There was no way I could rethread the endnotes into the main text thread. I tried so many times, wondering what I was doing wrong> I even started searching how to thread text frames! Then I copied the endnotes and pasted them into the main text frame. The result was I got all these markers. Now I realise they are meant to be in that endnote text frame! Thank you for your explanation!