Dear Indesign users,
I am not really sure what I want to get out of posting this, maybe it is just a way to vent some frustration, but perhaps people can share some of their insights. At work I often collaborate with colleagues, who write reports with Microsoft Word. The reports get sent to me for layout and often edits need to be made after I have done layout. (Editors can’t seem to write their final copy before sending it to layout). That’s alright you know, I use EmSoftware Wordsflow to import from a Word file, that I can overwrite and update in my links panel to have the edits added to my layout. A little bit of adjustment here and there and done…
So here’s the thing: the Word file contains footnotes…lots of them. Then we decide on having a multi column layout on pages. You probably know where this is headed. Normally I would just say, convert to endnotes and begone with all those buggers at the bottom of my text frames. I convert to endnotes with the Kahrel script (you probably have heard about it). (Note: I am still on CS5.5, yikes! My boss needs to buy me a new setup so I can finally run the latest CC).
Now that I have endnotes my troubles begin: I can no longer update my copy with Wordsflow if the editor adds new footnotes in the Word document. They will not follow the previous numbering. There are ways to fix it, like: delete all copy and import file again. Not very elegant at all I would say. I could even manually add the new references and replace the numbering on the old ones, but really I could spend my time enjoying life instead of going through this hell.
So, if you care to chip in, what are your thoughts on this subject? What is the most efficient work flow for you to handle footnotes (rather getting them out of your text frames) and updating copy?
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