Blind endnotes

There are publications that require endnotes but in which note references aren't desired. In these publications the notes contain a reference to a page number rather than to a note number. The script described on this page can be used to convert InDesign endnotes to blind notes.

The approach is fairly straightforward: hide the note numbers in the text with a character style, suppress the note number in the note and insert a cross-reference that resolves to a page number.

With just a page number as a reference it can be hard for the reader to find the place on the referenced page. To counter that somewhat there is a variant layout in which the endnotes contain, in addition to the page reference, a key phrase that can be found on the referenced page. This requires a different set-up and script; see here.

The script

Open a document that contains endnotes. We'll use the document linked below for practice. Go to the last page, which shows standard endnotes:

Set up blind endnotes

Run the script. It shows the following dialog:

Before running the blind endnotes script

The content of the Text before and Text after fields determines the form of the page reference. Note that you need to add any spaces that you want to appear (here, following 'Page' and ':'). A character style can be applied to the reference. You can add a character style later if you want (see below).

When the script's done the notes look as follows:

After running the blind endnotes script

Note that the script added a character style Blind note reference. This style is applied to the note references in the text to make them invisible: it sets the type size to 0.1 points, horizontal scale to 1%, and applies the Paper colour.

Changing the reference format

The reference format, both its content and its appearance, can be changed in the Cross-Reference Formats window (Window > Type & Tables > Cross-References, then in the Cross-References panel select 'Define Cross-Reference Formats':

Blind endnotes crossref format

You can change the text that appears before and/or after the cross-reference proper, and you can change the character style applied to the whole cross-reference:

Blind endnotes crossref format

Adding new notes

To add an endnote, simply add a standard InDesign endnote and run the script again. On this second run the script's window isn't displayed.

Version history

June 2023: First posted.

Useful script? Saved you lots of time?

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