Space between text and footnotes

Note: From CC2017 the space between notes and the text can be adjusted in each text frame, that is, on each page, so the script is no longer needed from CC2017.

In InDesign the space between the main text and the first footnote on that page is set for the whole document. That's a problem because you often need to fine-tune that space for certain footnotes. A simple script makes that easy. (Previously I used a script that placed an empty frame with wrap set, but the method described here is easier and more robust.)

Take this fragment:

footnote space

An easy way to add space between the text and the note is to set the keep options of the paragraph just above the note. The idea is to count the number of lines of the paragraph that are in the next text frame, add one, and let that be the number of lines to keep together at the end of the paragraph.

All this is tedious: you need to go to the Keep Options dialog, check Keep Lines Together and enter the number of lines at End. The script does all that for you.

The script has no interface. To use it, place the cursor in the last line of the main text, as in the screenshot, above (the cursor is in samenime). Then start the script. The example in the screenshot will then look as follows:

footnote space

If after some edits you need to change the number of lines kept together, either run the script again or manually adjust the number of lines kept together.