Word footnotes and track changes problem

Carnegie · #1 04-05-2011, 06:59 AM

Hello
My question has to do with Microsoft Word (2007, though I’m using the compatibility function).
I am editing a document produced by somebody else. Presumably at some stage a chunk of text was deleted, and that chunk had 30 footnotes attached to it. Presumably, too, the person who did that had Track Changes activated (I’ve noticed that automatic renumbering of footnotes doesn’t work when Track Changes is on).
The result is that the footnotes jump from 97 to 126. (There’s a footnote 98 that is buried amidst the subsequent footnotes, which leads me to think that a section of the deleted text was inserted, again with Track Changes turned on.)
I’ve tried all sorts to things to achieve renumbering, but without success.
I notice that from footnote 126 onwards the ‘Custom Mark’ field of the footnote dialogue box is filled in with – for example – ‘126’. The box that appears when I hover the cursor over the footnote flag also has ‘126’ in front of the text of the footnote (but that number doesn’t appear in the ACTUAL text of the footnote).
How can I achieve sequential renumbering all the way to the end of the document?
It would be terrific if anybody could give me an answer to that!

Thanks!

macropod · #2 04-05-2011, 03:43 PM

Hi Carnegie,

Have you tried accepting the tracked changes? that should restore the numbering sequence.

Carnegie · #3 04-11-2011, 11:30 PM

Hi Macropod
I don't think that can be it, as the text came to me "clean" with no tracked changes. Yet still there was the jump in sequence in the original.

In any case, unfortunately I can't accept the tracked changes until the very end, once the author has OKed everything!

The author now tells me that she uses a Mac and occasionally funny things happen in the conversion. I don't know - would this be the kind of funny thing that happens?

Thanks for your help so far. Any more ideas?

Regards

macropod · #4 04-12-2011, 12:49 AM

Hi Carnegie,

This is beginning to sound like someone's given up on the auto numbering and has used their own numbering instead. Either that or they've just added more paragraphs to an existing footnote, with 'footnote' numbers preceding those paragraphs and corresponding 'footnote' numbers in the body of the document.

Assuming it's the former, you should be able to fix the numbering with the following macro:

Code:

Sub FootnoteFix()
Dim i As Long, FtNtPos As Range
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
With ActiveDocument
  With .Range.FootnoteOptions
    .Location = wdBottomOfPage
    .NumberingRule = wdRestartContinuous
    .StartingNumber = 1
    .NumberStyle = wdNoteNumberStyleArabic
  End With
  For i = .Footnotes.Count To 1 Step -1
    Set FtNtPos = .Footnotes(i).Reference
    FtNtPos.Collapse (wdCollapseEnd)
    .Footnotes.Add Range:=FtNtPos
    FtNtPos.End = FtNtPos.End + 1
    FtNtPos.Footnotes(1).Range = .Footnotes(i).Range
    .Footnotes(i).Reference.Delete
  Next
End With
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

Carnegie · #5 04-19-2011, 11:07 PM

Hello

Sorry, been out of action for a few days... Afraid the macro hasn't done the trick. Unless you have any more tricks up your sleeve, I'll just have to hope that miraculously, once the tracked changes have been accepted, it all goes right. Thanks for trying, though.
C.

macropod · #6 04-19-2011, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carnegie

I'll just have to hope that miraculously, once the tracked changes have been accepted, it all goes right

But previously you said:

Quote:

the text came to me "clean" with no tracked changes. Yet still there was the jump in sequence in the original.

The document can't both be "clean" with no tracked changes AND needing tracked changes to be accepted.

Carnegie · #7 04-20-2011, 04:17 AM

Hello again

The thing is, I'm a book editor. When the "typescript" came to me it had no tracked changes, but I have introduced tracked changes so that the author can see what I've done. The "typescript's" footnote numbering was already corrupted when I got it. That's why it would be miraculous if it rectified itself when the tracked changes are accepted!

C.

macropod · #8 04-20-2011, 04:55 AM

Hi Carnegie,

I'd have thought the macro would work even if the document had tracked changes - if tracked changes was on when it ran, the numbering might get even stranger, though, as lots of footnotes would become 'deleted' and 'inserted' as the code ran. Accepting the tracked changes would fix this.

If the macro didn't/doesn't work on a document without tracked changes, then there is some other 'issue' with the way the footnotes have been created. Without seeing the document, it's impossible to say.

lezly · #9 03-10-2017, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macropod

Hi Carnegie,

This is beginning to sound like someone's given up on the auto numbering and has used their own numbering instead. Either that or they've just added more paragraphs to an existing footnote, with 'footnote' numbers preceding those paragraphs and corresponding 'footnote' numbers in the body of the document.

Assuming it's the former, you should be able to fix the numbering with the following macro:

Code:

Sub FootnoteFix()
Dim i As Long, FtNtPos As Range
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
With ActiveDocument
  With .Range.FootnoteOptions
    .Location = wdBottomOfPage
    .NumberingRule = wdRestartContinuous
    .StartingNumber = 1
    .NumberStyle = wdNoteNumberStyleArabic
  End With
  For i = .Footnotes.Count To 1 Step -1
    Set FtNtPos = .Footnotes(i).Reference
    FtNtPos.Collapse (wdCollapseEnd)
    .Footnotes.Add Range:=FtNtPos
    FtNtPos.End = FtNtPos.End + 1
    FtNtPos.Footnotes(1).Range = .Footnotes(i).Range
    .Footnotes(i).Reference.Delete
  Next
End With
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

Thank you so much for this macro. It works on numbering the actual footnote, however, the numbering in the text section of the document is not working correctly. If I come up with a solution, I'll post it.

Oops, taken part of the old footnote number & is including it with the footnote text.

1-9 work perfectly. The problem starts with footnote #10.

macropod · #10 03-10-2017, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lezly

Thank you so much for this macro. It works on numbering the actual footnote, however, the numbering in the text section of the document is not
working correctly. If I come up with a solution, I'll post it.

Oops, taken part of the old footnote number & is including it with the footnote text.

1-9 work perfectly. The problem starts with footnote #10.

I don't understand what you mean by any of this.

lezly · #11 03-11-2017, 09:20 AM

xxxxxxxxxx

lezly · #12 03-11-2017, 11:32 AM

xxxxxxxxxx

macropod · #13 03-12-2017, 05:39 AM

Your attachment shows that the problems you described had nothing to do with Word's footnote numbering, but a failure on someone's part to understand how footnotes work, especially when 'track changes' is on. That failure has apparently led that person to try replacing the auto-numbering with manual numbering - and that's what created the mess; the numbers prefixed with 7 in the body of the document and orphaned 8, 9 & 0 in the footnotes are clear evidence of the numbers being typed, instead of being created as footnote references. You can't reasonably expect Word to 'handle' such creative user errors 'better'.

lezly · #14 03-12-2017, 07:30 AM

OK. Thanks anyway.

macropod · #15 03-13-2017, 01:31 AM

lezly: Kindly don't go deleting your posts' content after they have been replied to. Doing so makes it impossible for anyone else to see what was discussed a discussion that may have helped anyone who experienced similar problems, for example.

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