I’m excited to announce a major new update to Footwork – the InDesign add-on for creating multi-column and run-on footnotes.

Version 3 introduces three important new features:

I. Full support for endnotes-as-footnotes. A new option, “Detach as endnotes” can be found under the Detach tab. This detaches the existing InDesign footnotes and converts them to endnotes. Footwork will then compose pages using these endnotes. The result is endnotes disguised as footnotes.

The advantage of doing this is that endnotes are much more flexible than footnotes! They can be set in columns, they can be set as run-on endnotes. They’re as flexible as regular text!

And, with regards Footwork, the connection between the footnote references and the footnotes themselves stays active. Deleting a footnote reference in the main text will delete the corresponding footnote, and all remaining footnotes will be instantly renumbered. Likewise, inserting a new footnote in the main text will automatically make room for a new footnote in the appropriate place in the footnote story and instantly renumber the remaining footnotes.

This behavior is more intuitive than having a plain text story acting as footnotes. In that case, adding and deleting footnotes required several more steps and was more cumbersome, and manual renumbering (using Footwork’s renumbering option) was required each time.

II. Reattach footnotes. A new option to reattach Footwork’s footnotes is now available under the Detach tab. Whether you’ve detached the original InDesign footnotes as plain text or as endnotes, it is now possible to convert these detached footnotes back to regular, live, InDesign footnotes.

This is useful in many scenarios. For example, when a Word file of the most up-to-date text is needed. Edits are often made to the typeset pages, so the typeset version of the document is probably the most up-to-date. By converting Footwork notes back to regular footnotes and exporting the text to Word, you will have an up-to-date version of the document in Word.

III. Page-side options. Under the Footwork tab, a new option to only run Footwork on left-hand or right-hand pages is available.
This can be useful if the document design reserves recto or verso pages for images or diagrams, or perhaps for a side-by-side translation of the text on the opposite page.

The upgrade to Version 3 is only $59. Click here to get your upgrade now!

To purchase additional full licenses of Footwork ($385), click here.

(If you have purchased a full license within the past 12 months you are elligible for a free upgrade. Your account has been automatically updated, and you should be able to download the latest version from the My Account page of the website.)