Is there a way to convert all footnotes to endnotes AND vice-versa?

There is a relatively convenient way to manually edit a footnote (or endnote) and change it to an endnote (or footnote). This is fine for a few notes, even a few dozen. But for hundreds, and back-and-forth between note style (as writers often need to do for submitting the same piece to different editors), this is very tedious.

(The counsel of despair is to bring the document into MS Word which has had this feature for many a long year.)

Serious web-searching has turned up no alternative for LibreOffice Writer yet, though. Has anyone devised a macro, or figured out a way of doing mass notes conversion to foot~ or end~ in a single pass?

I live in hope!

See now the enhancement request fdo#89352 on bugs.documentfoundation.org

Another way to change them is to open the file with a zip file unzipper (You can probably rename the extension from odt to zip and right click or double click). Open content.xml in a plain text editor (don’t use anything that will add code, like word) do a search and replace for footnote, replacing with endnote. save the file, rezip the directory, and rename it to the original filename with the extension. I am operating from memory, so I might be off on a detail here and there, but this worked for me and is pretty easy. Would be nice if it were a feature or an extension.

A bit cumbersome, but THIS is what I wanted! After saving the ODT as FODT, it takes 2 passes with normal search replace with a text editor in the FODT file:

  • class="footnote to class="endnote AND
  • name="Footnote to name="Endnote (or vice versa)

The search terms = text in “code” highlighting, used as-is (no close quotes) to ensure all relevant tags changed. Thanks!

2 Likes

Awesome method!

Not built in or bundled with a DocumentFoundation extension to LibreOffice.

But, believe you’ll find the Zotero Standalone v3.0 with v3.5.x plugin for OpenOffice/LibreOffice supplemented with the FireFox browser plugin will do exactly the style changes you are looking for–working with CSL and “reference marks” of your citations in your text. You may also want to activate a no cost dataservice with Zotero.org for hosting your data–but that is optional.

Some version dependencies on both sides, but a pretty active forum and useful documentation. Some of the “3rd party” documentation is best.

Just verified that Zotero Stand Alone v3.08 and LibreOffice plug-in 3.5.3 are functional with LibreOffice Writer 3.6.1 RC2 and Java JRE 1.7u6, and that footnote/endnote format can be toggled while working in “classic” citation mode. Document will reformat dynamically to the chosen style.

I must have done something wrong because this isn’t working for me, not with a document created before Zotero install(s), nor one I did after. I get the “Set Document preferences” dialog from the Zotero toolbar in LO, I see the radio-button options for foot/endnote, but … no change! :frowning:

Hmmm, puzzling. I’ve used Scholars Aid and numerous EndNote releases. Zotero’s referencing are very similar. I had no issues with inserting “field codes” (place holders for dynamic restructure of citation style), so I know it works. Maybe get some specific help on the Zotero user forums?

Other aspect is usage, Zotero standalone builds a “library” of source material. Enter bibliographical metadata there once, it becomes the basis for your citation, footnote, endnote or bibliography generation. You populate the “library” with your source details–then reference them with field codes.

As long as you maintain your document with the field codes–you can dynamically change citation style and save out a copy for submission. Once the field codes are removed (or if they don’t exist) they have to be reinserted against your “library” to be able to create/modify the citation style.

@vsfoote - Sounds like this is solution depends fairly heavily on using Zotero from the start. Good to know about! It would also be good to have a “native” LO solution at some point. Very grateful for the input though!

Sure, hope you can put it to use. Never know when Thompson-Reuters will revist EndNote support for LibO/AOO. But at least TDF is considering partnering with Zotero project, if not native will at least assure complete integration of these two FOSS projects.