Changing endnotes numbers style in existing doc

English
#1

I have an existing document in which I used the endnote number format suggested by LO (Roman). I would now like to change it to Arabic numerals, but using Tools > Footnotes and Endnotes > Numbering - does not work; the numbers remain Roman. I would be grateful for your assistance.

In a new document that I created as a test, it works and I can change it.
I would be grateful for your assistance.
Jan

#2

You noticed it works in a new document. Then, the issue could be related to the nature of the old document. How is it saved: odt or doc(x)? What is your OS? And your LO version (please, cite info from Help>About LO)?

#3

Thank you for your quick answer.

The document is .odt.

And the details you are asking for are:

Version: 25.8.3.2 (X86_64)
Build ID: 8ca8d55c161d602844f5428fa4b58097424e324e
CPU threads: 12; OS: Windows 11 X86_64 (build 26100); UI render: default; VCL: win
Locale: pl-PL (pl_PL); UI: pl-PL
Calc: threaded

J.

#4

Can you reduce your document to a 1- or 2-page excerpt, making sure the problem still exists? Replace possible confidential data with nonsense and attach it to a comment.

#5

I have attached the document, shortened to two pages.

J

W dniu 29.01.2026 o 13:26, ajlittoz via Ask LibreOffice pisze:

Test iii-123.odt (60.6 KB)

#6

You document is quite weird: the notes are styled Endnote but they appear where foot notes are expected. Even when I insert a new endnote, it goes at bottom of page. In principle, this is not possible according to Tools>Footnote/Endnote Settings.

I looked at the XML encoding and the notes are indeed classified as endnotes. However I noticed a high ratio of direct formatting. This made me suspicious.

The lists of styles, notably, character and list ones, confirmed my suspicion. Your document was initially written with M$ Word. There are important differences between DOCX (or perhaps RTF) and ODF in certain area to result in difficulties during conversion. I suppose this is one tricky case: your notes are now both foot- and end-notes and Writer does not know how to handle the case. Built-in commands are ineffective.

There is however a way to “fix” the document, which is acceptable only if the number of notes is relatively low (because the procedure is manual).

  1. right-click on the first note anchor in your text
  2. from the contextual menu, select Footnote or Endnote
  3. click on Footnote radio button
    Change is immediate, don’t press OK
  4. for all other notes:
    1. press the “next” arrow to access the next note
    2. click on Footnote

All your notes are now “standard” footnotes. But I don’t understand why the last part of the second note (at top of page 2) is detached from its first part and remains an endnote (and no longer anchored to anything in text). When I try to turn them into endnotes, they revert to their “zombie” not-footnote-and-not-endnote status.

I think that your document has been corrupted during the conversion.

#7

Let’s try:
Menu / Format / Sections / Options / Footnotes/EndNotes.

Custom format: 1,2,3
OK OK

1 Like
#8

@sokol92 Congratulations! I did not notice there was a section.

@jami51 Don’t use sections unless you really have a good reason. Nevertheless, review your formatting because of the Word-conversion induced direct formatting. Prefer character styles.

1 Like
#9

Bardzo Ci dziękuję za pomoc i wysiłek, który w to włożyłeś.

Jan

J.

Google Translate: Thank you very much for your help and the effort you put into this.

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