Is it possible to create a master document from multiple files, each with its own endnotes section, and merge them into one endnotes section at the very end?

[RamkiLO]

I have a book as a single odt file with endnotes at the end (based on guidance from @ajlittoz). It works as intended.

But, now LO is very, very slow; i don’t know why. (My Ubuntu 24.04 desktop has 8GB RAM and 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-12400. LibreOffice version 24.2.6.2.)

So, i thought of splitting the single odt file into a few files and using a Master Document to “hold” them all together.

The problem is that when i split the odt file into 4 smaller odt files, each one comes with its own endnotes (the ‘main text’ in each odt file is a ‘section’, at the end of which there is an endnotes section).

When i create the Master Document the individual endnotes sections remain. Thus, there are four “endnotes chapters” titled “References”!

Is there a way to move all of them into one endnotes section after the last chapter?

I browsed the following but my query isn’t addressed in these. Hence this new post.

How to Create a “Master” Document With An Endnotes Section Header and Which Has Documents Following The Endnotes?

I don’t see your point here. There seems to be no question about some help needed. You seem to propose a work around for some problem you experienced but you don’t describe accurately the context, notably LO version is missing. Does your complaint appear after some document threshold? What failed with a master document? You must understand that information flows from subdocuments to master, never the other way round. This means the end notes or TOC can’t be isolated in a subdocument. These da…

Where in LO master Endnotes are stored, and how to rearrange the position - #2 by ajlittoz (and also post #57097 referenced in this post).

Thank you.

[EarnestAl]

@RamkiLO

now LO is very, very slow

Assuming Windows OS. If you haven’t already done this, then try and see if it helps speed. Click Tools - Options - LibreOffice - View and tick the box Force Skia software rendering. Allow LibreOffice to restart and see if speed has improved. Cheers, Al

[RamkiLO]

Sorry i forgot to mention that i use Ubuntu (24.04), not MS Windows. Thanks, anyway!

[EarnestAl]

Yes, it seems to be default if your endnotes are at the end of the document rather then end of the chapter. Quick sample attached.
TestEndnotes1.odt (28.9 KB)
TestEndnotes2.odt (28.7 KB)
TestEndnotesMaster.odm (27.9 KB)

[RamkiLO]

Thank you for the example.

Your two chapters each have endnotes but when i open the odm file and update the links, the endnotes from both chapters move to the end of the combined “master file”!

You achieved what i hope(d) to but I don’t know how you did it.

My individual odt files look similar to your two odt files.

What gives?! I will examine your odt files more closely to see how they are organized differently than my odt files.

[ajlittoz]

@RamkiLO

But, now LO is very, very slow

Give more hints about it: order of magnitude of document size (are you above 1000 pages?), number of images and tables, and formatting routine. The latter is extremely important: using direct formatting progressively stresses Writer and slows it down because every format directive is explicitly inserted in text flow. Formatting through styles, including bold, italic and other supposedly “innocent” changes like font size, colour, keeps only a single copy of the directive which can be centrally controlled.

@RamkiLO

each one comes with its own endnotes

You may have a section in your original document. Sections in Writer are mainly used to temporarily (a local change in the text flow) change page “geometry” and also to “jail” notes in a particular location instead of throwing them all at end of document.

This section may be innocuous in the original document if it covers the whole file (notes at end of section are the same as notes at end of document). But when you split the file, the section is kept in every new file and result in several note areas.

Use the Navigator to display the effective structure and contents of your document.

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Globally, try to always design the simplest and leanest structure for your documents. More than often, users start by inserting too many “structure objects” like sections without knowing exactly the role of such objects in Writer. The case is made difficult by the lack of universally agreed vocabulary in electronic document processing and the overwhelming position of M$ Word which has imposed its workflow (which unfortunately is not based on a satisfactory abstract model). For example, word section does not cover the same concept in Writer and Word.

[RamkiLO]

(@EarnestAl )

I couldn’t replicate what you achieved. I must be doing something wrong with ‘sections’.

I am thinking of re-creating the book from scratch (by copy paste) but that seems like a humangous task and there’s no guarantee that i will succeed!

[RamkiLO]

(@ajlittoz)
Thank you for your suggestions and advice.

I think i am not using much direct formatting of paragraphs and mostly use styles to achieve desired formatting.

But, I do add emphasis (bold and/or italics for some words) in many places.

I removed many figures (temporarily) because I also suspected these could be causing the slowdown. I have twelve images, ten frames (that ‘hold’ ten of the twelve images), and four tables.

I have one landscape page (all others being in portrait mode) but that doesn’t seem to be causing the slow-down.

In the past i’ve created larger files with more images and tables and never had this much difficulty with LO, despite doing so on an older computer.

I trimmed the file by removing a few chapters to separate files so i could edit them easily without waiting forever for LO to respond to changes and to reduce the frequency of crashes.

The biggest file is 2.2M (94,215 words, 644,198 characters) and this is the one which is slowing LO; i don’t have this problem with the other files (that I yanked out of the original book file).

[ajlittoz]

2.2MB is small by today’s standards. Your document is likely ~150 pages and 12 images, 10 frames plus 4 tables do not count as “stressing Writer”. Consequently, the cause is somewhere else.

Attach your document. If you consider it confidential or personal, attach it to a private message. You access private messaging by clicking on the icon left of my comment or my name then pressing the Message button.

[RamkiLO]

Thank you very much for your generous offer to help. I will take it up but with a couple of weeks delay. As I mentioned earlier, I split the book into a few small(er) files so I could complete the work without getting stuck with LO issues.

I hope to complete writing the book in a couple of weeks and then will put all of the files back together in one file. (I am not going to spend time now trying the “master document route”. I will experiment with it later.)

After that struggle ends I will share the file. I’m also curious to know what I may have done wrong.

[ajlittoz]

I prefer to have a look at the document in its present state (where the fault is guaranteed to be present). So send it as is in a private message and continue to work on your workaround. This will leave me more time without pressure to analyse your file.

[RamkiLO]

Sorry about the misunderstanding (likely caused by the way i formulated the ‘problem statement’ earlier).

I don’t have problems with the current versions of my odt files (because they’re small). I am sure I will face problems when i bring all of them back together.

When i send you the combined file, there won’t be any pressure from me! You may take your time!

Thank you.