This is high-level exercise. Ir requires full styling without any direct-formatting (as is the case whenever frames are involved). Success on your side depends on how you master styles.
There are two aspects in your question:
- automatic note numbering
- placement of notes in margin with conflict resolution
Note numbering
What you need is an auto-incrementing counter. In Writer parlance, this is called a number range. It is created the first time you insert a “note anchor” and you use the same counter afterwards.
- where you want your first note,
Insert>Cross-reference
- go to the
Variables tab
- in Type, select Number range, give it a Name like MarginNote
-
Format is Arabic (1 2 3) by default, but you can choose any other to fit your needs/taste
- Insert
Once the number range is created, inserting another anchor is simply:
- where you want your note,
Insert>Cross-reference
- go to the
Variables tab
- in Type, select Number range, and in Select MarginNote
- Insert
This takes care of the note anchor.
Note location
Note text will be contained in a frame. To grant stability of note location (preventing it from jumping erratically when text is edited), a frame style must be applied and you must absolutely refrain from touching the frame with the mouse nor resizing it (read this sentence 7 times). Direct formatting has a disastrous effect which messes up everything. Most of the time this direct formatting cannot be removed (notably Format>Clear direct formatting has no effect because it targets text formatting only, not frames). You have been warned.
In the sample file below, I modified Default Page Style to Mirrored mode so that the outer frame is wider. This is a small difference compared to your question where you asked for “right side”.
I create a MarginNote frame style with the following properties:
- in
Type: Anchor To paragraph, Size Width = outer margin width minus some spacing (here 4cm vs. 5cm), Height = Autosize
- again in
Type: Position properties are critical for correct auto-positioning:
-
Horizontal Center relative to Outer page border with Mirror on even pages ticked
-
Vertical Top relative to Paragraph text area
-
Keep insised text boundaries ticked
The latter one instructs Writer to adjust slightly the frame vertically to avoid overflowing into bottom margin or, if the adjustment is too big, to page break before the paragraph to keep the paragraph and frame on the same page.
- in
Wrap: Wrap Off selected, Options Allow overlap unticked
The latter allows automatic conflict resolution between frames. If you don’t untick it, frames relative to the same paragraph will overlap and if you try to solve the conflict with the mouse, you create direct formatting and YOU LOSE!
Spacing has absolutely no effect because you have no (ordinary) text in the margin. So, keep it at 0.
- in
Borders, remove borders (unless you want them of course) and add 0.05cm Spacing at Top and Bottom to separate consecutive frames
Assembling pieces together
This is how you enter your note text.
- put the cursor after the note anchor (or enter this procedure immediately after making the note anchor)
-
Insert>Frame>Frame
A default frame is created somewher in your text and is elected. DO NOT move it with the mouse or do anything on it (or you’ll lose!). Apply MarginNote* frame style. This will send the frame in the outer margin at its expected position.
- click on an empty spot in the margin to deselect it, then click inside
- apply Footnote paragraph style and type the note text.
Improvements
To make your document look more professional, apply Footnote Anchor to the anchor and Footnote Characters to the number at start of note text (inside the frame).
Alternate approach
Above, I suggested to create the anchor (which auto-increments the counter), then to cross-reference the anchor from the note frame.
You can do the reverse if you need to mention the same note from several locations: create the note first, inserting the number range at very start of the frame, and make the anchor a cross-reference to the note.
However, this could result in “weird” numbering because frames are “independent” sub-documents and they are scanned by Writer in “edit history order”. So if you did not create them “linearly” (in reading order), you may get a non-monotonous sequence.
I repeat it once more: be very cautious with frames. They are very very (should be written 7 times) sensitive to manual fidgeting in such a way that the only way out is to start again from scratch. Follow a very strict styling discipline.
Final remark
I notice you added the fact that your references are managed by Zotero. Zotero is a “universal” citation manager. By that, I mean it does not rely on office suite internals and reimplements everything with macros and direct formatting. Experiment to see how this interferes with paragraph and character styles in your notes. I am relatively confident the impact should be minimal on frames, provided Zotero does not generate too long text (otherwise you’ll meet the one-page limit of frames). It may also cause page breaks, leaving blank space at bottom of pages, to “synchronise” notes with paragraphs. So pay special attention to note font size to reduce this risk or increase margin width.
Sample files
Document created specifically to answer this question: AskLOMarginNotes.odt (59.7 KB)
Another document following a similar but somewhat different question (run-in notes): AskLOMarginNotes.odt (52.5 KB)
PS: when asking here, always mention OS name, exact LO version and save format. The latter is critical. The solution suggested here will work only in .odt because DOCX has no notion of frame style.
