Footnote font changes

[LudwigII]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hi. I have Word 2004 Student Edition with all the updates. I've never been able to change the font of the footnote number in the main text once it has been created - even though you can change its size and style. Very annoying. Any suggestions, or is this just a flaw?

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hello Ludwig,

It's do-able.

The default for the "Footnote Reference" style is the character style
"Default Paragraph Font". You can change it to any other character style.

Choose Format menu => Style and scroll to "Footnote Reference". On the right
you'll see "Description: Default Paragraph Font + Font:7 pt, Raised by 3
pt". Click on the "Modify" button.

In the new window, next to "Style based on", pop down "Default Paragraph
Font" and choose another character style. You may need to create a special
character style beforehand if none of your existing styles suit.

That will apply the new font to both the numbers in the body text and the
footnotes themselves.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================

 

[LudwigII]

Hello Clive,

Many thanks for the suggestion. It didn't work, unfortunately, and it even had the effect of changing the word in which the cursor was hovering into superscript! To clarify, I created a text in Baskerville, then decided to go back to good old Times New Roman, except that I couldn't change those footnotes in the body text. So maybe your solution doesn't work retrospectively?

Best wishes

 

[LudwigII]

Aha! Solved it. I have to select each footnote number, then change the style in the Format menu as you said. Thanks

Ludwig

 

[CyberTaz]

Clive's procedure works just fine - "retrospectively" is a major benefit of
using Styles in the first place Your body text was reformatted because
you clicked the APPLY button after making the changes to the Footnote
Reference style, so the style was applied at the spot where your insertion
point was at the time. Rather than using the APPLY button, make your changes
to the style then click CLOSE.

Also, as a variation on that process you can select the attributes you
prefer for the Footnote Reference style from the Formatting section of the
dialog and/or the Format button menu rather than basing it on another style.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[CyberTaz]

You should not have to do anything of the sort. If you find that to be
necessary it begs the question as to how you created your footnotes in the
first place. Did you use Insert> Footnote, or did you simply type the
footnote numbering & text yourself? If the latter, it would explain why
you're having the problem - the Footnote Reference Style was never applied
to your footnotes in the first place. Therefore, changing the Style's specs
would have no effect on them.

When Styles are used, formatting of the text is controlled by the Style. If
the Style is later modified any content with that Style applied to it is
automatically reformatted based on the Style's new specs.

If you did use the Insert> Footnote method but things aren't working as
Clive described you could be dealing with a corrupt document.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[LudwigII]

Thanks for your help, Bob. Your 'close' rather than 'apply' did not work either. I did use 'insert footnote', so maybe I do have a corrupt file after all. What do you suggest? Cut and paste everything into a new file? I should also have said that I am using Zotero, so maybe that is the problem? Better have a look at their forum!

Best

 

[CyberTaz]

I'm not familiar with Zotero, but any software that interacts with another
program or it's files can have negative effects as well as positive.

If there's a need to pursue the corruption possibility:

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/DocumentCorruption.html

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Clive Huggan]

Ludwig,

I'm a bit sceptical that corruption is present.

I suspect you have not properly created a *character* style (via Format menu
=> Style => New) on which to base the Footnote Reference style. When I
tested this whole procedure for you in Word 2004 before replying (because
no-one has asked this question here during the past 5 years or so) I created
a character style that was in a blue italicized font quite different from
the one I have in body text. I called it "for footnote numbers". I then
based the Footnote Reference Number style on it, exactly as described. All
footnote numbers, in the body text and footnotes, changed to blue italic, in
that font, retrospectively throughout the whole document.

You may find some notes on the way I use Word for the Mac, titled "Bend Word
to Your Will", which are available as a free download from the Word MVPs'
website (http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html). See pages
101-102.

[Note: "Bend Word to your will" is designed to be used electronically and
most subjects are self-contained dictionary-style entries. If you decide to
read more widely than the item I've referred to, it's important to read the
front end of the document -- especially pages 3 and 5 -- so you can select
some Word settings that will allow you to use the document effectively.]

It often happens that people make assumptions and don't follow the
instructions exactly. I suspect that if you go back through them thoroughly,
all will be well. If not, post back.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================