[Solved] Hide footnotes automatically

[alex]

I got a long document with hundreds of footnotes. Now I need to create a copy without them.

Is there a command with which I can hide all footnotes automatically?

Menu: Format/Pages/Footnotes (deactivated) doesn't work.

Thank you in advance for any help,
Alex

[acknak]

There is no simple on/off switch. But you can make them mostly disappear with a few steps:

Modify the Footnote paragraph style to hide the notes:

• Format > Styles and Formatting > Category (top left): Paragraph styles; Filter (bottom list): All Styles
  Click on "Footnote" > Modify > Font Effects > Hidden: YES (checked)
  OK

You can toggle the display of the footnotes by changing View > Nonprinting Characters: YES/NO. Oops--no you can't.

This will still leave the footnote separator line, but no notes and no space.

To omit the separator line, modify the page style(s):
Format > Page > Footnote > Separator line > Length: 0%

This still leaves the note anchors (markers) in the text. You can change the Footnote anchors character style to "hidden" as with the paragraph style, but this does not seem to hide the markers for me.

As a workaround, you can change the Footnote anchors character style > Font Effects > Font color: WHITE.

[acknak]

I was asked through a PM:

I have tried to follow your instructions and I have got as far as highlighting 'Footnote' but I do not know where to find 'Modify'.

After highlighting the "Footnote" style name, right-click on the highlighted area; a context menu, including "Modify" will appear.

[acknak]

In response to questions sent by PM, I recorded a video showing the steps outlined above:

Screencast video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynrPB9rAOhc

The document shown in the video is attached below. Note that it has a short page size so that an entire page will fit on the screen.

The steps shown in the video are described here:

1) Format > Styles and Formatting

Footnotes created in Writer automatically use the "Footnote" paragraph style. Any change to this style will automatically apply to all footnotes in the document.

2) Right-click on the "Footnote" style name in the list and choose "Modify".

3) On the "Font Effects" tab, choose option Hidden: YES (toggle the check by clicking on the box)

4) Click OK.

This will hide all the footnotes in the document, but the footnote anchors are still shown.

5) Switch to view the list of character styles; select "Footnote anchor," then right-click and "Modify". Choosing option "Hidden" again would be logical, but it does not work for some reason[*].

Instead, change the font color to white to make the footnote anchors invisible. You could also change the font size to something small to reduce the size, if you want.

The footnote separator is still visible. To hide the separator, modify the page style(s):

6) Format > Page > Footnote > Separator line > Length: 0%

The notes are not lost, only hidden, and you can bring them back by simply reversing the above steps at any time.

Contrary to what I wrote above, and to how Writer handles other hidden text, you can't toggle the hidden footnotes using View > Nonprinting characters.

[*] This is a known bug: Issue 38303: Footnote anchors cannot be hidden via character style
You can register there and add your vote (up to two) or comment.

[Wathonian]

A big thank you to Adnak for his patient help with this problem. His solution seems to work perfectly.

[JeJe]

Attached document has form buttons to run macro to perform the 3 steps above to hide or show footnotes.

Code: Select all

Sub ShowFootnotes
with thiscomponent.stylefamilies
.getbyname("CharacterStyles").getbyname("Footnote anchor").CharColor =-1
.getbyname("ParagraphStyles").getbyname("Footnote").charhidden = false
with .getbyname("PageStyles")
 for i = 0 to .count -1
if .getbyindex(i).isinuse then .getbyindex(i).FootnoteLineRelativeWidth  =25
next 
end with
end with
End Sub


Sub HideFootnotes
with thiscomponent.stylefamilies
.getbyname("CharacterStyles").getbyname("Footnote anchor").CharColor = rgb(255,255,255)
.getbyname("ParagraphStyles").getbyname("Footnote").charhidden = true
with .getbyname("PageStyles")
 for i = 0 to .count -1
if .getbyindex(i).isinuse then .getbyindex(i).FootnoteLineRelativeWidth  =0
next 
end with
end with
End Sub