Documentation

Endnote Page Ranges

The following Scribe Tool for InDesign automates the handling of page ranges in endnote running heads.

Add Endnote Page Ranges

Inserts page ranges into the running heads of the notes section of a book to create text like “Notes to pages 15–17.”

Required Setup

  • The notes section must have a dedicated master page.
  • The running head box on that master page should have an object style applied (“running-notes” is recommended). Apply it to both verso and recto boxes.
  • In addition to any page numbers or decoration, the text of the running head box should be Notes to {}
  • The ennum character style must be applied locally within en paragraphs. This tool will not work if the ennum style is being added through a nested style setting.

The tool will collect some information from the user when it runs to ensure that the correct information is added:

  • Does this book renumber notes by chapter?
  • If yes, which paragraph style is used to denote heads within the endnote chapter? The tool will also consider the “aft” version of the style selected.
  • If yes, do you want the script to attempt to add the required sections? In most cases, the answer is yes. This allows the tool to differentiate endnote references with the same number according to the chapter in which each appears. If you already have named section markers in your file, select no.
  • If yes, do you want the script to use existing section markers to denote chapter numbers/names? In most cases, the answer is no. The script can identify most standard chapter number text, as well as common front/back matter names. In rare cases (e.g., graphics used in place of textual chapter numbers), it may be necessary to provide this information to the script. This can be done by setting up InDesign sections and applying a section marker (e.g., “5”).
  • Which master spread is used for the endnote chapter?
  • Which object style is used to denote endnote running heads?

The tool creates cross-references to the endnote references and uses them to generate page ranges in the note running heads. After inserting the page ranges it will perform clean up. The clean up comprises: changing plural forms to singular when the page only contains one note (“Notes to Pages #–#”), removing a single page number repeated as a range (“Notes to Pages 5–5”), and converting the generated text in the running heads to regular text. If the text [UNIDENTIFIED ENNUM] appears in the note page headers, or the page ranges are incorrect, see the Troubleshooting section below.

Troubleshooting

Occasionally, the Add Endnote Page Ranges tool will not be able to properly generate page ranges. In these cases, the text [UNIDENTIFIED ENNUM] will usually appear in the running head. Less frequently, the page ranges themselves will be out of order or overlap. This section provides a list of items within the document to check. It is generally best to undo the Add Endnote Page Ranges operation, make the fixes listed here, and then rerun the tool; however, if the problem is noticed later, the tool can generally be rerun at any point.

  1. If page ranges are missing on every page, confirm the ennum and enref styles have been properly applied (and not via nested or GREP styles).
  2. If some pages have incorrect page ranges but others do not, check the head within the endnotes. The tool will look for the style chosen in the dialog and the aft version of that style. It will not look for -alt styles (unless an -alt style is chosen in the dialog).
  3. If incorrect page ranges only occur around front or back matter, check the naming of the front/back matter. The tool recognizes the following common types: “Introduction,” “Foreword,” “Preface,” “Conclusion,” “Epilogue,” “Appendix.” If front/back matter appearing in the document follows a different convention, it may not be properly marked. This can be addressed by creating a section with a section marker and having the tool use existing section markers.
  4. If the script is marking sections (the most common scenario), it may mark them incorrectly if -alt and non--alt styles are mixed on a page. The most likely situation would be cn-alt with ct. In this case, the script will find the ct before it finds the cn-alt and not mark the section with its section number. Making cn and ct styles consistent per chapter should resolve this.
  5. Check if the file has section breaks on non-chapter opening pages. If this is the case, it can disrupt the tool and give undefined page ranges. To fix this, right click on the pages in the page pane and uncheck the “start new section” box. Scroll through the page pane and look for a little triangle over pages that should not be starting new sections.

If none of the items on this list fixes your page ranges, reach out to your Scribe contact or file a support request here.

See Scribe Tools for InDesign for information on the use of other tools.