An out-of-order footnote

[philipt18]

Is there a way in Publisher to insert a footnote that is not part of the numbered footnotes? For example, if I have 100 numbered footnotes, but in the middle somewhere I want to put in a footnote with an * instead of a number. The rest of the footnotes would number correctly, but this one would use a symbol instead. I need this because I'm adding footnotes to a text that already has a footnote in it. My footnotes are all numbered, but I want the original one (which does indeed use an asterisk) to be as it was in the original text.

[Dan C]

Hi @philipt18,

If I've understood the result you're looking for, you can achieve this doing the following:

• Add all of your footnotes as required
• Select the footnote in the text body that you wish to change to an asterisks
• Under Window > References > Notes, select Footnotes > Custom
• With this specific footnote selected, change the Number format from the dropdown menu, and tick Restart numbering now
• Locate the next footnote in your body text after this changed indicator and manually enter the Start Numbering value, so that the count continues from the footnote previous to the asterisks footnote, and also tick Restart numbering now

I've attached a quick screen recording showing this below -

 

Is this what you're hoping to achieve please?

[philipt18]

Thank you. Just to be clear, I would need to do this after everything is done? If I add another footnote later, it would mess up the numbering here?

[Dan C]

No problem at all!

18 hours ago, philipt18 said:

If I add another footnote later, it would mess up the numbering here?

If you were to apply the above setup, then add a footnote, this may require some tweaking for the following scenarios:

• The new footnote is added before the Asterisk footnote (ie 1, 2, ADDED HERE, *, 3, 4) - the correct number would be applied to this new footnote, but the immediate footnote after the Asterisk would now need to have the 'Start Numbering at' value increased by 1 (or however many new footnotes you've added before the Asterisk note)
   
• The new footnote is added after the Asterisk footnote, before the next immediate footnote in the document (ie 1, 2, *, ADDED HERE, 3, 4) - you would need to remove the previously set 'Restart Numbering now' checkbox for the next footnote in the document (ie '3' in the above example) and instead set this for the new footnote you've created.
   
• The new footnote is added after the Asterisk footnote, and after the next immediate footnote in the document (ie 1, 2, *, 3, ADDED HERE, 4)- this would apply the correct value as expected and increase the value of footnotes following this, meaning no changes should be required.

I hope this clears things up