AfPub2, Endnotes with hyperlinked URLs keep vanishing

[Kelly Bellis]

I've added several endnotes which are links, fully written out URLs to webpages, and then also made them hyperlinked to those pages. So far, I have had to do this twice today. Then without any warning or indications otherwise, they have vanished. I can't say even when exactly it happens, much less what I've done that possibly could have triggered this behavior. However, the website addresses was the only text in the endnote.

The last article I prepared in AfPub2 was from about a month ago (17 May 2023) and this troubling endnote vanishing behavior was not observed, though note that there was other text in the endnotes that were not hyperlinks. Also possibly worth noting as relevant, these endnotes originated from a LibreOffice Writer document that had its footnotes converted into endnotes by AfPub2:

 

[MikeTO]

Is the note number disappearing along with the note text (URL) or is just the note text disappearing? Is the note marker in the body text disappearing?

I highly recommend not starting a note with a hyperlink or any other text that requires a character style because the style will be applied to the note number as well as to the note text. This is a known limitation of notes in Publisher.

[Kelly Bellis]

Hi Mike,

In the last instance, the number remained. I honestly cannot recall with this morning's instance, nor when it happened for the first time seen later yesterday afternoon.

As for the work around, and after 3 times bitten, I'm avoiding the use of endnotes altogether.

[Callum]

Hi Kelly,

There is a known issue similar to this regarding end note content disappearing when any character or paragraph style is edited could you check if this is whats causing your hyperlinks to disappear?

Thanks
C

[Kelly Bellis]

Hello Callum,

I believe that the paragraph style for endnotes changed when switching between the Notes, Document-wide tab to Custom, though this may have accounted for only one instance.

Kind regards,

Kelly

[Chris Bossem]

End notes are constantly disappearing. It's really frustrating. I am not using hyperlinks

[Kelly Bellis]

@Chris Bossem

Hi Chris,

Welcome to the forum!

For the final article, and in my subsequent work in AfPub2, I've made sure not to only have hyperlink URLs in any endnote. If the endnote must include a link, preceding the URL with normal text has so far worked. In the example below, I actually only used one end note and avoided using them by just using regular document anchors & links for Baseline Note, Apps Used and Change Log.

 

Kind regards,

Kelly

 

 

[Chris Bossem]

Hi Kelly

Thanks for your input, the problem is, I'm not using any kind of hyperlink...! Just normal text. Any time I move a page above the notes, or adjust any text, the notes disappear.
 

And as a bonus, the values that I have for Body text have now been changed so that all of the vowels come out as superscript and I can no longer edit Body text. And I'm such a fan of Affinity but this is driving me nuts.

[Old Bruce]

5 minutes ago, Chris Bossem said:

And as a bonus, the values that I have for Body text have now been changed so that all of the vowels come out as superscript and I can no longer edit Body text.

I will wager that the Character Panel has been set to use Superscript. Some fonts will react oddly.

[Kelly Bellis]

That is peculiar, and frustrating.

FYI & FWIW - And as I mentioned earlier, the problem didn't present itself when originated from a LibreOffice Writer document that had its footnotes converted into endnotes by AfPub2.  

[Chris Bossem]

Thank you Old Bruce, you win your wager.

[Kelly Bellis]

On 6/14/2023 at 3:24 PM, MikeTO said:

Is the note number disappearing along with the note text (URL) or is just the note text disappearing? Is the note marker in the body text disappearing?

I highly recommend not starting a note with a hyperlink or any other text that requires a character style because the style will be applied to the note number as well as to the note text. This is a known limitation of notes in Publisher.

Hello Mike,

I wasn't sure if it's appropriate to start a new thread when the issue of Notes in Publisher mentioned above appears to have evolved and is still present in AfPub2, v2.5.7, but for now (1.5 years later), let me begin by answering your question as it applies today: Both the note number and note text have vanished on the Endnotes page; additionally, the respective note numbers are also gone in the main text body of the document

Screenshot from a progress saved PDF (20241207) while noting a separate issue of the void between endnote 4 and 5 was where a picture frame was supposed to be seen but is somehow missing.

Today the Endnotes page only is showing the heading (Endnotes) and a few anchors, though the Anchors panel indicates more (?)

I may have complicated things through an ad hoc ibid work around. As far as my understanding of AfPub goes, there's no provision for reusing the same end note multiple times and my ibid work around likely accounts for the 5 anchors visible below.

 

I really thought that the Notes issue(s) had been resolved until today and wonder how best to continue?

Thank you very much for any suggestions.

Kind regards,

Kelly

 

[MikeTO]

1 hour ago, Kelly Bellis said:

I wasn't sure if it's appropriate to start a new thread when the issue of Notes in Publisher mentioned above appears to have evolved and is still present in AfPub2, v2.5.7, but for now (1.5 years later), let me begin by answering your question as it applies today: Both the note number and note text have vanished on the Endnotes page; additionally, the respective note numbers are also gone in the main text body of the document

Screenshot from a progress saved PDF (20241207) while noting a separate issue of the void between endnote 4 and 5 was where a picture frame was supposed to be seen but is somehow missing.

Today the Endnotes page only is showing the heading (Endnotes) and a few anchors, though the Anchors panel indicates more (?)

I may have complicated things through an ad hoc ibid work around. As far as my understanding of AfPub goes, there's no provision for reusing the same end note multiple times and my ibid work around likely accounts for the 5 anchors visible below.

I really thought that the Notes issue(s) had been resolved until today and wonder how best to continue?

There is still a lurking bug with endnotes - somebody else had the same issue a week ago, too.

If you don't have it selected, select Text > Notes > Show Note Marks. It is very important that you type inside the endnote brackets which are invisible unless this is selected, making it easy to type outside of them. Typing out side the brackets will cause bad things to happen.

My only other useful suggestion is to make a fresh back up each day so that if you lose your endnotes, you can revert to a backup. Because once they're gone, they are gone and there is no way to retrieve them.

Picture frame: Since the gap is there the frame may not be lost - check the Layers panel and see if it's present but somehow hidden. There is still an issue with footnotes where occasionally one will be positioned in the wrong spot and will be hidden. Perhaps that's what's happening with your picture frame.

Ibid: Yes, a cross-reference to another endnote is the only way to accomplish that.

Good luck!

[MikeTO]

On 6/14/2023 at 3:24 PM, MikeTO said:

I highly recommend not starting a note with a hyperlink or any other text that requires a character style because the style will be applied to the note number as well as to the note text. This is a known limitation of notes in Publisher.

There's a workaround for this issue I mentioned last year. You can start a note with a Zero Width Space and apply the character formatting to the first character after the space. That will avoid applying the formatting to the note marker.

Cheers

[Kelly Bellis]

18 hours ago, MikeTO said:

There's a workaround for this issue I mentioned last year. You can start a note with a Zero Width Space and apply the character formatting to the first character after the space. That will avoid applying the formatting to the note marker.

Cheers

Zero Width Space - I don't recall you mentioning that before or even having ever heard of a Zero Width Space until now, but I'll give it a try.

If I'm understanding you correctly, that would be accomplished by immediately following the Endnotes number, then add it procedurally through Text, Insert, Spaces and Tabs, Zero-width Space. Is this understanding correct?

 

 

[Kelly Bellis]

18 hours ago, MikeTO said:

Picture frame: Since the gap is there the frame may not be lost - check the Layers panel and see if it's present but somehow hidden. There is still an issue with footnotes where occasionally one will be positioned in the wrong spot and will be hidden. Perhaps that's what's happening with your picture frame.

Thank you for mentioning this also Mike. I forgot to mention that if everything hadn't been lost, I would have tried checking the Layers panel again, but can't do that now. Before all of the end notes vanished, I noticed the absent picture frame and I'm pretty sure that I looked for it in the Layers panel, but didn't see it and I was unable to discover why the gap caused by the non-existent picture frame stubbornly refused to leave.

[MikeTO]

3 hours ago, Kelly Bellis said:

Zero Width Space - I don't recall you mentioning that before or even having ever heard of a Zero Width Space until now, but I'll give it a try.

If I'm understanding you correctly, that would be accomplished by immediately following the Endnotes number, then add it procedurally through Text, Insert, Spaces and Tabs, Zero-width Space. Is this understanding correct?

That's correct. It's an invisible space and whatever character formatting you apply to that space will be what is applied to the note number, regardless of the text that follows it. It provides a separation from the real text's formatting.