Affinity Publisher: problems with note conversion

[Pyanepsion]

v2.5.5.2636, and before

Hello,

An empty page is systematically added towards the end of the document when converting footnotes to endnotes, and similarly when converting endnotes to footnotes (see video and attached file).

It is also possible to convert a notes format to itself, which not only appears useless, but can also lead to errors if you think the conversion has been carried out correctly.

Finally, when deleting an empty page containing endnotes, then converting to footnotes, text overruns occur.

Corrective actions expected:

• Remove the automatic addition of the empty page when converting notes.
• Hide the possibility of converting the note format to itself.
• Add missing pages after conversion to avoid loss of information.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further information.

notes.afpub

[Hangman]

Hi @Pyanepsion,

This depends on how you have set up your Endonte positioning...

If the note position is set to 'End of Story' then they will follow on from the end of the story rather than on a new page added at the end of the document which occurs when the note position is set to 'Separate Frame', Shared Section Frame', 'Shared Document Frame' or 'End of Book'...

1 hour ago, Pyanepsion said:

Finally, when deleting a page containing endnotes, then converting to footnotes, text overruns occur.

That makes sense because you've deleted page 39 which before converting your Footnotes to Endnotes contained text. By deleting this page before converting your Endnotes back to Footnotes you are now one page short hence the text overflow...

If you leave page 39 as is and then convert your Endnotes back to Footnotes you'll be back to where you started except for the additional page 40 where you're Endnotes were previously located which isn't linked to page 39 and can now be deleted so there won't be any text overflow...

1 hour ago, Pyanepsion said:

It is also possible to convert a notes format to itself, which not only appears useless

I can't immediately think of any practical use for this so logically like-for-like conversion options should be greyed out in the dialog...

[MikeTO]

1 hour ago, Pyanepsion said:

It is also possible to convert a notes format to itself, which not only appears useless, but can also lead to errors if you think the conversion has been carried out correctly.

I can't duplicate this on macOS - the OK button is disabled if you select to convert from/to the same time of note.

 

[Hangman]

8 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

can't duplicate this on macOS - the OK button is disabled if you select to convert from/to the same time of note

Just checked on Windows and it's the same, i.e., the OK button is greyed out as it is in @Pyanepsion's screen recording...

[Pyanepsion]

@Hangman

I understand the argument, but the situation is more complex. When converting to endnotes, the automatic addition of an empty page is already problematic.
- If the user deletes this empty page, it obviously creates a gap when returning to footnotes, which can easily go unnoticed.
- In practice, with large documents, when starting from endnotes and converting to footnotes, it is possible for text to overflow without being immediately detected, resulting in truncated text.

@MikeTO, @Hangman

The choice of converting a note format to itself should be completely hidden, as over time many users no longer pay attention to the button text. This could lead to repeated errors and a loss of efficiency, as the operation performed would be useless and potentially confusing.

 

 

[Hangman]

8 minutes ago, Pyanepsion said:

When converting to endnotes, the automatic addition of an empty page is already problematic.

Technically it isn't creating an empty page...

All options other than 'End of Story' will place the Endnotes on a new page by the nature of the options themselves... Subsequently when the Footnotes are converted to Endnotes, the space the Footnotes originally occupied on pages 1 and 2 is taken up with text from pages 2 and 3 leaving the small amount of text that originally appeared on page 39 now on page 38, i.e., remove the Footnotes completely, and the text alone fits on to 38 pages rather than 39 pages...

When using an option other than 'End of Story' an additional, non-linked page is created to accommodate the Endnotes, so page 39 is not new, it's simply empty because the text has reflowed owing to the repositioning of the Footnotes to endnotes at the end of the document...

I do understand your point and I think this is something that could be improved but I can equally see why it does what it is currently doing...

[Pyanepsion]

2 hours ago, Hangman said:

Technically it isn't creating an empty page...

Your explanation is clear and this is indeed what I tried to highlight in my video. However, from the user’s point of view, the problem remains the same: we end up with either empty pages at the end of the document, or missing pages. The aim of this bug report is, therefore, to consider improvements to this routine, to better meet the practical needs of users. The aim is not simply to justify the current, obvious behavior, but rather to explore ways of avoiding these inconsistencies in the final layout, which can be very costly.

[Hangman]

Completely understand, I’m not trying to justify the current behaviour as I definitely think it could be improved so definitely good that you’ve raised the issue… 

I think it’s going to be interesting to see how everything changes once multi page spreads are introduced…