Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

DB Novice
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Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

Post by DB Novice »

My Word document is a book that was scanned in and has approximately 150 end notes, which are divided by chapters, so in the End Notes section at the back of the book, Chapter One has end notes 1-12, then Chapter Two has notes 1-15, etc., with each group starting again with number one.

But these are not "active" (I don't know the proper terminology) notes. In the text and in the end notes section, they are simply numbers that are superscript. (The notes at the end each are started with the corresponding number, also in superscript.)

Is there a way to automatically find each of those numbers in the text and link them to the appropriate note at the end of the book (like they would be had I manually entered them in a document while I was typing it)?

Again, this would save an incalculable number of hours...

Thanks in advance,

Warren

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HansV
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Re: Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

Post by HansV »

Could you attach a small sample document with some dummy text to give us an idea what the "static" endnote markers and endnote text look like?
Best wishes,
Hans

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Re: Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

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Here is a sample document. Hope this is what you need and that it helps.
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Re: Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

Post by HansV »

Thanks. I fear that this is beyond me. I hope that someone else can take it up, using your sample document.
Best wishes,
Hans

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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

Post by ChrisGreaves »

DB Novice wrote:
11 Mar 2023, 14:34
Is there a way to automatically find each of those numbers in the text and link them to the appropriate note at the end of the book (like they would be had I manually entered them in a document while I was typing it)?
Hello Warren.
The short answer is : Yes!
Again, this would save an incalculable number of hours...
Not quite. calculable to the minute! :grin:

Please take a look at the attached Word2003 document.
Does this look like what you need?
Try adding a few endnotes of your own.
Does the document behave the way you want it to?
Try deleting and editing a few endnotes (yours and mine)
Does the document behave the way you want it to?

Please don't fret about the finer points of layout or style (font etc) yet.
I want to know if your idea is that the "fixed endnote" references that you provided in your DOCX are converted to my idea of "non-fixed endnote" references in my DOC document.

Thanks, Chris
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Re: Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

Post by ChrisGreaves »

DB Novice wrote:
11 Mar 2023, 14:34
But these are not "active" (I don't know the proper terminology) notes.
Depending on my audience :grin: I might describe them as "variable" or "automatic" or "MSWord standard endnotes"

Your experiments with adding, editing, deleting footnotes will help you towards that, as will inserting a few Chapter headings by copy/pasting my Chapter Headings.

Regardless of our terminology, does your term "active" mean that you want the endnote (and chapter) numbers to adjust to your edits so that the numbering is fluid but always tied to the correct text in the endnotes?

Cheers, Chris
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Re: Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

Post by DB Novice »

Yes, Chris. Those notes seem to behave appropriately.

This is a finished document, so I will not be adding any additional notes.

My document has a total of 120 notes that are divided between 10 chapters and a prologue. The notes for each chapter start over at "1."

I don't think that I need to maintain that convention, continuously numbered would be OK,

So, how do I go about it?

Thanks!

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Re: Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

Post by ChrisGreaves »

DB Novice wrote:
11 Mar 2023, 20:48
Yes, Chris. Those notes seem to behave appropriately.
OK/
Just to confirm:-
1: This is a one-off job; you have no intention of needing to use this again (otherwise I would have to spend time writing generic code)
2: There are 120 notes in total.
3: There will thus be dynamic Endnotes numbered 1-120 at the end of the job
4: There are ten Chapters and a chapter known as a Prologue.
5: You could rename the Prologue to be Chapter 0 while the program runs
6: The 120 notes will be converted to dynamic Endnotes in a MSWord area that normally houses Endnotes.
7: If you need the Endnote header “Chapter 1: Blue and White” and the like, you could paste that in manually; There are only 10(11) chapters from (4) above

Is that suitable as a set of constraints? Can you live with that?
Thanks, Chris
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Re: Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

Post by ChrisGreaves »

DB Novice wrote:
11 Mar 2023, 14:34
Again, this would save an incalculable number of hours...
Hi Warren; just curious.
Suppose that you were to tackle this one-off job manually (copy/cut and paste), how long do you think it would take you?
My estimate is that I could work continuously at a steady rate of about one footnote per minute, which translates into two hours manual labour.
Cheers, Chris
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Re: Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

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ChrisGreaves wrote:
12 Mar 2023, 14:47

Is that suitable as a set of constraints? Can you live with that?
Thanks, Chris
Yes, I think that would be fantastic!

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Re: Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

Post by DB Novice »

btw, in regards to the time involved for the manual conversion, i just had shoulder surgery that limits me to left-handed typing and mouse maneuvering. :(

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Re: Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

Post by ChrisGreaves »

DB Novice wrote:
15 Mar 2023, 17:01
btw, in regards to the time involved for the manual conversion, i just had shoulder surgery that limits me to left-handed typing and mouse maneuvering. :(
Well, of course, and I'd take longer to get the job done after surgery like that, but supposing that you were doing this by hand in your regular state of health, how long do you think it would take you?

I don't mind if you also give me an idea of time taken in your current (recovering) state of health. I assume that that time would be significantly longer, but what is your idea of a realistic cost to the job if it were done by hand? I'm curious because in part you think that this will this would take an incalculable number of hours, and even though you intend to do the task only once in your life, the solution may well be useful to the wider world.

Thanks, Chris
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Re: Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

Post by DB Novice »

I haven't been able to get back to that project yet due to my rehab, etc., but in the meantime, I have been asked to perform the same task on three other documents in a similar fashion. I am guessing I may need to do this about once monthly for the next few years...

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Re: Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

Post by ChrisGreaves »

DB Novice wrote:
22 Mar 2023, 19:45
I haven't been able to get back to that project yet due to my rehab, etc., but in the meantime, I have been asked to perform the same task on three other documents in a similar fashion. I am guessing I may need to do this about once monthly for the next few years...
OK DBNovice. In that case an estimate of the time taken to do this manually becomes more important, doesn't it? The job may be up to 30 or 40 times the length of the original job, so then an automated solution would be significantly more important!
Cheers, Chris
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Re: Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

Post by DB Novice »

So, I started on a different document because of it having higher priority. It has about 350 notes.

It took me one hour to do the 40 notes associated with the first chapter.

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Re: Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

Post by ChrisGreaves »

DB Novice wrote:
28 Mar 2023, 07:38
So, I started on a different document because of it having higher priority. It has about 350 notes.
It took me one hour to do the 40 notes associated with the first chapter.
DB Novice, thank you for this estimate. We don't know whether or not it is accurate, but it is a starting-point and can be refined later.
Your original task with 150 Notes is estimated to take you four hours.
This is very good news because I timed myself to create a small chunk of code to do the job, and it took me just two hours, which suggests that a VBA solution, while not perfect, will be economical to run, even with a few potential clean-ups afterwards.
Of course my VBA solution was based on the limited descriptions of the data in this topic some two weeks ago, especially in this post.

I will wrap the thing up and attach it to a reply as soon as I've had my first coffee
Cheers, Chris
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Re: Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

Post by ChrisGreaves »

ChrisGreaves wrote:
28 Mar 2023, 09:10
I will wrap the thing up and attach it to a reply as soon as I've had my first coffee
... of after lunch or ...
Attached is a ZIP file with a Document.6.doc containing VBA code and a ReadMe document
The code is not robust and it assumes documents follow the standard of the document posted as an attachment to this post.
The code is cobbled together hastily, and many enhancements could be made, but it ought to do the job.
Cheers, Chris
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Re: Changing "static' end notes to real end notes

Post by DB Novice »

Thanks, Chris! I'll try to test it out this afternoon (Kansas time).