Is there a way to automatically turn hyperlinks into footnotes when compiling?

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
1

Hi everyone, sorry if this has been asked before; I searched through the forum and I couldn’t find a direct answer so I’m posting this question. Hopefully the answer is straightforward!

I’m trying to figure out the best way to insert hyperlinks into a document (so I can paste the whole thing into Google Docs where my team will read it)… and also have those links visible as footnotes (instead of underlined hyperlinks) when the document is exported to PDF, for printing.

Is there an easy way to do this? Is this what inline footnotes are for? (I’ve never quite understood those…)

Thanks for your help!
Matt

2

In Scrivener, create the hyperlink in the running text. Then, create a footnote with whatever content you want.

When you compile for the web, remove the footnotes. When you compile for PDF, remove the hyperlinks. Both options can be found in the general settings tab of the main Compile screen. See Section 23.4 in the Mac Scrivener manual.

Katherine

3

Thanks Katherine. This isn’t working… I’ve hyperlinked a specific word, and then I hit the right arrow and insert footnote… but the footnote seems to remove the hyperlink. What am I doing wrong?

4

Place the footnote after the hyperlink, not on top of it.

In the Project → Project Settings → Formatting pane, check the first box to “Use footnote marker.” That will make it easier to create footnotes without selecting text.

Katherine

5

Thank you Katherine! That works great.

I’m probably going to create a macro to automatically hyperlink and then footnote, so it’ll still only be one keyboard shortcut for me.

6

Talk about perfect timing - I just realized that I have exactly the same use case. Great question and incredibly helpful responses. Thanks to both of you.

Matt - I’d be really interested in learning more about your macro, if you make one and are inclined to share.

Thanks,
John

7

So this is a great solution when your book has only URL references you want to work appropriately for either ebooks or printed book. But what about when you have URL references and regular footnotes? Is there a way to get Scrivener to “Only Ignore URL footnotes” when compiling an eBook which has a mixture of both URL and regular text footnotes? Or is their an alternative solution?

8

You can have two note streams by using both inline and Inspector footnotes. You might like to explore the possibility of having the compile format for eBooks not include one of them.

:slight_smile:

Mark