My PhD supervisors always complained about my bad habit of placing citations or footnote reference numbers after a fullstop. I’ve just realised that Scrivener has this bad habit too! If I create a footnote after most words in a sentence then Scrivener (File > Compile) correctly puts the superscripted reference immediately after it. However if I create a footnote after the very last word in a sentence (but before the fullstop) then Scrivener Compiles the superscripted reference (and a space) after the fullstop.
If the caret represents the insertion point when the footnote is created
word1^ word2.
[/code]gives[code]
word¹ word2.
[/code]which is to be expected but[code]
word1 word2^.
[/code]produces[code]
word1 word2. ¹
[/code]most definitely [i]not[/i] what was expected or desired.
For comparison LibreOffice, Apple Pages, and Google Docs are consistent and produce what is expected. A footnote added immediately after a word always has the superscripted reference number placed after it no matter where in the sentence it is.
So [code]
word1^ word2.
[/code]gives[code]
word¹ word2.
[/code]and[code]
word1 word2^.
[/code]similarly results in[code]
word1 word2¹.
I’ve explored various File > Compile settings for footnotes but I can’t find one that will produce the correct behaviour for the last word of a sentence. Is there any to force it to position the superscript number in the right place or should I give up looking?
According to most style guides, last I checked around, the footnote or endnote marker should be placed after punctuation. There are other standards, and house styles as well, so if you do need it to act another way, there is an option in the Formatting preference pane: Terminate footnotes and comments before punctuation. This changes the behaviour when automatically guessing at where you want the highlight to appear for new notes, not existing ones. Of course, for cases where you need to override the behaviour, you can always choose precisely where the marker should appear yourself by selecting the text that will be highlighted yourself, and then adding a note.
Thanks yes that preference setting gives me what I want. I can understand that publishers might want such a footnote reference to appear after the fullstop however the non-preferenced beahaviour leads to ambiguity.
word1 word2. ¹ word3
Now what is that footnote reference supposed to link to? Is it with the first sentence or the second? It is placed in something of a no-man’s land like this. It might be taken as nothing more than a superscript number starting the new sentence.
I am not sure how you got that result (keeping in mind you’re using a code block instead of an RTF screenshot or something that more accurately depicts what happens). If I set the option so that footnote markers fall after punctuation and put the cursor anywhere in the last word of a sentence, I get a marker shortly following the punctuation, with a full space to the right of it and then the first letter of the next sentence. I don’t get a number floating out in the middle like that.