It is possible to convert plain-text notes to linked Word notes from the Post Processing Cleanup dialog with the option, Convert plain-text Footnotes and Endnotes to Word Footnotes and Endnotes. With this function, it is even possible to automatically “round-trip” linked notes to plain text and back again during Auto-Redact and eXtyles Advanced Processes, meaning that these eXtyles functions can have access to note content while preserving their Word properties.

The ability to convert plain-text notes back to linked Word notes opens up various possible workflows for handling footnotes and endnotes with eXtyles. The most appropriate workflow for your editing team will depend on several factors, and ultimately on the intended output(s) from the eXtyled Word document.

Possible note workflows include the following:

• Convert linked notes to plain-text: Depending on your configuration, linked notes may be converted to plain text during Activation, or at any time during Cleanup or Post-Processing Cleanup. Plain-text notes may then be styled and automatically processed by eXtyles.
• Convert to Linked Notes for Downstream Processing: Having converted the linked notes to plain text, or starting with original plain text notes, you can convert the notes back to linked notes from the Post Processing Cleanup dialog after eXtyles processing, for example to allow the Word file to be printed to PDF or imported into Adobe InDesign with footnotes and endnotes in the correct locations.
• Retain Linked Notes throughout the eXtyles Process: It is possible to leave the notes linked on document Activation, but then to use round-tripping to allow Auto-Redact to work on the note content, and also to give processes such as Citation Matching access to the notes to mark bibliographic citations or citations of, for example, tables and figures that occur in the notes. 

Converting Plain Text Notes to Linked Notes

To convert plain text notes to linked notes, click Post Processing Cleanup from the eXtyles menu to open the Post Processing Cleanup dialog. Then, select Convert plain-text Footnotes and Endnotes to Word Footnotes and Endnotes, and click OK. If you only want to run this one function, be sure to Clear All settings before selecting this option.

Requirements

There are some requirements to the way that notes can be set up in the Word document if the function to convert plain-text notes to linked Word notes is to work correctly:

• The document must contain only either footnotes or endnotes, not a mixture of the two.
• All notes must be numbered with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.).
• The notes must be placed either at the end of the document or at the end of the document section in which they are cited (see further on for information about handling notes on a per-section basis).
• If the notes have been converted to plain text and styled from the paragraph styling palette, all notes must contain one and only one paragraph styled with your Footnote or Endnote paragraph style. Second and subsequent paragraphs must be styled with another style(s) (e.g., a Footnote Continued paragraph).
• Each note must have a matching citation, and vice versa. This can be confirmed by using Citation Matching and resolving any note-related errors.
• The notes must be in ascending numerical Note that note conversion can cope with out-of-order citations, as long as the citations refer to the correct notes and the notes themselves are in ascending order.

Working with Linked Word Notes in eXtyles

In eXtyles STS linked notes are retained during eXtyles processes so that functions such as Auto-Redact and Citation Matching can be run on Word notes while retaining their Word properties. During an eXtyles process, notes are converted to plain text and then are automatically converted back to linked notes again after eXtyles has made changes to the note text. This is a process referred to at Inera as note "round tripping."

Linked Word notes can also be accessible to most Cleanup functions. There are several exceptions, however. The following Cleanup functions will not make any changes to linked Word notes:

• Auto-Style (Regular body paragraphs, Tables, References)
• Removal of Page breaks, Section breaks, and Column breaks
• Removal/Export of Graphics
• Auto-Text to Plain Text conversion for Word fields, Lists, and Headings

The following Post Processing Cleanup functions will also run on linked Word notes:

• Removal of text highlighting and shading
• Removal of paragraph shading
• Conversion of user-defined and built-in character styles to face markup

Note that the Post Processing Cleanup function that removes unused Word styles will correctly retain styles that are used only in a footnote(s) or endnote(s).