Footnotes linking back, numbered in chapters

JGebauer
I am wondering what the best way is to achieve the following:

Large document (600+ pages, almost 2000 footnotes, probably about as many citations).

Currently the document is setup in one large file, and footnote numbering in one. However, it seems that footnote numbering should restart in each chapter (7 in total).

The citation style (my own, but made according to the requirements of the publisher) will give a full citation for the first occurrence, and then "link back", giving author and short title, followed by "(wie Anm. X)" (ie "see Footnote X"). This is a requirement by the publisher.

If the footnotes are restarted in each chapter, there should also be a new full reference for each cited work. I know this can be done easily by dividing the document, but this will probably destroy all cross references like (see Chapter 5, p. 354), no?

Originally I had set the thesis up as using the master document in Word, which probably is the only way to have these too, or has someone a better way? Master documents in Word are a nightmare...
  • bwiernik
    As this is a footnote style, you can tell Word to restart note numbering in each section: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_word-mso_mac/restart-footnote-numbering-in-each-section/9348ef81-fd31-4f95-8cce-827b2a729158

    To get the "links back", use Word's cross-reference feature (in the References tab), to add a cross-reference to the first citation. If you have both reference footnotes and content footnotes, there isn't a way to have Zotero automate adding these cross-reference numbers, though by using Word's cross-reference function, you can keep the numbers updated automatically.

    There isn't a way to have Zotero repeat the full reference at the start of a chapter. Given that you have relatively few chapters, I'd recommend doing that part manually after you have finished writing and used the Unlink Citations function in the Zotero tab in Word. then go to the citations at the beginning of each chapter that have cross-references and copy the full citation from the first mention.
  • JGebauer
    In that case I think my solution is in fact a much better one:

    I will use the master/sub-documents in Word to separate the chapters (yes, I have done that before, it is not without problems, but I think I can master this).

    I will get Word to restart footnote numbering each time.

    I will use Zotero while only the individual sub-documents are open. Since linking back references only the footnote number (not the page) this will work.

    Eventually I will make a combined document, so that the Word cross references will work correctly.

    I hope this will work...

    The idea of doing the citations half manually seems rather ridiculous in a 650 page book with thousands of citations.
  • bwiernik
    I’m not sure how you are doing the cross-referencing?
  • JGebauer
    You mean the ones in Word directly? That works by using the central-/sub-document feature in Word. The Zotero update is done while working on individual files, but you can work on the complete thing just as though it was a large file when the central document is opened and expanded.

    Zotero updates should be avoided while this is open, not only because the back-linking will be wrong, but also because it can take an hour to update.
  • bwiernik
    No, I mean, from your description, it’s not clear to me how you are including the “link back” to the first instance of a citation.
  • adamsmith
    I imagine using first-reference-note-number in CSL?
    I think Master Document sounds like the only way to get all the features at once, yes. The only alternative I can think of would be to have completely separate chapters and then do the cross-chapter linking manually after unlinking Zotero citations and assembling the whole thing.
  • JGebauer
    Yes, the link back is done in the style.

    I have just done some testing, and it seems to work well that way.

  • MaxPetras
    edited November 18, 2020
    Thank you @JGebauer - I have encountered the same problem. How did you insert the bibliography for the whole book?
  • MaxPetras
    Ok, just found the solution (in LibreOffice) thanks to this discussion: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/73378/working-with-zotero-and-master-subdocuments

    Export the whole master+subdocuments as odt-file, disable automatic updates when inserting bibliography, insert the bibliography - done. :)
  • JGebauer
    I have no experience at all with LibreOffice, so I cannot comment on that. To do this in Word is possible, it works, but it certainly isn't for the faint-hearted. On the other hand I find that using subdocuments is really the only way to work with Zotero in large documents (in my case well over 600 pages) and complex styles. Zotero just becomes far too slow...
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