Feature request: final punctuation options in CMS short notes

kadiddle
It would be very helpful to be able to end CMS short notes with no punctuation; occasionally, ending with a comma could be useful too. When writing an endnote/footnote that includes comments, further information, etc, having to place the citation(s) at the end of a sentence sometimes requires an awkward sentence structure, breaking up a thought, or some other problem. Thanks.
  • adamsmith
    you can just add the comment in suffix/prefix fields in the Word add-on https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_usage#customizing_cites
  • kadiddle
    edited October 27, 2023
    The suffix and prefix fields still force a period at the end of a citation. Here's an example of an ordinary citation using a prefix before the second citation:

    Ryan, “Introduction,” 45; see also Aarseth, “Allegories of Space,” 92.

    If I place this in parentheses within a narrative note, the period remains inside. If I backspace to remove the period, the entire citation is deleted. If I place the cursor in front of the period and use Delete, I can remove it--but changing the citation (e.g., correcting a page number) restores the period and I have to go in and do it all over again. Using the suffix for the subsequent text in my sentence, which could be quite long, would be extremely unwieldy, to say the least. (If I use a closing parenthesis as a suffix, Zotero turns it into a square bracket and still inserts the period, so that's no help either.)

    The problem may lie in the CMS style coding, but I'm not going to spend a few weeks learning CSL, and I have no idea if it would even solve the issue. A punctuation option in the citation dialog would avoid the extra checking and editing. The idea is similar to the "omit author" option, although it might be better as a field prepopulated with a period which one could change or remove.

    (Zotero's handling of CMS short notes causes me another problem, but I have a workaround for that.)
  • adamsmith
    edited October 27, 2023
    Using the suffix for the subsequent text in my sentence, which could be quite long, would be extremely unwieldy, to say the least.
    The idea is putting the discursive description, at least up to the next punctuation mark, in the suffix, yes.

    If you want the period removed in the style in general, that's a one line change you can copy&paste, no need to learn CSL for that (there are multiple threads on this in the forum with how to).

    I don't have a strong opinion on the punctuation flip -- it does raise a bunch of non-trivial issues and has GUI-related costs, at a minimum, though -- but I can pretty much guarantee that if it's going to happen it's not going to happen quickly, so finding something else that works for you in the meantime would probably be a good idea.
  • kadiddle
    Yes, it's not something I'll hold my breath for, but I figured it can't hurt to put it in whatever feature request list might exist. Who knows, maybe someday. In the meantime, re-editing a citation is a better approach for me than using the suffix or making a global style change. Thanks for responding.
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