Italics character style problems in Footnote Text style

Question

Office 365/Mac - Word 16.51

I'm preparing a MS for submission to a typesetter. The footnotes include book titles, so those are in italics. I have an Italics character style. When applied to the book titles in the text (Normal style, 12 pt) that works fine. When applied to book titles in the footnotes (Footnote Text style, 9 pt), the titles appear in italics, but revert to the 12 pt of Normal style. (Since this MS is bound for pouring into a formatting program, direct formatting of book titles is not an option.)

This occurs whether I have Italics char style based on Underlying Properties or on Default Paragraph Font. (Oddly, if I select Italics char style in the Styles Pane, then select Select All, Word shows only those words in italics in the MS text, not those in the footnotes.)

The character style is supposed to apply a feature, such as italics, to the selected text--and only that one feature [or more features, but only if you define the character style to do so]. How can this be accomplished? Or are Word's auto footnote/endnote styles relationships so convoluted and intertwined that this cannot in fact be accomplished?

Answer 1

Thanks, Sukie--I'm sorry to be late in getting back to you. MacOS 14.10.6. To create a new Italics char style, from Style Pane, choose New Style ... Style Type: Character ; Style Based On: Default Paragraph Font (also "underlying properties); click on I on the Formatting popup.

Cut to the chase, I have, at least within a limited framework, solved the problem.

For this MS, the author created footnotes in the usual way: Insert footnote/bottom of page etc. The fn paragraphs appear at the bottom of the relevant page. In this MS, the text of the footnotes is empty--it's my job to fill these in from other MS material. So, since these fn paragraphs are regularly formed by Word's Insert Footnote routine, if you select just the reference number, Footnote Reference appears under Current Style in the Style Pane and is highlighted in the list below. If you then select all the rest of the footnote text--the space following the number and all the test, including the paragraph marker at the end, Current Style reads Footnote Text, and that is highlighted in the list below. All this is as it should be. I type in information, then apply Italics char style to a book title, with the result that I noted: Footnote Text is 9 pt Arial, but the title styled Italics char style is now italic--but 12 pt, like Normal style.

The solution, which I stumbled across is this: select the entire paragraph, including both the reference number and the text, and click Footnote Text in the Style Pane to apply that style. The footnote reference number remains in Footnote Reference [I assume because it's linked to the footnote cue in the MS text, through the footnote creation mechanism]. Then apply Italics char style--and it behaves properly.

Answer 2

Hi StevenHiatt,

We appreciate that you posted back and shared the details with us. We also appreciate that you spent your precious time doing those tests. We’re sorry for the late reply due to the weekend.

We have checked your description carefully, and we found that you solved the problem via selecting the whole paragraph and clicking Footnote text in style panel and apply that style. If so, we’re glad to hear that you have found the solution. Then if you have any other question, you can also post back and we will still try our best to help you.

Best Regards,

Sukie

Answer 3

Hi StevenHiatt,

May I know if you have seen my reply? May I know if you still need other help? If so, you can post back and we will try our best to help you.

Best Regards,

Sukie

Answer 4

Hi StevenHiatt,

Thank you for querying in this forum.

From your description, it seems that you have set book titles with italics in footnotes in Word for Mac, and you found it works fine when you applied customized Italics character style to the book titles in the text, however, it didn’t work when you applied to book titles in the footnotes. And it has been changed back to the 12 pt of Normal style.

May I know if my understanding is right? If so, we have tested it on our side, we went to Word 16.51 > Style Panel > Create a new style with Italic, then we selected character under Style types, Style based on Default Paragraph Font, then we inserted footnotes(footnotes style, 10pt) and text(Normal style, 12pt) in the document, then we applied to normal text and footnotes texts, and it show Italic style with 12pt in the normal text, for footnotes text, it shows Italic style with 10pt, it didn’t be changed back to the 12pt of Normal style. We cannot reproduce the same situation as yours.

At the same time, we have also tested it with new style, we referred the steps you provided, select Italics char style in the Styles Pane, then select Select All, it only highlighted the text without footnotes.

May I know if the steps above are consistent with yours? If not, to better understand your situation and do more tests on our side, could you provide the information below?

1. Could you provide more detailed steps about how you create Italics style?
2. Could you provide the version of Mac OS?
3. May I know if all documents have the same problem? You can create a new document to check if the same problem will occur.
4. Could you provide the screenshot of formatted footnotes text?

Your understanding and patience will be highly appreciated. I hope that you are keeping safe and well!

Best Regards,

Sukie