Footnote Style Problems after RTF Import

[bzen]

I cannot change the character or paragraph style of my footnotes after I've imported an RTF file (yes, I have saved it to a Mellel file). No matter what the note text is set at, it remains +par reg (a style I do not have). It is like Mellel does not see the paragraph or character of the footnotes as footnotes. If I click on each note individually I can switch it to "note paragraph." Once I do this then it will recognize the formatting I have under note paragraph formatting. I have 1500 footnotes and simply cannot do this individually. I must be able to change the style of the footnotes, or it wouldn't matter. Additionally, if I create a new note it will have the correct note paragraph style. I have tried to change the stream to endnotes and then back to footnotes - no difference.

Any help would be so appreciated.

Beringia

[Declan]

You're quite right. This is a big problem, and I'm not sure that the developers have fully grasped the problem. They seem to imagine that every document begins and ends in Mellel.
Here's one thread where the issue is discussed.

http://forum.redlers.com/viewtopic.php? ... 77e#p15522

For me, this is the one major problem with Mellel.
Good luck with it!
In the past I have gone through the footnotes one by one. It is a bit tiresome.

Declan

[Bulow]

I do this very often: After you have imported your rtf into Mellel, go to Insert > Note > Edit note attributes. At the top, about center of the window you find Note style which will (or always does for me) show RTF footnotes. Simply change this to your preferred footnote-style. Works a treat. The real problem is with the rest of the text which is all in 'paragraph style' regardless, and must be changed manually.
Bulow

[Declan]

I have just tried out what Bulow suggested. I wrote a document in Scrivener with three sentences and three footnotes. I compiled it to RTF.
I opened the RTF with Mellel. [The bar above the editor showed Par. Style + when the footnotes were selected.)
I went to Insert>Edit Note attributes.
At the top, around centre, I find Note style. The dropdown menu shows Footnote, Footnote small, Endnote, Endnote, Endnote small. (not RTF footnotes).
Footnote is already selected. There is no possibility here of choosing a paragraph style.
At the bottom right of the window there is the possibility of choosing what paragraph style you want for your footnotes. I think the default paragraph style is "note text". If I want to change the paragraph or character settings for "note text", I can, though not directly in that place. Whatever changes I make, however, are not automatically applied to all footnotes, and need to be applied one by one.

I'd be very glad to hear that I missed something here. Have I?

Declan

[Bulow]

I have just tried out what Bulow suggested. I wrote a document in Scrivener with three sentences and three footnotes. I compiled it to RTF.
I opened the RTF with Mellel. [The bar above the editor showed Par. Style + when the footnotes were selected.)
I went to Insert>Edit Note attributes.
At the top, around centre, I find Note style. The dropdown menu shows Footnote, Footnote small, Endnote, Endnote, Endnote small. (not RTF footnotes).
Footnote is already selected. There is no possibility here of choosing a paragraph style.
At the bottom right of the window there is the possibility of choosing what paragraph style you want for your footnotes. I think the default paragraph style is "note text". If I want to change the paragraph or character settings for "note text", I can, though not directly in that place. Whatever changes I make, however, are not automatically applied to all footnotes, and need to be applied one by one.

I'd be very glad to hear that I missed something here. Have I?

Declan

I was just explaining how it happens on my machine. Anyway, all the imports I have to make, some 50 a year at least, come from docx which I convert to rtf through Nisus. The styles you see in the dropdown menu are paragraph-styles. Do you recognize any of them as ones you defined yourself with an associated character style? Or perhaps they are Mellel default styles. And which style is the notes in the rtf imported document? Paragraph style + if I understand correctly. Well, change this into your preferred, predefined style. If you do not like the result of this, you may want to change or define from scratch the note style with associated char. style. I can assure you, that this is how I do and it works.
Bulow

[Declan]

I was also just explaining what happens for me. I'd say that some of the difference comes from the fact that you are working from docx, while I am working from Scrivener-produced rtf.
Incidentally, I don't think that the things in the *dropdown* menu are styles. To apply styles to the footnotes or endnotes, you use the dropdown at bottom right (or at least that's where it is for me). The problem is that the styles I pick there are not applied to the footnotes.
Anyway, I was just trying to illustrate the original poster's problem (as I understand it). It'd be interesting if she or he can confirm whether Bulow's procedure works.
Thanks!

Declan

[Bulow]

Incidentally, I don't think that the things in the *dropdown* menu are styles.
Declan

Of course the options you see in the dropdown ‘note styles’ are note (paragraph) styles. In fact, the options you mention are the default note styles defined in the default style set. When you import rtf it will at first appear in the default style set. Do you have a style set of your own? Choose it immediately after import in the ‘Styles’ dropdown at the very top of the screen. When you have set the style set and then follow the procedure I sketched out, you will see your own predefined note styles as options. Choose the one you want, and all notes in your document will change to that style. I works like the 'replace styles', but only on styles concerning footnotes.
In Mellel’s default styles it is slightly confusing that the paragraph-styles and the character styles have the same names.
Bulow