Footnote utilities for the Markdown Service Tools

There are two new footnote-related additions to the Markdown Services Tools. One is an older project for converting an easy “inline footnote format” into regular MultiMarkdown footnotes, and the other replaces all footnote markers in a document with unique strings for avoiding conflicts when concatenating multiple documents or rendering multiple posts containing footnotes on a single blog page (for example).

Inline footnotes

The md - Footnotes - Convert Inline Format Service was created a while ago, and you can see the original post for more details. In short, you create footnotes as you type using the syntax (*This is my footnote*). When you run the service, it replaces the inline syntax with an MMD-style marker ([^fn1]) and creates the footnote definition at the bottom of the document.

It’s meant to be run after writing, but before rendering. It is conscious of existing footnote id’s, though, and won’t overwrite or conflict with any that exist. Thus, you can run it multiple times without issue.

Unique footnote IDs

When writing long pieces, especially ones spanning multiple documents, it can become hard to keep track of any kind of footnote numbering or naming system. Name conflicts can cause some pain, so the easiest solution is to automatically update your footnote marker names per document. This Service grabs the current time in seconds and uses it as a prefix for all of the footnotes in the document. It makes sure that markers and definitions remain paired.

This is of less use if you keep footnotes in a separate file or reference the same footnote across multiple documents. If that’s the case, don’t use this Service; it will break any references that exist in other files. It’s best used for shorter pieces that will become part of a larger collection, like stories in a compilation or posts on a blog, as long as their footnotes are self-contained within their document. It’s designed only to prevent one document’s footnotes from conflicting with another’s when they’re compiled or displayed together.

Both services are now available in the Markdown Service Tools package. I’ve also updated the project page to make more sense with the latest tools. Don’t say I never do anything for you.