My problem is simple. I like Obsidian very much for its ease when writing but when it comes to moving files into a better wordprocessor for final layout etc (Google docs is all I really need, but LIbre Office is good too) it is just too hard!
I have tried the Pandocs plugins but they just makes things worse, leaving far too much editing to do. One issue is that when a document with footnotes is converted to A4 layout using either ODT or DOC templates it is split into pieces, each segment containing text and footnotes for that page! And using a Markdown template is useless because e.g. hyperlink formatting is dropped. None of those Pandoc templates seem to recognise Markdown font styling or footnote links (created with another plugin admittedly - I realise that this is not Obsidian’s fault but all the same, it’s a basic thing to expect is it not?)
This is a deal breaker! I recognise that my expectations about a Markdown editor may be wrong but I didn’t really think this would be a big issue. I’ve written about 5000 words so far and I don’t want to spend time reformatting it. I just assumed when I started that Obsidian had my back on this.
This is a a deal breaker! Of course I may not have found the perfect plugin for this job, or the right technique for moving Markdown stuff into a better wordprocessor and I am more than happy to get some tips … if anyone can help I’d be grateful …
Thanks for reading. Love Obsidian but this is unexpected …
See this article: Google Docs Can Now Import and Export Markdown (How-To Geek)
I tested this markdown
Test text [^1]. Test text [^2].
[^1]: my footnote
[^2]: my footnote
second line
My text continues
or
Test text [^1]. Test text [^2].
[^1]: my footnote
[^2]: my footnote
<br>second line
My text continues
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Doh!
Thanks @blue-emperor that’s very helpful and cured my stupid problem (more or less).
I was getting confused! Went straight to Pandocs and that just messed me up plus also using a footnotes plugins that I also thought was screwing up the layouts, so kept trying to fix that!
I didn’t know that Google now imports MD and I also did not realise that MD has built in footnotes capability!
You live and learn!
So, Obsidian cool again … except for one thing - maybe you know a fix for this too?
To confuse things a little Markdown calls footnotes, endnotes - I guess this is more accurate and MD footnotes are always at the bottom of the page, not the document. However, my long standing writing habit is that I have always put footnotes at the end of a document (i.e as endnotes but I still call them footnotes)!
So, the import (which follows MD syntax rules I guess) puts what I call footnotes on each page of the document which has the corresponding numerical reference. I could live with this but the editing to move everything into a consolidated list at the end of the document is not straightforward but if there is a way to group what MD calls endnotes into a single list at the end of the document (what MD calls footnotes) that would be preferable.
I’ve explored a bit online but it’s not obvious. Seems there might be a way using something called YAML, but that’s beyond me without help!
Do have any tips for how to put MD ‘endnotes’ into a single list of ‘footnotes’ at the end of a document?
Again thanks for the tip about Google Docs import and the illustration you put with it. Solved my problem (mostly) and put me back on an even keel.
This is kind of special problem if you want to transfer existing footnotes. You can do that in MS Word at least. If Google Docs doesn’t offer it then your workflow will be
Obsidian –> Google Docs –> MS Word
since MS Word itself doesn’t offer direct support for markdown. Obviously you want to avoid using MS Word or Google Docs if you can work with Obsidian alone.
If you want to add text to the bottom of the file, then you can use QuickAdd community plugin but I think you meant how your document looks when exported. If you want to have more control while writing then use Pandoc or LaTeX. For general document preparation Obsidian–>Google Docs workflow migth satisfy many needs. This includes images and tables for example. If this FR later implemented Copy-and-paste rendered version (no markdown) from the editor — it might offer better support for Obsidian–>MS Word workflow.
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Thanks for quick reply. Some ideas there - thanks - I will need to give time to exploring them. I’ll reply when I get somewhere! For editing purposes I’ll start with Google Docs > Word and see if that helps …
OK - LibreOffice works fine … load an MD file with footnotes and it automatically sets footnotes to be endnotes! (A great surprise.) Resave the file, import to Drive and it’s fine, just how I like it. Still needs formatting of course, but now a much easier task.
Good progress and quite simple - thanks for the tips (just a bit time consuming but no lurking deadlines as yet!)
I need to use it a bit more to make sure it’s consistent - one or two glitches along the way but probably just my fie handling …
Basic Markdown doesn’t — it’s an extension that some flavors (including Obsidian’s) support.
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