[Solved] Footnotes and Endnotes

[Hrodlandsson]

I am struggling with this interface so if I am in the wrong "room" please excuse me & explain where I should be.
I have read most of the responses concerning Endnotes but do not understand some of the suggestions made. Regardless the solutions give me hope that what I would like to do can be done. I have tried following the thought lines given for these other cases but have not hit on a solution.
I would like to be able to insert a multipage endnote that includes page breaks at points of my choosing. (That is one endnote with lots of text and possibly images with Manual page breaks inserted ad libidem.)
I have tried modifying the endnote style to Default & I have also tried defining a tailored Endnote style but in neither case does the Insert > Manual Break sequence offer the "Type" Page Break. It is always grayed out.

[JeJe]

Insert a section and on the Sections footnotes/endnotes tab tick Endnotes Collect at end of section.
Page break is still greyed out but it looks like you can make the endnote span several pages so type some blank lines to take you to the next page.

Edit: another way to make up some blank space to take you to another page would be above and below paragraph spacing which looks to be a maximum of 10cm for each so you could have a single blank paragraph with up to 20cm of before and after space.

[RoryOF]

If an endnote is so large and complex that it needs special formatting, perhaps it could be turned into an Appendix, where normal chapter and document formatting would be available.

Alternately, if it must be an endnote, manual adjustment by insertion of blank lines etc., as suggested by JeJe in previous posting, might be the quickest way.

[Hrodlandsson]

Footnotes are used in the customary fashion but they have to be abbreviated due to the extent of discussion/explanation. To make up for the lack I had decided to use an Appendix to "house" the long text. The problem I would like to solve is that as I edit the basic text the change to the information in the Appendix has to be coordinated and this is a ginormous problem. Keeping the main body references to the appropriate parts of the Appendix updated is a nearly impossible task. My hope was that I could put the different explanations in Endnotes and reference Endnotes in the related Footnotes. Then if I had to insert an Endnote between existing ones, Writer would renumber the Endnotes accordingly. I could then concentrate on the content. Inserting linefeed-carriage returns to format an Endnote just adds to the labor, especially if there is a need for any correction afterwards. Spacing is important because there will be sections of quotations and screen captures to fit into place. What I adopted after posting my original request is that I "spawn" an Endnote for a topic in the vicinity of the text to which a Footnote (or many) refer. Then in the Footnote I use the "Insert Reference" option to get the Endnote reference number to appear next to the material that needs additional explanation (in the Appendix). At the same time, in the Endnote I expand on what has to be included in the section of the Appendix for that particular topic. When complete I will prepare the individual sections of the Appendix in separate files and then add the files to the basic document. It would be a whole lot smoother if I could actually insert an Endnote anchor(?) in the related Footnote. Why cannot the Footnote template(?) be modified so the Footnote/Endnote option is active under the Insert tab?
The only other approach that has crossd my mind is if it were possible to reference a Section (by title or number or something) in connection with an existing mechanism that would update the sequence of the Sections. That is beyond my level of capability I fear. To what logical construct is the active-ness of the Footnote/Endnote insertion option linked? Cannot that construct be associated with a Footnote construct?

[John_Ha]

Many Footnotes can cause layout to be very slow - 30 minutes or more on a really big file.

See 11A. Why is my page count so high? Why does my page count keep changing? Why do white gaps appear in my document? in [Tutorial] Some useful hints on using images for how images and footnotes can cause the page count to take a long time to stabilise. See [Solved] AOO stops responding when opening this one document and Huge document, page count not advancing

[JeJe]

if I could actually insert an Endnote anchor(?) in the related Footnote. Why cannot the Footnote template(?) be modified so the Footnote/Endnote option is active under the Insert tab?

You want a feature which might add a whole level of complexity to the program for those who wrote it - that or they didn't think of it as useful to many people is I suspect why you can't do that.

You can add a hyperlink to a Footnote instead. Or you could add a reference field that points to somewhere else in your document.

[Hrodlandsson]

I found two options which almost satisfy. I tried the hyperlink in a footnote to get to an endnote in which I could extend the discussion I needed and a "goback" link in the endnote to return to the footnote (for reader convenience). The problem with that was when the discussion got into several pages I ran up against some more "nogo" zones.
What I am trying now is, I think, somewhat along the lines you suggest. I am creating sections to remain at the end of the entirety to each of which there is a hyperlink appropriately situated in a footnote along with reference points (to & back from) the section containing the discussion, graphics, etc. It seems as if this will suit. (It is only very difficult to learn and remember the command sequence to get both the "to" & "return" references (and links) into place. I hope it remains workable.
However, as to your point about complexity. It seems as if the template for a footnote lacks some sort of property which is present in a common document "page." That property allows an Endnote anchor (I think "anchor" is the term of art here but I'm unsure) to be inserted "into" a page. But that "property" is absent in the Footnote construct. It is not immediately obvious why such a property could not simply be added to the Footnote construct.
I suppose I should mark my original Q as "answered" (though technically not "solved"), is that correct?

[JeJe]

I think put solved unless you're hoping for more input.

It is not immediately obvious why such a property could not simply be added to the Footnote construct.

It might or might not be easy for the programmers to do - I wouldn't know. The software's got a long history so I'd presume what you want isn't something other people have been clambering for. LibreOffice is in more active development - you could put in a feature request for what you want there.