# How to read footnotes easily?



## wampuscat (Mar 6, 2009)

Can somebody explain to me how you can easily flip back and forth between a footnote and the text where you see it?

I use the 5-way to move down to the footnote, but it doesn't highlight or underline or otherwise indicate that it's a link.  Do you have to physically leave the main text, find the footnote section, look it  up, and then go back to the text?  I can't believe it would be that complicated.


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## robin.goodfellow (Nov 17, 2008)

You can't just click on the footnote? That's what the k1 does.  You click on the line, it brings up a menu that says a couple of things, then shows the footnote number at the bottom of the menu.  You click on that, read the footnote, then click the back button.

All of which pales to utter insignifigance in light of the fact that we're probably not talking about the same device.

Also, Welcome to Kindleboards, Wampuscat!  Please stop by the introductions forum and introduce yourself.  We're glad you're here!

~robin


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

If the publisher didn't add hyperlinks for the footnotes, then no, there's not really an easy way to do it.  I would probably bookmark the beginning of the footnotes, then you would have to bookmark the page you are reading, go to the footnote bookmark, then go back when you were done.  If that makes sense.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

If the footnotes are added correctly, they are easy to navigate.  On the K2, use the 5-way to move right in front of the footnote (for a regular word, this would bring up a definition).  On a footnote, I get a little hand.  Press the 5-way to go to the footnote.  Press the Back button on the Kindle to go back to where you started.


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## ricky (Dec 24, 2008)

I have gotten about oh maybe a dozen books that have footnotes. Only one of these books have I been actually able to read the footnotes.  The others just do not offer the footnote option when I press the scroll key, supposedly to access the footnote.  It this the work or nonwork of the publisher, or the author?  Any light on this subject would be greatly appreciated...


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## patrisha w. (Oct 28, 2008)

Well. I don't know whose work it is, or isn't but I find it more than a bit annoying to have a footnote indication and to not be able to read it!

patrisha


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## BruceS (Feb 7, 2009)

I don't remember which book it was, but one of the ones I read on my Kindle had all of the footnotes grouped together at the back of the book.


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

ricky said:


> It this the work or nonwork of the publisher, or the author?


Bingo


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## MonaSW (Nov 16, 2008)

ricky said:


> It this the work or nonwork of the publisher,


Publisher, editor, formatter - certainly not the author.


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## whitet3260 (Apr 2, 2009)

I've just joined... have found a couple of "near hits" but nothing specific... want to know if it's possible to jump from a note superscript in a text directly to that note (usually found in the back of the book), read it, then jump back to the place I was reading.  If this isn't the place to ask or if it's in a FAQ somewhere, please correct me.  thanks Tony


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

Hi,

Do you have K1 or K2? I know on K1 I scroll up to where the footnote shows (if it's underlined) and click there then it gives me an option to go to the footnote. When I'm done reading the footnote I hit the back button and go back to where I was reading.

It may be similar in K2 but don't know for sure.

Welcome to the board. don't forget to stop by introductions and introduce yourself if you already haven't!

Theresam


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

It works the same way on the K2.

Nice to have you here whitet3260.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Whitet. . . .what you describe should work if the book has linked footnotes.  Some do, some don't so the thing to do is try it and see.  If they are linked, it will work just as you describe:  select the note, click it, go to the note and read it, and the 'back' button will return you to where you are.  If the notes are not linked you can first find them and bookmark that page/location so that when you get to a note you can manually go to the bookmarked point, read the next note and then go back when you're done.  Not ideal, since, if there are a lot of notes and you want one of the later ones, you'll have a lot of pages to go through to get to where you want to be, but better than nothing.

Good Luck.

Ann


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## whitet3260 (Apr 2, 2009)

wampuscat said:


> Can somebody explain to me how you can easily flip back and forth between a footnote and the text where you see it?
> 
> I use the 5-way to move down to the footnote, but it doesn't highlight or underline or otherwise indicate that it's a link. Do you have to physically leave the main text, find the footnote section, look it up, and then go back to the text? I can't believe it would be that complicated.


I can believe it is that complicated. I've been looking for a better solution for over a month and nobody has suggested anything better. If the notes are in the back of the book it's even worse. Here is a place where Amazon appears to have relly dropped the ball... or else I just don't understand it.


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

It's not really Amazon that dropped the ball, but more likely the publisher or whomever formats each particular book.  I read a series that is liberally sprinkled with footnotes, and they were perfectly linked and it was a joy to read them (well, kinda annoying really to *have* footnotes in the first place, but at least it was easy to get to them and back ).


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Folks. . .there were 3 different threads about footnotes. . . .I've merged them into this one. . . .

Ann


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## Tillamook Bay (Mar 3, 2009)

When a book's footnotes are not linked to the notes - 

Perhaps you can use the Kindle's user annotation and search facilities as a workaround.  The search facility produces a list of links, and it will now search through your own notes and create links when you search on keywords that you place into your notes.  So, if you place notes with keywords into the book's footnote collection you can fairly quickly move (link) to those locations by searching on those keywords.  You would use keywords that are of unique construction rather than words that will be found in numerous unrelated locations.  

I suspect that the precise format and location of your keyword annotations would depend on your book's particular formatting  of its footnotes.  You might have to be creative.  

Or - this might not help in the slightest.  

Larry


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