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English
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Published:
2022-10-30
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656
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1/1
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How to Fix "Floating" Chapter 1 End Notes

Summary:

One of the most common errors in multi-chapter works on AO3 is the "floating" end notes that should be at the end of the first chapter but insist on latching onto the end of the latest chapter instead. Here are instructions explaining how to stick these floaters at the end of your first chapter where they belong.

Notes:

The summary says it all; this tutorial will help anyone affix their "floating" Chapter 1 end notes to their proper position.

I actually wrote the first version of this tutorial in someone's comments way back in 2014, when she complained of this issue shortly after I solved it for my own multi-chapter fic, and I have passed it along to several people since then. Today, I finally got the gumption to find, update, and polish the tutorial so that everyone can have easy access to instructions that help them to fix this extremely vexing error.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

1.) In the upper right of your screen, go to where you are logged in and select the My Works option from the drop-down menu. Conversely, if you are already in your profile, just go to your Works section in the menu along the left; you will end up on the same page.

2.) Once you are looking at your Works, find the correct multi-chapter work whose end notes you want to fix, then click its button that says "Edit." You will end up on the work's Edit Work page.

3.) Scroll down the Edit Work page past the Tag section until you reach the Preface section, which contains a subsection called Notes. The Notes subsection simply contains two checkboxes: the top is labeled "at the beginning" and the bottom is labeled "at the end." If you click these checkboxes, then textboxes will appear, and whatever is in these textboxes will appear at the very beginning of your work's first chapter and at the end of the LATEST chapter respectively.

If you are experiencing "floating" first chapter notes, then right now, before fixing anything, you will find the text for your Chapter 1 end notes in the second textbox (the one whose checkbox is labeled "at the end"). Before moving on, go ahead and Select then Copy the notes.

4.) Scroll back to the top of the Edit Work page. Along the top of the page and roughly off to the right (but underneath where you are logged in), you will find a long list of numbered buttons that correspond to the number of chapters that you have posted. For example, if you have a work with five chapters, the buttons will say 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5; a three-chapter work will have only three buttons, while a work with twenty-two chapters will have twenty-two buttons.

Note: Chapter titles will not affect these buttons; they are simply numbered.

5.) Conveniently located right after the text that says "Edit Chapter:", click the number 1 button. You will appear on the Edit Chapter page for your work's first chapter.

6.) On the Edit Chapter page, scroll down past the "Name, Order and Date" section to the "Chapter Preface" section, which contains two familiar checkboxes that are labeled "at the beginning" and "at the end." If you click these checkboxes, then textboxes will appear, and respectively, whatever is in these textboxes will appear at the very beginning and at the very end of ONLY CHAPTER 1.

7.) Click the "at the end" checkbox, and in the textbox that appears, go ahead and Paste your Chapter 1 end note text into it.

Voila! You have now ensured that your Chapter 1 end notes stay safely at the end of Chapter 1 where they belong.

8.) Just to be thorough, I would recommend that you make sure that your Chapter 1 beginning notes are also properly placed at the beginning of Chapter 1, rather than at the beginning of your work. That will prevent any potential issues in the future, especially if you decide to add a new chapter with a glossary, table of contents, list of warnings, or anything else to the front of your work.

9.) Likewise, now that your text is safely copied over, you definitely need to go back to the Edit Work page and delete the "floating" end notes so that they stop appearing at the end of your work. If you copied over your beginning notes to Chapter 1 as well, make sure you delete them too.

10.) Great work! Sit back, relax, and revel in the fact that you have successfully reorganized your notes and fixed that pesky "floating" Chapter 1 notes issue.

Bonus: If you ever did want to leave story end notes that float to the end of the latest chapter, say for a glossary or list of prompts, then now, you have the tools to be able do that too!

Notes:

Two quick final notes:

First, for the life of me, I have not been able to find standardized tags to help people find AO3 tutorials, so if you think of any that I should add, please, leave me a comment! I would be happy to add more tags.

Second, if AO3 ever updates and makes these instructions obsolete, please, let me know, and I will be happy to edit these to fit the new variables.

Originally Posted: October 29, 2022
Lasted Edited: Never