Footnotes

Footnotes enable you to annotate text with additional information that is not appropriate for inline inclusion or to indicate the source for facts or other material used in the text. Footnotes consist of two main elements, a footnote callout that is visible in the text and footnote content that is typically placed at the the bottom of a page. Footnote callouts are linked to footnote content.

Numerical Callouts

Remember:

We recommend using numerical callouts when your footnote content consists of words.

By default, footnotes are indicated by numerical callouts. Heretto CCMS automatically manages their order. For example, if you insert a new footnote between existing footnotes, their order updates according to their position in the topic.

example of footnotes with numerical annotations. — Figure 1. Numerical Callouts Added to Paragraphs A and C in the Content Editor.
In this example, callout 1 corresponds to Paragraph A and callout 2 corresponds to Paragraph C.

example of footnotes with numerical callouts that are automatically updated when you insert new footnote elements. — Figure 2. Numerical Callouts Added to Paragraphs A, B, and C in the Content Editor.
In this example, a footnote is added to Paragraph B. The order of the numerical footnotes updates automatically.

Custom Callouts

Remember:

We recommend using custom callouts with symbols when your footnote content consists of numbers.

You can customize callouts to use symbols or letters instead of numbers by setting the callout attribute value for the footnote element. Custom callouts do not update automatically. For example, if you insert a new footnote between existing footnotes with symbols as callouts, you need to update the order of footnotes at the bottom of the page manually.

example of symbols in callouts — Figure 3. Custom Callouts with Symbols Added to Paragraphs A and C.
In this example, callout * corresponds to Paragraph A and callout ** corresponds to Paragraph C.

Using One Footnote Multiple Times

You can annotate multiple pieces of text in a topic with the same footnote. This approach is referred to as use-by-reference because you reference the footnote with a cross-reference (xref). For more information, see Apply One Footnote Multiple Times in a Topic.

multiple footnote annotations — Figure 4. One footnote used multiple times in a topic.
In this example, one footnote with callout ¹ is added to two paragraphs in a topic. In the first paragraph, you see two callouts in the Content Editor. However, in outputs, only the callout added with `xref` will be visible.

Footnotes in Output

Depending on the output type and your output customizations, footnotes can render differently in different output types. For example, in some outputs footnotes may be rendered as endnotes. You can change the way footnotes render by customizing your publishing scenarios.

example of footnotes in a PDF output — Figure 5. Footnotes in a PDF Output.
In this example, footnote callouts render as links in the text but at the bottom of the page they render as non-clickable superscript characters.

example of footnotes rendered in the HTML5 output — Figure 6. Footnotes in the HTML5 Output.
In this example, footnote callouts render as links both in the text and at the bottom of the page. You can click a callout to jump between the footnote callout and the corresponding footnote content.

Insert a Footnote

You can enrich your content by adding footnotes. Footnotes appear outside the main document body and provide additional information about pieces of the content.

In a topic, place your cursor where you want the footnote callout to appear and press Ctrl+Enter (Windows) or Cmd+Enter (Mac).
From the quick insert menu that opens, select Footnote and press Enter.
A default, numbered footnote callout is added at your cursor location. The Content Editor scrolls to the bottom of the topic where the footnote element is added. Your cursor is automatically placed inside the footnote.
In the Footnotes section at the bottom of the topic, add footnote content.
Add more footnotes as needed.

You can add as many footnotes in a topic as you want. By default, footnotes are numbered starting from ¹. You can modify footnote callouts.

example of content with multiple footnotes

Modify Footnote Callouts

You can modify footnote callouts and change them to a number, letter, or symbol. By default, a footnote callout is a number visible in line with text as a superscript element that is linked to the footnote content at the end of the topic.

To modify footnote callouts, you add a value to the callout attribute in a footnote element.

Important:

Footnotes with custom callouts do not update automatically when you add new footnotes. We recommend using default footnote callouts for textual content and symbols for footnote callouts with numerical content.

A gif showing how to add a custom footnote callout

Insert a footnote element to a topic. See Insert a Footnote.

Select a footnote by doing any of the following:
- Place your cursor directly after the footnote callout. In the example, the footnote callout is ¹.
- At the bottom of the topic, in the Footnotes section, place your cursor anywhere in the Footnote content. In this example, footnote content is Footnote content.
Open the Attributes tab and in the callout field add a custom callout for the footnote.

The footnote callout changes in both the content and Footnotes section.

Apply One Footnote Multiple Times in a Topic

You can add one footnote to multiple pieces of text in a topic. To do that, you create cross-references that link to a footnote element. Applying a footnote multiple times in a topic is not supported in PDF Generator outputs.

Note:

When you add an id attribute to a footnote element, the footnote becomes a use-by-reference footnote. Upon output, the footnote no longer renders at the location where it was inserted, even though it remains visible in the Content Editor. To place callouts in your content, use xref elements with type="fn" for every location where the callout should appear, including the location where the original footnote element was inserted. This is the default DITA behavior.

Insert a footnote element in a topic. See Insert a Footnote.

Set an ID attribute value for the footnote element to be reused

Scroll to the bottom of a topic and place your cursor in the footnote element.
Open the Attributes tab and in the id field add a value.
The identifier (id) you set is used by the CCMS to identify the footnote element you want to link to.
As soon as you add an id to the fn element, your footnote becomes a use-be-reference footnote. As a result, in output, it does not appear in any location in your topic unless it is referenced using xref, including the location where the original footnote element was inserted. This is the default DITA behavior.

Link the footnote element

Place your cursor where you want the footnote callout to appear and press Ctrl+Enter (Windows) or Cmd+Enter (Mac).
From the quick insert menu that opens, select Cross Reference and press Enter.
Click the cross-reference element and select Change.
In the Link dialog, from the Link To drop-down menu, select An Element in this file (Local link).
Click Select Element.
Select the footnote element you want to link to and click the Insert Content button.
You created a link to the footnote element that looks similar to this:
```
<xref scope="local" type="fn" href="#concept-7749/fn-id"></xref>
```
Note:
The required type="fn" attribute is added to the xref automatically.
Link the footnote where you added it originally, before adding an id to it.
As soon as you add an id to the fn element, your footnote becomes a use-be-reference footnote. As a result, in output, it does not appear in any location in your topic unless it is referenced using xref, including the location where the original footnote element was inserted. This is the default DITA behavior.
Figure 7. An example of an original footnote referenced with xref in the Content Editor.
In the Content Editor, you see two callouts. However, in outputs, only the callout added with xref will be visible.
Link the footnote again as needed.

You applied one footnote in two or more places in a topic. In outputs, only footnotes added with the xref element will be visible.

Remove a Footnote

You can remove unwanted footnotes by removing the footnote element from the Footnotes section.

In the Content Library, open a topic that contains one or more footnotes.
Scroll down to the Footnotes section at the end of the topic and place your cursor in the footnote that you want to remove.
In the footer breadcrumbs, click Footnote and select Remove.

You removed both the footnote callout and content from the topic.

Under maintenance

Heretto Help

Footnotes

Footnotes

Numerical Callouts

Custom Callouts

Using One Footnote Multiple Times

Footnotes in Output

Insert a Footnote

Modify Footnote Callouts

Apply One Footnote Multiple Times in a Topic

Remove a Footnote

Footer Section

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