Using Footnotes

You can add footnotes to topics.

You can delete any footnote by clicking Remove for that footnote. The app deletes the footnote and the cross-reference to it, and updates any footnote numbering in the topic.

This task shows you how to:

Add a Footnote to the Topic

You can select the location for a footnote and then enter the text of that footnote.

  1. Insert the cursor where you want the callout for the footnote to display.
  2. Click Insert and select Footnote.
    The app adds a superscript number as a cross-reference indicator at the cursor location and a footnote container at the bottom of the topic.
  3. To use a specific callout indicator instead of numbers, click the Enter Callout box, and enter the callout text.
    The app renumbers any other footnotes. You can use the same callout value in multiple places that all link to the same footnote text.
  4. In the footnote container, enter the text of the footnote. You can add paragraphs, ordered lists, unordered lists, and definition lists as the footnote content.
    If you do not specify a callout, the app adds a superscript number that links to the footnote as a cross-reference indicator at the original location of the cursor. When the document is published, this becomes a hyperlink.

The app automatically numbers the footnotes starting at 1 and defines an ID value. When you add additional footnotes, the app updates all the numbers depending on the location of the new footnote.

Footnotes always have auto-generated IDs defined when the footnote is created. If you want to reference this footnote from another topic, you can edit the ID value to something more meaningful.

Use a Reference in Another Topic as a Footnote

You can select the location for a footnote and then use a reference from another topic as the text of the footnote.

  1. Insert the cursor where you want the callout for the footnote to display.
  2. Click Insert and select Cross-Reference, and then Footnote.
  3. Define the reference:

    Field Description
    Reference Text Text to display in this topic that explains which footnote is referenced. The referenced footnote content replaces this text when the document map is published.
    Topic Select the topic that contains the footnote you want to reference. The topic must be in the current document map, but you can it excluded from rendering.
    Footnote Select the ID for the figure you want to reference. The list includes all IDs for all figures that have defined IDs in the selected topic.

    If the selected topic does not have any footnotes, an error message displays.

  4. Click OK.