References notes and floats/Footnotes

1. What is a note?

A note is information associated with a particular point, passage, object, or division of a document, but placed outside the main flow of the text.

Notes allow an author, editor, translator, or publisher to add material without inserting every reference, qualification, or explanation into the running argument.

A note may provide, for example:

• a bibliographical reference or the source of a quotation;
• a clarification, definition, or additional argument;
• a translation or an explanation of a translation choice;
• an editorial intervention or textual variant;
• information attached to a table, figure, caption, or framed example.

The familiar footnote is only one possible form of annotation. Depending on the structure of the publication, notes may be placed at the bottom of the page, in the margin, beside numbered lines, or at the end of a section, chapter, part, or document.

2. Notes in ConTeXt

ConTeXt provides the predefined footnote series and a general mechanism for defining, numbering, formatting, placing, and selecting notes.

2.1. A first ordinary footnote

For an ordinary footnote, the basic command is:

• \setuppapersize[A6]
  
  \starttext
  
  ConTeXt places ordinary notes at the bottom of the page.\footnote
    {This is the text of the note.}
  
  \stoptext
  

• 

The command \footnote creates a mark in the running text, registers the corresponding note entry, advances the counter, and places the entry in the footnote area.

2.2. Defining additional note series

More complex publications may require several note series corresponding to different editorial functions.

For example:

\definenote
  [EdNote]
  [footnote]

\definenote
  [TradNote]
  [footnote]

These definitions create semantically named commands:

\EdNote{An observation supplied by the editor.}

\TradNote{An explanation of the translator's choice.}

The two series initially inherit their behaviour from footnote, but may later be numbered, formatted, placed, or selected independently.

2.3. Editorial function and physical placement

A translator's note and a textual variant may both appear at the bottom of the page, but they do not perform the same editorial function.

Conversely, an editorial note remains an editorial note whether it is printed:

• at the bottom of the page;
• in the margin;
• after a chapter;
• in a separately collected apparatus.

It is therefore useful to distinguish between:

• the editorial function of a note;
• the series to which it belongs;
• the place where it is printed;
• the form in which its mark and entry appear.

3. Choose the documentation that matches your need

The documentation is organized into five complementary parts.

Documentation	Purpose	Typical question
Tutorial	Learn the basic workflow by creating and formatting a small document step by step.	“How do I create and format my first footnotes?”
How-to guides	Solve a specific publishing problem with a focused procedure.	“How do I place all notes at the end of each chapter?”
Reference	Consult commands, syntax, parameters, numbering systems, and placement commands.	“What is the syntax of \definenote?”
Explanation	Understand the conceptual model behind marks, entries, series, counters, notation, and placement.	“What is the difference between a note series and a notation?”
Glossary	Check the precise meaning of the terminology used throughout the documentation.	“What is the difference between a note mark and a note entry?”

4. Tutorial

4.1. Creating and formatting your first footnotes

The tutorial introduces notes progressively through a small working document.

It shows how to:

1. create an ordinary footnote;
2. add several notes;
3. assign a stable reference;
4. refer to the same note again;
5. control basic numbering;
6. change the body font used for note entries;
7. place a group of notes explicitly.

5. How-to guides

The how-to guides provide focused procedures for specific publishing tasks. They assume that the reader already understands the basic use of \footnote.

5.1. Basic note operations

5.1.1. Referring to a footnote more than once

Use a stable internal reference to print the same note mark at several points in the text without creating duplicate note entries.

Topics include:

• \footnote [reference]{... };
• \note [reference] ;
• repeated note marks;
• stable internal references;
• the difference between repeating a mark and creating another entry.

5.1.2. Separating a note mark from its text

Create the note mark and corresponding note entry at different points in the source.

Topics include:

• \note ;
• \setnotetext ;
• assigning a stable reference;
• several references to one note entry;
• controlled nested-note situations.

5.1.3. Formatting footnotes

Control the visual presentation of note marks, note entries, and the footnote block.

Topics include:

• the body font of note entries;
• interline spacing;
• alignment and hyphenation;
• the position and style of note numbers;
• the rule above the footnote block;
• notes in columns;
• notes in paragraph form.

5.2. Placement, postponement, and local scope

5.2.1. Placing footnotes at the end of a section or chapter

Postpone entries in the ordinary footnote series and place them at a chosen structural boundary.

Topics include:

• location=text ;
• \placefootnotes ;
• placement after a section or chapter;
• repeated placement in a structured document;
• the distinction between postponed footnotes and endnotes.

5.2.2. Using local notes in tables, floats, and boxes

Keep note entries attached to the table, figure, caption, framed passage, or other object to which they belong.

Topics include:

• local note scopes;
• notes in tables and table cells;
• notes attached to figures and captions;
• notes in legends;
• notes inside or beneath framed texts;
• placing local entries close to the annotated object.

5.2.3. Placing numbered notes in the margin

Create a numbered note series whose entries are placed in a margin rather than at the bottom of the page.

Topics include:

• defining a dedicated note series;
• placing entries in the inner or outer margin;
• configuring note marks and entries;
• keeping marks and entries synchronized;
• distinguishing marginal notes from ordinary footnotes.

5.3. Editorial organization

5.3.1. Defining and managing multiple note series

Define independent note series corresponding to distinct editorial functions.

Topics include:

• \definenote ;
• semantic note commands;
• independent counters;
• different numbering systems;
• independent placement and formatting;
• commands such as \EdNote , \TradNote , and \SourceNote .

5.3.2. Producing annotated and unannotated versions

Use the same source to produce outputs containing different levels or categories of annotation.

Topics include:

• temporarily disabling notes;
• selecting individual note series;
• conditional inclusion of annotation;
• annotated editions;
• reading editions;
• maintaining one source for several publication versions.

5.4. Special technical cases

5.4.1. Creating interactive footnotes

Configure clickable links between note marks and note entries in interactive PDF documents.

Topics include:

• enabling interaction;
• linking note marks to note entries;
• returning from an entry to the running text;
• interaction settings for note series;
• checking links in different PDF viewers.

5.4.2. Including verbatim material in footnotes

Insert short commands, code fragments, or spacing-sensitive material into note entries.

Topics include:

• inline verbatim material;
• special characters;
• expansion and parsing constraints;
• short code fragments;
• alternatives for longer examples.

5.4.3. Typesetting notes in bidirectional documents

Control note direction, font coverage, script shaping, alignment, and the position of the rule above the note block in documents combining left-to-right and right-to-left writing.

Topics include:

• left-to-right and right-to-left note series;
• script-aware font selection;
• direction of note marks and entries;
• note-entry alignment;
• shaping of Arabic and Hebrew scripts;
• placement of the rule above the note block.

6. Reference

The reference page provides concise technical descriptions of the commands and settings used by the ConTeXt note mechanism.

It covers:

• creating ordinary and custom notes;
• recalling note marks;
• registering note entries separately;
• configuring note series with \setupnote ;
• configuring notation with \setupnotation ;
• placing postponed and local notes;
• numbering, reset levels, interaction, and directionality.

7. Explanation

The explanation page examines the concepts underlying the practical commands.

It clarifies:

• the relation between note mark and note entry;
• the distinction between a note series and its notation;
• the difference between note creation and note placement;
• postponed notes, endnotes, local notes, and migrated notes;
• stable references and printed numbers;
• interaction, directionality, and parsing.

8. Glossary

The glossary defines the vocabulary used throughout the documentation.

It includes terms such as:

• note mark;
• note entry;
• note series;
• notation;
• counter;
• placement;
• postponed note;
• local note;
• migrated note;
• interaction;
• apparatus.

9. Footnotes, endnotes, and margin notes

Footnotes, endnotes, and margin notes belong to the same general family of annotation, but differ in placement and sometimes in editorial function.

Form	Typical placement	Main page
Footnote	Bottom of the page	Footnotes
Endnote	End of a section, chapter, part, or document	Endnotes
Margin note	Inner or outer margin	Margin notes

10. Notes, line notes, and critical apparatuses

Ordinary notes, line notes, and critical apparatuses are related forms of annotation, but they do not serve exactly the same purpose.

A footnote usually comments on a point or passage in the running text. A line note is anchored to a numbered line. A critical apparatus records structured textual evidence such as lemmas, variant readings, witnesses, omissions, additions, and conjectures.

A critical apparatus may therefore need to identify:

• a numbered line;
• a lemma;
• one or more variant readings;
• the witnesses supporting each reading;
• several independent apparatus levels.

For fuller introductions, see:

• Building a critical apparatus with ConTeXt ;
• Glossary of critical edition terms ;
• Building critical editions from TEI XML ;
• Glossary of terms used in the TEI XML critical edition guides .

11. Related pages

• Footnotes
• Registers and index
• Margin notes
• Bidirectional typesetting