Inserting cross-references

PagePlus allows you to cross-reference to headings and anchored text, tables, pictures, or diagrams throughout your publication. Numbered paragraphs, footnotes/endnotes, and next/previous frames can also be cross-referenced.

PagePlus cross reference1 Inserting cross references

By choosing the “target” of the cross-reference, i.e. what the reference is to (e.g., a heading or anchor), you can then choose how the cross-reference will appear, typically as a page number or item name. This can also appear as the text “above” or “below”, a text number, or referenced header/content.

To insert a cross-reference field:

  1. (Optional) In advance, create anchors to any objects you’d like to cross-reference to.

  2. Click in the text for an insertion point (or make a text selection).

  3. Choose Information from the Insert menu, then select Cross-reference… from the submenu.

  4. From the dialog, choose a target that you want to reference to from the Type drop-down list. Types include:

  5. Anchor: a named anchor, which may be attached to an object or text via Insert>Anchor….

  6. Bookmark: a named bookmark as assigned with Insert>PDF Bookmarks….

  7. Heading: a paragraph of text formatted with a heading text style (e.g. Heading 1).

  8. Numbered paragraph: text formatted as a numbered list or numbered heading.

  9. Footnote or endnote: the first paragraph of a footnote or an endnote.

  10. Next frame/Previous frame: when text flows through a series of linked frames you can reference the subsequent text frame into which the current frame’s text will next flow. Previous does the reverse—you reference the previous text frame from which the flowing text has comes from.

  1. In the Item list, which changes with the Type selected, select the item of that type in your publication. These can be sorted alphabetically or by page number, by clicking on the appropriate column.

  2. The Insert as section lets you choose how the reference will appear. You can pick from one of several choices of target.

  • Page number: the number of the page the target is on.

  • Above/below: the position of the target relative to the cross-reference. This may also display as “left” or “right” if the target is on the same page, or “opposite” in a publication with facing pages.

  • Item name: For anchors and bookmarks only, the name is taken from the target’s Name shown in the previous Item list.

  • The remaining options only make sense when the target is text:

    • Text number: the number of the numbered list, heading, footnote or paragraph. When the target is deep in a multi-level numbered list, like “1.B.iii.”, you can pick:

      • (no context): just the target’s own number, e.g. “iii.”.

      • (relative context): which list levels are included depends on whether the cross-reference is in part of the same list as the target. For example, if the cross-reference is in “1.C.ii.” (a later part of the same top-level list), then the reference would appear as “B.iii”.

      • (full context): include numbers from all levels of the list, e.g. “1.B.iii.”.

For a normal paragraph (not in a numbered list or footnote), its number is the count from its most recent heading, and the full context includes the text of that heading. For example, “Details/3″ would refer to the 3rd paragraph since the “Details” heading.

  • Referenced header: the text of the most recent header of the target. Use this for referencing heading text.

  • Referenced content: the actual text of the target paragraph. You can limit the number of words to be included with the Up to input box; set this to a large number to get the entire paragraph.

  1. Prefix/Suffix: Use to add text before and after the reference. For example, you could surround a reference with brackets or quotes, or include “p. ” as a prefix to a page number reference.

  2. Number separator. Often numbered lists include their own separators and punctuation, for example “(A)”. This check box discards the original separator and replaces it with the given new one, entered into the adjacent box. This is especially useful with multi-level lists with context, where “1.(A)1.” can be reformatted by the cross-reference as, for example, “1.A.1″.

  3. Keep Insert as Hyperlink checked to make the cross-reference a hyperlink; this is ideal for electronic publishing to PDF or when exporting to HTML (in web publishing mode). For printing to desktop printers, uncheck the option if needed.

  4. Click OK.

To edit a cross-reference:

  • Right-click the cross-reference field and select Edit Cross-reference.

To jump to a cross-referenced target:

  • Right-click the cross-reference field and select Go To Target.

Continued From/Continued On cross-references

For easy story navigation between linked text frames, PagePlus provides “Continued From/Continued On” cross-references. When enabled, these appear at the top and bottom of your text frame, respectively, to indicate where the story text continues, i.e. to the previous or next text frame on the same or different publication page.

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Like other cross-references, these references will automatically update if frames are moved to a different page or new pages are added.

To insert a “Continued From/On” cross-reference:

  1. Select the text frame which is linked to another frame you want to reference to.

  2. Choose Information from the Insert menu, then select Continued From or Continued On from the submenu. The cross-reference appears at the top or bottom of the text frame, respectively.

By default, you’ll create a page number cross-reference. However you can change the cross-reference to a different Type by right-clicking the field and selecting Edit Cross-reference.

  • These types of cross-reference are created in their own text frames, which can be manipulated as for other text frames.  Frame text can be selected, edited, and formatted as for any other text. The text uses the text style “Continued From” or “Continued On”.  

Notes

  • Cross-references normally update automatically. If you suspect that cross-references are out of date you can update them manually by selecting Update Cross-references from the Tools menu. The option is grayed out unless cross-references are out of date. PagePlus updates cross-references automatically before printing or exporting a publication.

  • If the target of a cross-reference is deleted, moved to a Master page or the Pasteboard, it will display as {Ref} by default.

Inserting cross-references