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Inline Note Definition Not Supported

writer
Inline note definitions (: content) cannot be rendered in this output format because content coalescing is not yet implemented.

Q-3-10 — Inline Note Definition Not Supported

Inline note definitions ([^id]: content) cannot be rendered in this output format because content coalescing is not yet implemented.

What this means

There are two ways to write a footnote in qmd:

  • Inline footnotes, where the note text sits where the reference appears: text^[note content].
  • Note definitions, where the reference and the definition are separated: text[^1] plus a later [^1]: note content.

The current writer for this output format does not yet implement the second form. To render the note in-place, it would need to collect every definition and weave each one back to its reference — a step the writer does not yet perform.

Why this happens

Your document uses the [^id]: content form for a footnote, and the output format you selected has not been taught to coalesce those into their references.

How to fix

Rewrite the footnote inline:

A claim that needs a citation.^[Smith 2020, p. 42.]

instead of:

A claim that needs a citation.[^smith]

[^smith]: Smith 2020, p. 42.

Both render the same in formats that do support coalescing (such as HTML); rewriting to the inline form is the lowest-friction workaround when the output format does not.