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Unprocessed Note Reference

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Note reference was not converted to Span during postprocessing. This may indicate a bug or a filter that bypassed postprocessing.

Q-3-31 — Unprocessed Note Reference

Note reference was not converted to Span during postprocessing. This may indicate a bug or a filter that bypassed postprocessing.

What this means

Footnote references are written [^id] in the source but they do not stay in that form for output formats that cannot render them natively. The postprocessor converts each NoteReference AST node into a Span that contains the rendered marker (a linked superscript, for instance). This error fires when a raw NoteReference survives that pass.

This is a defensive guard. A document author cannot fix it from the source — the failure is in the pipeline, not in the input.

Why this happens

Two known triggers:

  • A Lua filter bypassed postprocessing, for example by running after the conversion pass and re-introducing NoteReference nodes.
  • A bug in the postprocessor that misses a particular reference shape.

How to fix

If a custom filter is in use, ensure it does not produce NoteReference AST nodes after postprocessing. If no filter is in use, report the document at the Quarto issue tracker — a minimal reproducer is the most helpful form.