Generated content edit dropped
Q-3-43 — Generated content edit dropped
An edit typed into pipeline-generated content was reverted; the content has no editable source position in this file.
What this means
This warning comes from the visual editor in q2 preview and Quarto
Hub, not from a command-line render.
Parts of a rendered document are produced by Quarto rather than typed
by you. A resolved cross-reference is the clearest example: you write
@fig-plot, and the editor shows Figure 3. Those characters are
generated — the number depends on how many figures precede it, and no
part of the phrase exists in your .qmd.
The editor treats such regions as single atomic units. You can replace or delete one wholesale, but you cannot type inside it, because there are no source bytes to write the keystrokes back to. An edit that lands inside is reverted.
Your document is unchanged.
Why this happens
- Typing inside a resolved cross-reference. Clicking into “Figure 3” and editing the number or the word.
- A selection spanning generated content, then typing over it.
- Editing content that came from elsewhere — an included file, a metadata value — which has a source, just not in the file you have open.
How to fix
Edit the upstream source that produced the content.
For a cross-reference, change the referenced element’s label or its position in the document; the number is computed from document order and is not editable directly:
{#fig-plot}
As @fig-plot shows, ...For content from an include, open the included file and edit it there.
For content from metadata, edit the metadata key in the front matter or
_quarto.yml.
To remove generated content entirely, delete the whole unit rather than editing within it — deletion of an atomic region is supported.