# Footnote support in editor **URL:** \ **Category:** Ideas\ **Tags:** šŸ‘šŸ¼-planned\ **Created:** [June 6, 2018, 3:35am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521 "2018-06-06T03:35:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![janmueller](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/janmueller/32/2963_2.png) [@janmueller](https://forum.ghost.org/u/janmueller)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2019, 7:48pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/23 "2019-03-25T19:48:14Z")
Because the hoops you have to jump through to add some footnotes is just crazy! It was a smooth user-experience in 1.x and got horrible in the 2.x version. The way ghost handles it is way inferior compared to almost every other solution out there. By the way ^something^ does not work. Neither does ^[something]^ How do I get text to show up in superscript? šŸ¤” ā‚¬: OKā€¦ I got it. Using an HTML-block and writing vanilla HTMLā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![MLFromScratch](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/mlfromscratch/32/2278_2.png) [@MLFromScratch](https://forum.ghost.org/u/MLFromScratch)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2019, 9:09pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/24 "2019-03-25T21:09:22Z")
Let me explain to you. I had this problem too, with code pieces on my website. You have to follow a sequence for the superscript to happen. It appears to be a problem with foreign keyboards, where the ^ does not appear immediatly. 1. Press shift + ^ symbol 2. Enter superscript 3. Press shift + ^ symbol again 4. Press your spacebar, so the symbol appears. This is how the editor is designed to work. You can not do double ^^ and then enter in between. In fact, you have to start off with a single ^ and then write something in there and always finish off with a ^ and then hitting the spacebar afterwards. E.g. press these keys in sequence 1. ^ 2. [1] 3. ^ 4. SPACEBAR EDIT: You donā€™t even need the HTML editor, you can do it inline! Just like I explained šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![AlexWhite](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/alexwhite/32/1817_2.png) [@AlexWhite](https://forum.ghost.org/u/AlexWhite)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 7:54am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/25 "2019-03-28T07:54:17Z")
The problem is that now there is a hacky manual workaround when markdown used to support it automatically and seamlessly. That is the problem. We would rather like our markdown support for footnotes back, because it was both useful and important. ---
**Author:** ![MLFromScratch](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/mlfromscratch/32/2278_2.png) [@MLFromScratch](https://forum.ghost.org/u/MLFromScratch)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 9:56am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/26 "2019-03-28T09:56:37Z")
Things might have worked better then, I wasnā€™t around. But I cannot see how this is hacky, I think itā€™s very well-made - and it works great too. I suppose I donā€™t see the annoyance in doing this ^[1]^ and then writing the reference at the bottom? Isnā€™t that the fastest way? ---
**Author:** ![epinardscaramel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/epinardscaramel/32/1432_2.png) [@epinardscaramel](https://forum.ghost.org/u/epinardscaramel)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 4:01pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/27 "2019-03-28T16:01:50Z")
I donā€™t understand how you donā€™t see this as a hacky workaround. Something that used to be generated automatically isnā€™t anymore. What happens when you move paragraphs around? You need to update every link. Also, we used to be able to give meaningfull aliases to references (in the old editor I could write ā€œ[^guardian-article]ā€, for example). ---
**Author:** ![MLFromScratch](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/mlfromscratch/32/2278_2.png) [@MLFromScratch](https://forum.ghost.org/u/MLFromScratch)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 5:45pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/28 "2019-03-28T17:45:07Z")
That does suck, yeah. As I stated, I didnā€™t know it used to be generated automatically. ---
**Author:** ![epinardscaramel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/epinardscaramel/32/1432_2.png) [@epinardscaramel](https://forum.ghost.org/u/epinardscaramel)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2019, 12:34pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/29 "2019-03-29T12:34:57Z")
No worries, I was just surprised šŸ™‚ I guess weā€™d need a special type of card for references, that could check the other (markdown) cards for references. Something similar could be done for a ā€œtable of contentsā€ card. ---
**Author:** ![venantius](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/venantius/32/3357_2.png) [@venantius](https://forum.ghost.org/u/venantius)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 8:35am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/30 "2019-04-30T08:35:17Z")
I just discovered that footnotes no longer work the way they used to and have been kind of shocked by it - the footnote support was really seamless and back when I was writing more frequently I used it for essentially every post. I do not think the current workaround is really okay at all - itā€™s extremely manual. I recognize that there are some deeper technical issues that would need to be addressed in order to support this feature but it is probably my single most desirable feature - I registered an account on the forums just for this. ---
**Author:** ![osterburg](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/osterburg/32/3781_2.png) [@osterburg](https://forum.ghost.org/u/osterburg)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 5:09pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/31 "2019-11-16T17:09:06Z")
Did anyone try the following extension? > **[GitHub - tivie/showdown-ghost-footnotes: Add footnotes support to showdown](https://github.com/tivie/showdown-ghost-footnotes)** > > Add footnotes support to showdown. Contribute to tivie/showdown-ghost-footnotes development by creating an account on GitHub. ---
**Author:** ![Stromfeldt](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/stromfeldt/32/13572_2.png) [@Stromfeldt](https://forum.ghost.org/u/Stromfeldt)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 6:22pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/32 "2019-11-16T18:22:40Z")
Not me. Iā€™m using [Bigfoot](http://bigfootjs.com/). ---
**Author:** ![pitscher](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/pitscher/32/5188_2.png) [@pitscher](https://forum.ghost.org/u/pitscher)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 4:41pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/33 "2019-11-20T16:41:13Z")
I experienced the same problem with using footnotes without writing the whole post in markdown. Together with a friend, I created a script which allows you to set footnotes. Your visitors can jump between a note like ā€œ[1]ā€ inside the post to the explanation and the end of the page and back. I created a very detailed README for the repo. Feel free to check it out: > **[GitHub - f1r3-exe/ghost-footnote-helper: Small Script which provides the...](https://github.com/f1r3-exe/ghost-footnote-helper)** > > Small Script which provides the functionality to use footnotes in Ghost Blog themes with the abillity to return from footnote to the inline link. - GitHub - f1r3-exe/ghost-footnote-helper: Small Sc... ---
**Author:** ![epinardscaramel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/epinardscaramel/32/1432_2.png) [@epinardscaramel](https://forum.ghost.org/u/epinardscaramel)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2020, 10:51am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/35 "2020-01-10T10:51:48Z")
This looks promising, can it be used without modifying any Ghost core files? Iā€™m a Ghost pro user, so the only thing I can modify is the theme! ---
**Author:** ![Stromfeldt](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/stromfeldt/32/13572_2.png) [@Stromfeldt](https://forum.ghost.org/u/Stromfeldt)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2020, 11:00am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/36 "2020-01-10T11:00:36Z")
Of course, no modifying of core required ā€” what is required is adding the JS file(s) and CSS file(s) to your theme. That being said, youā€™ll probably have to customise its CSS if you want things to fit perfectly. As well, seeing how this isnā€™t a plug-in youā€™ll have to manually apply every Bigfoot footnote with HTML cards. Tedious, but it does look real nice šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![\_jamieb](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/_jamieb/32/4412_2.png) [@\_jamieb](https://forum.ghost.org/u/_jamieb)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 7:17pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/37 "2020-03-04T19:17:07Z")
I guess this is one of the downfalls of having a system that isnā€™t user-extensible. Of course thatā€™s not reason enough alone to switch to another platform. Ghost has many great reasons for people to use it. I do hope that as part of the 4.0 there is some sort of extension system, although I wouldnā€™t want it to be as wild-west as _ahem_ Wordpress, for example. It does seem though that in this matter (footnotes) the Ghost dev team are either obtuse or just donā€™t care that they have taken away a _really_ useful feature. ---
**Author:** ![STOQE](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/stoqe/32/5080_2.png) [@STOQE](https://forum.ghost.org/u/STOQE)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2020, 10:24pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/38 "2020-03-10T22:24:41Z")
- +1 for any footnote developments or workarounds šŸ™šŸ½ - footnotes are a critical component in publishing āœšŸ½ ---
**Author:** ![janmueller](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/janmueller/32/2963_2.png) [@janmueller](https://forum.ghost.org/u/janmueller)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2021, 11:32am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/39 "2021-02-23T11:32:48Z")
Iā€™m using a german keyboard and german layout. So what you suggested does not work. Pressing shift + ^ symbol would result in a Ā° Just pressing ^ does add another ^ next to it the moment you hit another key (any other key btw). So it does not work greatā€¦ it does not work at all. ---
**Author:** ![janmueller](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/janmueller/32/2963_2.png) [@janmueller](https://forum.ghost.org/u/janmueller)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2021, 6:46pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/40 "2021-02-24T18:46:52Z")
Yeahā€¦ actually I got the confirmation via support chat. Some things (including subscript and superscript) are just not working for users without a US English keyboard layout (on macOS ā€¦ donā€™t know about windows or other platforms). For example a German one which has / adds ā€œdead keysā€ after typing ^ or ~ (strangely ` works fine in markdown mode). Looking at the entries and ā€œsolutionsā€ in this forum as well as GitHub (eg. [here](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/issues/11843) and [here](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/issues/9825)) does not make me very confident that this issue es taken serious / considered important by the devs or product management. One workaround would be to just write everything in markdown _and_ switching your keyboard to US English layout (use the ā€œUS English Layoutā€, not the ā€œ(US) English International Layoutā€ if you are on macOS as that one has the dead keys as well). So these are my findings after spending at least an hour on this issue experimenting and chatting with support. Unsatisfied with the result but maybe it helps someone elseā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![gmf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e4f/32.png) [@gmf](https://forum.ghost.org/u/gmf)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 11:57pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/42 "2022-10-31T23:57:06Z")
Is it possible to link directly to a footnote? To date, Iā€™ve just been using the \[1\]^ trick and linking each footnote generically to the Literature Cited Section. I would prefer to be able to link to individual citations in the Literature Cited section. Iā€™m not sure if this is possible as I thought it was only possible to link directly to article sections? Thanks for any help. * * * 1. 1 ---
**Author:** ![busfactor](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/busfactor/32/23230_2.png) [@busfactor](https://forum.ghost.org/u/busfactor)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2023, 8:22am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/43 "2023-02-27T08:22:43Z")
i love that example! manually encoded and referencing with markdown is a lot of friction for writers who just want to write (imho) and in some sense, it feels like itā€™s not quite the ethos ghost, or perhaps iā€™m wrong as an alternative, could this be done with a chrome extension? for now, itā€™s crude, but iā€™ll be using call-out boxes right below paragraphs to draw attention to specific reference material - this could be done ā€œend of postā€ and simply refd in a paragraph like: ā€œIt was the best of times, it was the worst of times [\*1]ā€ then for \*1 use the colored call-out box and pick a single color for all footnote references at bottom of post ---
**Author:** ![tmlmt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@tmlmt](https://forum.ghost.org/u/tmlmt)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 4:41pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521/44 "2023-05-06T16:41:14Z")
The solution proposed 4 years ago in this thread using ^[1]^ to create superscript does not work in 2023. It just adds ^[1]^ as additional text. One has to copy paste some text containing a superscript, and fiddle around with it when adding more footnotes ([2], etc.). Not really something you would expect from a text editor. Markdown is a solution that works, but unfortunately footnotes are not passed over multiple markdown cards. Making it impossible to insert other content and use markdown cards only for some nice features provided by markdown (tables, etc.). In a world plagued with fake news, this feature is critical to make Ghost a publishing solution ready for serious journalism, or scientific articles. [Previous page](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521.md?page=1) [Next page](https://forum.ghost.org/t/footnote-support-in-editor/1521.md?page=3)