Hi Hraban,
I have been revising the ConTeXt Garden documentation on notes during the
last few weeks, and this case is covered by the general rule for separating
a note mark from its note text.
Instead of nesting two \footnote commands directly, I would try:
\starttext
\samplefile{knuth}\footnote
{Don Knuth\note[knuth:computer-science].}
\setnotetext
[knuth:computer-science]
{The computer science guy.}
\stoptext
The outer \footnote creates the first note. The inner \note prints only the
mark, while \setnotetext registers the corresponding text separately,
outside
the already collected outer note.
For an editorially distinct inner-note level, the same mechanism can be used
with a separate series:
\definenote[NestedNote][footnote]
\note[NestedNote][knuth:computer-science]
\setnotetext
[NestedNote]
[knuth:computer-science]
{The computer science guy.}
I have not yet retested both variants with the latest LMTX, but this is the
mechanism documented on the revised Garden pages for controlled nested-note
situations.
See here:
https://wiki.contextgarden.net/References_notes_and_floats/Footnotes/How-to_guides/Separating_a_note_mark_from_its_text
Best//JP
Le 03/08/2026 à 09:53, Henning Hraban Ramm a écrit :
Hi, the “nodes” thread reminded me to ask:
What must I setup to enable nested footnotes (footnotes in footnotes)?
I know it used to work at some time (I seem to remember because
Giuseppe Bilotta needed it), but when I tried, it didn’t.
It’s probably possible to use \note and \setnotetext.
Hraban
\starttext
\samplefile{knuth}\footnote{Don Knuth\footnote{The computer science
guy.}}
\stoptext
___________________________________________________________________________________
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the
Wiki!
maillist : [email protected] /
https://mailman.ntg.nl/mailman3/lists/ntg-context.ntg.nl
webpage : https://www.pragma-ade.nl / https://context.aanhet.net (mirror)
archive : https://github.com/contextgarden/context
wiki : https://wiki.contextgarden.net
___________________________________________________________________________________
