Dear ConTeXt developers,
I am writing to report several issues I encountered when using multi‑column
layouts with footnotes in ConTeXt (LMTX).
I have tried three different commands – \startcolumnset, \startcolumns, and
\startpagecolumns –
but each exhibits a problematic behavior:
- With \columnset – footnotes overlap with the main text in the columns.
- With \columns – all footnotes are accumulated and printed at the very
end of the environment (on the last page),
instead of appearing at the bottom of
the respective page where the footnote marker is placed.
- With \pagecolumns – a blank page is added when a title (e.g., \chapter) is
used.
Below is a minimal working example that reproduces all three problems:
```
\definecolumnset[example][n=2,balance=yes]
\starttext
\chapter{\red XXXX}
\startcolumns
\dorecurse{5}{%
\input tufte
\footnote{\input ward \relax}}
\stopcolumns
\page
\chapter{\red XXXX}
\startpagecolumns
\dorecurse{5}{%
\input tufte
\footnote{\input ward \relax}}
\stoppagecolumns
\page
\setupfootnotes[n=2,location=columns]
\chapter{\red XXXX}
\startcolumnset[example]
\dorecurse{5}{%
\input tufte
\footnote{\input ward \relax}}
\stopcolumnset
\stoptext
```
I expected that each footnote would be placed at the bottom of the page on
which its marker appears,
regardless of the column environment used.
However, the actual output differs from this expected behavior.
Could you please advise whether I am using these commands incorrectly, or if
these are known bugs?
I would also appreciate any workarounds or suggested alternatives for achieving
proper multi‑column footnotes.
ConTeXt version:
mtx-context | main context file:
/usr/local/texlive/2026/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/mkxl/context.mkxl
mtx-context | current version: 2026.08.21 22:14
Thank you for your excellent work.
Sincerely,
autumnus
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