Hi Mikael,
Many thanks — this is very helpful!
The |\columnsetspanwidth{1}| setting was precisely the piece I was
missing. It also makes the distinction much clearer: setting the note
width solves the typesetting/overlap problem, but it does not turn
columnset notes into page-bottom footnotes, since they remain associated
with the slot in which they occur.
Your remark about endnotes is therefore very useful as well: the right
solution really depends on whether one needs notes attached to the
column structure or genuine footnotes at the bottom of the page.
I’ll keep your example — it is a very good illustration of that distinction.
Many thanks again!
JP
Le 26/08/2026 à 13:00, Mikael Sundqvist a écrit :
Hi,
for the columnsets, one has to set the width of the notes.
\setupbodyfont[9pt]
\setuplayout[grid=snapping]
\definecolumnset[example][n=2]
\setupnotes[footnote][width=\columnsetspanwidth{1}]
\starttext
\startcolumnset[example]
\dorecurse {10} {%
\samplefile {zapf} FOOT\footnote {\samplefile {knuthmath}}\par
}
\stopcolumnset
\stoptext
But it might be better to use end notes. (Foornotes are showing up in
the slot they were defined, so not necessarily on the bottom of the
page.)
/Mikael
On Wed, 26 Aug 2026 at 10:08, autumnus<[email protected]> wrote:
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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___________________________________________________________________________________
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Wiki!
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___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
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
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