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Footers (PDF)

For PDF outputs, you can use the PDF layout to control the footer that appears at the bottom of the page. The footer consists of a three-column table that appears on every page in your output.

A PDF page produced by Paligo. It has text on the page and at the bottom there is a three column table with a single row. It a footer and it has a left cell, center cell, and right cell. A callout box highlights the table.

The PDF Layout has footer configuration settings and these are divided into categories:

  • Use the General settings for setting up the footer table. These settings apply to both recto and verso pages (see ).

  • Use the Footer cells - default (recto page) settings to style the footer table on odd-numbered pages (or all pages in single-sided documents). See for details.

  • Use the Footer cells - verso page settings to style the footer table on even-numbered pages (in double-sided documents). By default, the recto page settings also apply to the verso pages, but only if the verso settings are set to default or empty. If you change the verso settings, Paligo will apply your changes to the verso pages instead. See for details.

Note

If you use Layouts that are based on other Layouts, there is a "chain" of Layouts that Paligo uses when publishing (see Layout Relationships - Base, New, Duplicate). Paligo will look on every Layout in the "chain" for verso settings. If it finds any, it will apply those verso settings.

Paligo only applies the recto page settings to verso pages if all Layouts in the "chain" have no verso settings in place. This applies to headers and footers.

Add Content to Footer

Use the PDF layout to add content to the footer table cells for PDF output.

The footer table is shown on all pages, except the front cover. Technically, the footer is also on the front cover, but it is set to have a fixed height of 0 . This means that any text in the footer will be invisible.

To add text, images, or auto-generated content such as page numbers to your footer:

  1. Select Layout in the top menu.

    Paligo editor. The Layout option in the header menu is highlighted.

    Paligo displays a list of Layouts. The list is empty if there are no custom Layouts in your Paligo instance.

  2. Select the Layout you want to update or Create a Layout.

    Tip

    You can copy the URL of the Layout Editor and paste it into a new tab in your browser. This can be useful if you frequently switch between your Paligo content and the Layout settings.

  3. Select Header and Footer and then Page footer.

  4. In the Page footer category, select Footer cells - default (recto page).

  5. Use the Page footer <column> cell content settings to choose the type of content to add to each cell. There are separate Page footer <column> cell content settings for the left, center, and right cells.

    Choose from:

    • None - Paligo will not include any content in the cell.

    • Text - Set the cell to contain text that you will define in the Page header <column> cell content: text field.

    • Image - Set the cell to contain an image that you will choose in the Page header <column> cell content: image field.

    • Pagenumber - Adds the page number to the cell.

      Note

      The page number is only shown in the PDF output if the General > Page > Print page numbers setting is set to Yes (or Default). For details, see Include Page Numbers in PDFs.

    • Page X - Adds the word "Page" followed by the page number to the cell.

    • Page X of Y - Adds current page and total page number to the cell, for example, "Page 6 of 75".

    • Title - Adds the first title element in your content to the cell. Depending on what you publish, this is the title of your publication or a topic.

    • Chapter title - Adds the title element of the "chapter" to the cell. The "chapter" is a top-level topic in your publication.

      For example, let's say you have a top-level topic called "Installation" and then lower-level topics for "Install the battery" and "Install the fan unit". In this scenario, all three topics will have "Installation" in the cell, as they are all part of the same "chapter". Topics in a different "chapter" will have a different title in the cell.

    • Section title - Adds the title element of the topic to the cell. For example, if you have an "Install the battery" topic, it will have "Install the battery" in the cell, but other topics will have their title in the cell instead.

  6. This step only applies if you selected Text as the Page footer <column> cell content.

    In the Page footer <column> cell content: Text field, enter:

    • Plain text

    • A dynamic variable to reference an element in your documentation. A popular use for a dynamic variable here is to reference an element that appears in the publication topic, such as copyright details. We have included an example after this procedure. To find out more, see Dynamic Text Variables.

      A popular use for a dynamic variable here is to reference an element that appears in the publication topic, such as copyright details. We have included an example after this procedure.

      To find out more, see Dynamic Text Variables.

    • A combination of plain text and dynamic variables

    Note

    There are separate Page footer <column> cell content: Text settings for the left, center, and right cells.

  7. This step only applies if you selected Image as the Page footer <column> cell content.

    In the Page footer <column> cell content: Image field, use the Upload feature to add the image you want to use. Paligo uploads the image, gives it an auto-generated name, and stores it with the Layout. It is not stored in the Media library.

    Note

    There are separate Page footer <column> cell content: Image settings for the left, center, and right cells.

  8. In the Page footer category, select Footer cells - verso page.

    The Footer cells - verso page settings work in the same way as those for the Footer cells - recto page, except that:

    • Any settings that you change for the verso page will be used on even-numbered pages.

    • If you leave any verso page settings set to default or empty, Paligo will match them to the same settings on the recto page. This happens during publishing and is not shown on the Layout.

  9. Select Save.

When you publish content with this PDF layout, Paligo will add the images and text you have selected.

Example 1. Dynamic variable to insert copyright information in PDF footer

Let's say you have set up your publication topic to include copyright elements, including year and holder elements (see Edit a Publication Topic). You are going to publish to PDF and you want the center cell of your footer to contain the copyright details.

You edit your PDF layout and set:

  • Page footer center cell content to Text

  • In the Page footer center cell content: text field, you enter a dynamic variable to reference the copyright>year and holder elements. The syntax is:

    Copyright © ${//d:article/d:info/d:copyright/d:year}$ ${//d:article/d:info/d:copyright/d:holder}$

    Notice how it includes the word Copyright and the copyright symbol as plain text. It then has two references: one to the year element and one to the holder element. It starts with the article element (which is in the publication topic), and then each level of the structure (info>copyright>year and info>copyright>holder).

PDF layout. Page footer center cell content setting has text as its value. Page footer center cell content text setting has a reference to the copyright year and copyright holder elements as its valye.

When you publish, Paligo:

  • Adds the text copyright and the copyright symbol to the center cell of the footer

  • Finds copyright > year in the publication topic and inserts the year value into the center cell, after the text

  • Finds copyright > holder in the publication topic and inserts the holder value into the center cell, after the year.