User Guide Cancel

Create and manage citations

  1. RoboHelp User Guide
  2. Introduction
    1. Get to know RoboHelp workspace
    2. What's new in RoboHelp 2022 release
      1. What's new in Update 5
      2. What's new in Update 4
      3. What's new in Update 3
      4. What's new in Update 2
      5. What's new in Update 1
    3. Fixed Issues in RoboHelp
    4. RoboHelp System Requirements
    5. Download RoboHelp on Windows and macOS
    6. Download and install Adobe app
    7. RoboHelp FAQs
    8. What's new in RoboHelp 2020 release
      1. What's new in Update 8
      2. What's new in Update 7
      3. What's new in Update 6
      4. What's new in Update 5
      5. What's new in Update 4
      6. What's new in Update 3
      7. What's new in Update 2
      8. What's new in Update 1
  3. Projects
    1. Plan your RoboHelp project
    2. Create a project
    3. Manage projects
    4. Work with topics and folders
    5. Generate reports
    6. Work with context-sensitive help
    7. Manage References
    8. Set preferences in RoboHelp
  4. Collaborate with authors
    1. Collaborate using Git
    2. Collaborate using SharePoint Online
    3. Collaborate using Azure DevOps (Team Foundation Server)
  5. PDF Layout
    1. PDF templates
    2. Design a page layout
    3. Publish PDF output
    4. Work with the common content styles
    5. Components of a PDF template
    6. Support for language variables
    7. Customize PDFs
  6. Editing and formatting
    1. Format your content
    2. Create and manage cross-references
    3. Create and manage links
    4. Single-source with snippets
    5. Work with images and multimedia
    6. Create and use variables for easy updates
    7. Work with Variable Sets
    8. Use Find and Replace
    9. Auto save your content
    10. Side-by-side editing in Split View
    11. Use the Spell Check feature
    12. Create and Edit Bookmarks
    13. Insert and update fields
    14. Switch between multiple views
    15. Autonumbering in CSS
  7. Import and linking
    1. Import Markdown files into a project
    2. Import Word documents into a project
    3. Import FrameMaker documents into a project
  8. TOCs, indexes, glossaries, and citations
    1. Create and manage a Table of Contents
    2. Create and manage an index
    3. Create and manage a glossary
    4. Create and manage citations
    5. Create and manage browse sequences
    6. Work with See Also and Related Topics
  9. Conditional content
    1. What is conditional content
    2. Create and apply condition tags
    3. Configure output presets for conditional content
    4. Optimize and manage conditional content
  10. Microcontent
    1. Microcontent
  11. Review and Collaboration
    1. Review and Collaboration
  12. Translation
    1. Translating content to multiple languages
    2. Configure a translation framework for a service provider
  13. Generating output
    1. Generate output
    2. Generate Frameless output
    3. Generate Knowledge Base output
    4. Generate PDF output
    5. Generate Responsive HTML5 output
    6. Generate Word Document output
    7. Generate Content Only output
    8. Generate eBook output
    9. Generate Microsoft HTML Help output
    10. Generate Mobile App output
  14. Publish output
    1. Publish to a RoboHelp Server
    2. Publish to an FTP server, a Secure FTP server, or a File System
    3. Publish to SharePoint Online
    4. Publish to Zendesk Help Center
    5. Publish to Salesforce Knowledge Base
    6. Publish to ServiceNow Knowledge Base
    7. Publish to Zoho Knowledge Base
    8. Publish to Adobe Experience Manager
    9. Publish to Atlassian Confluence Knowledge Base
  15. Appendix
    1. Adobe RoboHelp Scripting Reference
    2. RoboHelp keyboard shortcuts

Learn how to implement references by adding and applying citations to your content.

Citations are references to a book, journal, website, or other published items. Adding citations creates credibility for the content and an essential roadmap to your research. RoboHelp allows you to add citations to your project and apply them to your content. For some scenarios, like professional books or legal analysis, it’s mandatory to add citations. Following are some reasons to include citations in your content.

  • To credit the authors of the source of information you've used for your content.
  • To help readers to follow up on these sources of information.
  • To display well-researched content.
  • To make content more reliable and prevent plagiarism.

You can add these citations for books, websites, and journals. They’re added as a bibliography or references at the end of the PDF output. Adobe RoboHelp supports multiple Citation styles like Modern Language Association (MLA), American Psychological Association (APA), Chicago, Institute of Electricals and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and American Heart Association (AHA). 

Learn more about these styles from Manage Projects.

Add a Citation to the project

To add a citation to the project, follow these steps:

  1. In the Author toolbar, select Citations.
    The Citations panel opens.

    Citation option in author toolbar

  2. In the Citations panel, select  and then select New Citation.
    The Add Citation dialog box opens.

    add citation

  3. Fill in the fields in the Add Citation dialog box.

    Book Website Journal

    Source
    From the drop-down, select the source of the citation as Book

    Source
    From the drop-down, select the source of the citation as Website

    Source
    From the drop-down, select the source of the citation as Journal

    Search by*
    Select ISBN or DOI from the drop-down to search the book based on ISBN or DOI. Enter the ISBN or DOI in the field and click   to populate the fields.

    DOI: Digital Object Identifier
    ISBN: Unique Numeric Book Identifier

    Search by*
    Select DOI from the drop-down to search the website based on DOI. Enter the DOI in the field and click    to populate the fields.

    DOI: Digital Object Identifier

    Search by*
    Select DOI or PubMed ID from the drop-down to search the journal based on DOI or PubMed ID. Enter the DOI or PubMed ID in the field and click    to populate the fields.

    DOI: Digital Object Identifier


    Author
    Add the first and last name of the author of the citation. Select  to add more names. 

    Author
    Add the first and last name of the author of the citation. Select   to add more names. 

    Author
    Add the first and last name of the author of the citation. Select   to add more names. 

    Title
    Add the title of the book. 

    Title
    Add the title of the web page. 

    Title
    Add the title of the article. 

    Editor
    Add the editor of the book. 

    Website Name
    Add the name of the website. 

    Journal Title
    Add the title of the work in which the article is found. 

    Edition
    Add the edition of the book.

    URL
    Add the web link of the website.

    Year
    Add the year in which the article is published. 

    City
    Add the city of the publication. 

    Accessed Date
    Add the date on which the content of the website is accessed. 

    Volume
    Add the volume of the work in the series. 

    Publisher
    Add the name of the publisher of the book. 

    Published Date
    Add the date on which the content of the website is published. 

    Number
    Add the number of the volume within the series. 

    Year
    Add the year in which the book is published. 

    Updated Date
    Add the date on which the content of the website is updated. 

    Pages
    Add the page number or page range in which the article is found. 

    Version
    Add the version of the book. 

    Unique ID
    Add a unique ID for the citation. A unique ID is an identifier for that citation in the project.

    URL
    Add the web link to the journal. 

    Series
    Add the series of the book.

     

    Unique ID
    Add a unique ID for the citation. A unique ID is an identifier for that citation in the project.

    URL
    Add the web link to the book.

     

     

    Unique ID
    Add a unique ID for the citation. A unique ID is an identifier for that citation in the project.

     

     

    Note:

    *For Search by using ISBN, DOI, and PubMed ID

    The data displayed in the citation search (“Citation Content”) are provided by Third Party Online Services. Adobe does not endorse the accuracy, correctness, and availability of Citation Content. You need to ensure (i) compliance with terms and conditions governing the usage of Citation Content and (ii) accuracy and correctness of Citation Content.

  4. Select Done.
    A new citation is added to your project and is visible in the Citations panel.

Note:

Adding a Unique ID for the citation field is mandatory.  You cannot change the unique ID once the citation is added.

Import citations to the project

RoboHelp allows you to import citations, so you don't need to repeatedly create the list. They should be in BibText format. To import a citation to the project, follow these steps:

Tip:

A .bib filename extension is a BibTeX Bibliographical Database file. It's a specially formatted text file that lists references about a particular source of information.

  1. In the Author toolbar, click Citations.
    The Citations panel opens.

  2. In the Citations panel, select  , and then select Import.

  3. Browse a .bib file from your system and import it to the project.
    Once the file is imported successfully, you can view the references in the citations panel.

Note:

Citations for books, websites, and journals only are imported. If the Bibtex file contains other types of citations, they will be ignored.

Edit a citation in the project

To edit the citation, follow these steps:

  1. Hover over the name of the citation from the list of the citations. Select   menu icon.

  2. Select  Edit.
    The Edit Citation dialog box opens.

  3. Make the required changes. Select Done.
    The selected citation is edited.

Note:

You cannot change the unique ID once the citation is added.

Preview of citation in the project

To preview the citation in the project, follow these steps:

  1. Hover over the name of the citation from the list. Select   menu icon.

  2. Select Preview.
    You can preview the content and format of the citation in the preview box. It displays the citation in the format based on the selected citation style.
    Click anywhere on the screen to close the preview box.

    Preview citation

Insert a citation

There are two ways to insert a citation to the topic. It can be added through the standard toolbar or drag and drop method:

Standard toolbar

  1. To open a topic:
    In the Author toolbar, select Contents and open a topic of your choice from the Contents panel.

  2. From the standard toolbar, choose Citation.

    standard toolbar citation addition

    A list of citations appears. Select the required citation.
    Alternatively, press Ctrl+5. You can filter citations by typing the first few alphabets in the search panel of the citation dialog box. Press the upward and downward arrow keys to navigate through the list of citations. Press Enter to insert a citation. 

    Insert citation(s)

  3. Click Done.

  4. Select the Save All icon   on the top-left of the standard toolbar.

Drag and Drop method

  1. In the Author toolbar, select Citations.

  2. Drag the citation from the author toolbar and drop it at the appropriate location in the topic.

    To select multiple citations, double-click the citation text and choose the citations. Select Done to add them to the topic.

  3. Click the Save All icon   on the top-left of the standard toolbar.

Once you insert citations to the project topic, you can list them in PDF output. Create a citations page in the bookmap, and add it to the table of contents. To add a citation page to your Table of Contents, view Create and manage a table of contents.

To change the view and feel of the citation page, view Customize PDF templates.

Delete a citation

To delete a citation from the project, follow these steps:

  1. Hover over the name of the citation from the list. Select   menu icon.

  2. To delete a citation from the project,

    1. Select   Delete.
      The confirmation dialog box opens.
    2. If the citation isn't used in the project, the following dialog box will appear.
    Delete citation

    Select Yes for confirmation.
    The selected citation is deleted from the project.
     
    If the citation is used in the project, the following dialog box will appear.
    Delete used citation

    Delete the citation and its references: It deletes the citation from the project and all its references present in the topic.
    Delete only the citation: It only deletes the citation but leaves the references present in the topic.

    Select Done.
    The selected citation is deleted from the project.

    To delete in-text citations from topic,

    1.    In the topic, place your cursor at the end of the citation.

    2.    Click the Delete key from the keyboard.
    The in-text citation is deleted from that instance in the topic.

Manage citations

From the Author toolbar, filter and search for citations according to the sources to use in your topic.

Filter

To filter the citation source list, select   filter icon adjacent to the search bar. Select the source options from the drop-down to filter the citation list. It allows both single and multiple selections. 

All Sources: It shows a complete list of citations, including all the sources.

Book: It shows the list of citations sourced from books.

Website: It shows the list of citations sourced from websites.

Journal: It shows the list of citations sourced from journals.

Search

Search the citation for your content.

  1. In the Author toolbar, click Citations.
    The Citations panel opens.

  2. Use the Search bar to search for the appropriate citation from a long list. You can search for the citation by using any field.

Styling of a citation

Apply formatting to the citation when added to the topic. 

  1. Select the styles icon from the right-side toolbar or select default.css and Edit.
    It opens the STYLES panel that contains all the styling options. 

  2. In the Search panel, search for <cite>.

  3. Apply formatting to the citation.

    Cite styling

Add citations to PDF output

All the citations added to the topics are listed on the citations page, which is available at the end of the PDF output. 

  1. From Table of Contents, create a TOC for citations page.

  2. From standard toolbar, select Insert Back Matter and add Citations Page.

    Add citation page to insert back matter

  3. Create a template for the citations page.

  4. Create and design a page layout for the citations page.

  5. From Settings of template, select the citation's layout and click Save.

  6. Generate the PDF from Output presets.

    View the list of citations at the end of the PDF output.

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The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online

Adobe MAX

The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online