[Tex/LaTex] How to have both symbolic footnote (counters reset per page) and numeric footnote (numbering never resets) threads on top of each other

footnotesnumbering

I would like two footnote threads:

  • one that uses traditional American footnote symbols (such as *†‡§¶‖) and whose counter is reset every page
  • one that uses continuous (Arabic numeral) numbering throughout the entire document.

I also like my footnote markers to be set into the margin, with a small separating space.

Let's start with a minimal example:

\documentclass{memoir}

\footmarkstyle{\textsuperscript{#1\ }} % to have an additional space after footnote marks (not easily possible with the footmisc package)
\setlength{\footmarkwidth}{-1sp} \setlength{\footmarksep}{0em} % same effect as \usepackage[flushmargin]{footmisc}
\counterwithout{footnote}{chapter} % continuous numbering of footnotes across chapters

\begin{document}

\chapter{Introduction}
This is dummy text.\footnote{This numeric footnote should be prefixed by the counter 1, as it currently is.}

\chapter{Document body}
This is dummy text.\footnote{This numeric footnote should be prefixed by the counter 2, as it currently is.}
This is dummy text.\footnote{I want this footnote to be introduced by the symbol \(^{*}\) and be placed above the previous footnote, even though it comes later in the text.}

\end{document}

Basically, the last footnote should be symbolic and should appear above the numerical ones; in general a stack of symbolic ones should appear above a stack of numeric ones on any given page, without additional vertical separation.

(Bonus if there is an easy way for me to specify the symbol sequence.)

There is a related question, but this one is different in coverage and trickier.

Best Answer

The package bigfoot allows easily for this:

\documentclass{memoir}
\usepackage{bigfoot}

\DeclareNewFootnote{A}
\renewcommand{\thefootnoteA}{\fnsymbol{footnoteA}}
\MakePerPage{footnoteA}
\DeclareNewFootnote{B} % If we omitted this declaration (and used \footnote instead), that'd place the standard footnotes _above_ the \footnoteA ones.

\footmarkstyle{\textsuperscript{#1\ }} % to have an additional space after footnote marks (not easily possible with the footmisc package)
\setlength{\footmarkwidth}{-1sp} \setlength{\footmarksep}{0em} % same effect as \usepackage[flushmargin]{footmisc}
\counterwithout{footnote}{chapter} % continuous numbering of footnotes across chapters

\begin{document}

\chapter{Introduction}
This is dummy text.\footnoteB{This numeric footnote should be prefixed by the counter 1, as it currently is.}

\chapter{Document body}
This is dummy text.\footnoteB{This numeric footnote should be prefixed by the counter 2, as it currently is.}
This is dummy text.\footnoteA{I want this footnote to be introduced by the symbol \(^{*}\) and be placed above the previous footnote, even though it comes later in the text.}

\newpage

This is dummy text.\footnoteB{This numeric footnote should be prefixed by the counter 3, as it currently is.}
This is dummy text.\footnoteA{I want this footnote to be introduced by the symbol \(^{*}\) and be placed above the previous footnote, even though it comes later in the text.}

\end{document}

The order in which the footnotes appear on the page is based on their declarations in the preamble.

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