[Tex/LaTex] Multiple footnotes using symbols produces error: “counter too large”

countersfootnotesreport

I am writing a long report and want to use symbols in footnotes instead of numbers.

When I add the 10th footnote the error "counter too large" occurs

\documentclass{report}

% Using symbols for footnotes
\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\fnsymbol{footnote}}

\begin{document}

\footnote{f1}, \footnote{f2}, \footnote{f3}, \footnote{f4},

\footnote{f5}, \footnote{f6}, \footnote{f7}, \footnote{f8}, 

\footnote{f9}, \footnote{f10}

\end{document}

If I use: \footnote[1]{f10} instead of \footnote{f10}, the error is gone but does that mean that I have to count each footnote from here? Or is there an easier way to do this?

Best Answer

The problem is that LaTeX provides 9 symbols when using symbol option, therefore it produces an error if you count higher. The simplest solution would be to reset the counter when you reach 9:

\setcounter{footnote}{0}

You could use the the footmisc package. It allows for 15 symbols, and you can use perpage option to automatically reset the counter every page.

\documentclass{report}
\usepackage[perpage]{footmisc}

% Using symbols for footnotes
\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\fnsymbol{footnote}}

\begin{document}

\footnote{f1}, \footnote{f2}, \footnote{f3}, \footnote{f4},

\footnote{f5}, \footnote{f6}, \footnote{f7}, \footnote{f8}, 

\footnote{f9},  \footnote{f10}, \footnote{f11}, \footnote{f12}, \footnote{f13}, \footnote{f14},

\footnote{f15},

\newpage \footnote{f16}, \footnote{f17}, \footnote{f18}, 

\footnote{f19},  \footnote{f20}

\end{document}

The package also provides the symbol* option which allows you to define more than 15 symbols.

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