Inserting External Xref to an Existing Document

You can insert an external xref pointing to a target in another document that already exists.

Do the following:

Call up the Insert External Xref Dialog.
To call up the Insert External Xref Dialog, choose DITA > Insert External Xref or click the Insert External Xref button on the toolbar.

The Insert External Xref Dialog will appear.

Figure 1. Insert External Xref Dialog.
Specify the target file.
In the Insert External Xref Dialog, specify the target file one of these ways:
1. Select an existing file.
  From the Files list, select a file.
  
  Note:
  To filter the files by type, select a type from the File type drop-down list.
2. Enter the path to an existing file or URL manually.
  1. In the Path field, type the path to the target file or URL .
    
    Note:
    URLs must start with "http://", e.g. http://www.syntext.com.
    
    Note:
    It is also possible to type the reference to anything within a topic, using the following format: filename.xml#topicid/elementid.
  2. Press Enter to apply the typed path.
Specify the target.
From the Targets list, select the target.

Note:
You can see the list of available targets in the current document.

To filter the targets by type, select a type from the Show types drop-down list.
Specify Attributes if needed:
1. Select a format.
  From the Format drop-down list, select one of the following:
  - dita
  - html
  - pdf
  - ditamap
  Note:
  If you've typed a URL , e.g. http://www.syntext.com, and pressed Enter, the format attribute automatically gets the value html.
2. Select a scope.
  From the Scope drop-down list, select one of the following:
  - local
  - peer
  - external
Click the Insert button to insert the external xref.
Click the Close button to close the dialog.
Note:
You can also check the Close on Insert checkbox, and then click the Insert button.

Figure 2. External xref inserted.