Suppress footnote number in text area

Question

I have references from several captions to the same footnote. This footnote is not referenced from text, only from captions. I've found the following approach working great, except that the footnote number also appears in the text area. Minimal example:

\documentclass[paper=a4,fleqn]{scrartcl} 
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\begin{document}
\begin{figure}[!htbp]
\begin{center}
%\includegraphics[width=1.0\linewidth]{ima/myFirstPic}
\dots
\vspace*{0.1cm}
\caption[myFirstCaption]{myFirstCaption \footref{myFootnote}}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[!htbp]
\begin{center}
%\includegraphics[width=1.0\linewidth]{ima/mySecondPic}
\dots
\vspace*{0.1cm}
\caption[mySecondCaption]{mySecondCaption \footref{myFootnote}}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
\footnote{\label{myFootnote} myFootnoteText}
\end{document}

I tried {\let\thefootnote\relax\footnote{{\label{myFootnote} myFootnoteText}}} but this suppresses also the number in the footnote area (at the bottom of the page) which must be kept visible. So the question is: How do I suppress only the footnote number that appears in the text area?

Why not using \footnotemark and \footnotetext? However, you have to take care to print the footnote on the correct page with such constructs, because floats can always float. Note also, that you should not use center environment inside a float but \centering command, because environment center adds additional (unwanted) vertical space. — cabohah, Jan 07 '23 at 16:17
I experimented a lot with \footnotemark and \footnotetext, it did not work. The issue always was that the reference numbering is off. Do you have a working example of your idea with \footnotemark and \footnotetext? — Rome, Jan 07 '23 at 16:22

cabohah · Accepted Answer · 2023-01-07T16:27:21.020

If you really want to do such a dangerous game, you can use \footnotemark and \footnotetext:

\documentclass[fleqn]{scrartcl} 
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{mwe}
\begin{document}
\begin{figure}[!htbp]
  \centering
  \includegraphics[width=1.0\linewidth]{example-image-a}
  \caption[myFirstCaption]{myFirstCaption\footnotemark}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[!htbp]
  \centering
  \includegraphics[width=1.0\linewidth]{example-image-b}
  \caption[mySecondCaption]{mySecondCaption\footref{myFootnote}}
\end{figure}
\footnotetext{\label{myFootnote}Note, this is dangrous, because the figures
  could float to the next page or even this footnote could be on the next page
  after changing something in the document!}
\end{document}

See “Should I use center or centering for figures and tables?” for more information about using \centering instead of center environment.

I see, so the combination of \footnotemark for the first caption and then \footref for the following captions avoids the chaos with the numbering. That's tricky, thanks! — Rome, Jan 07 '23 at 16:28

Suppress footnote number in text area

1 Answers1