Improper symbol mark of footnote in minipage environment

Question

I think that the footmisc package has predefined the sympol mark series, but in minipage environment they become invalid. See below

\documentclass{book}

\usepackage[symbol*,stable]{footmisc}

\usepackage[paperheight=5cm,showframe]{geometry}

\begin{document}

\begin{minipage}{3in}

Here the text in environment\footnote{the footnote in minipage}

\end{minipage}

\vfil

\parbox{3in}{Here the text in parbox\footnotemark}

\footnotetext{the footnote in parbox}

\end{document}

How could I get the symbolical footnotemark in minipage?

Answer 1

minipages have their own footnote counter, which is called mpfootnote.

When you use the option symbol* loading the package footmisc, it affects only the normal footnote counter.

So, if you want the same behavior for minipages, you have to add the line

\renewcommand\thempfootnote{\fnsymbol{mpfootnote}}

in your preamble.

MWE:

\documentclass{book}

\usepackage[symbol*,stable]{footmisc}

\usepackage[paperheight=5cm,showframe]{geometry}

\renewcommand\thempfootnote{\fnsymbol{mpfootnote}}

\begin{document}

\begin{minipage}{3in}

Here the text in environment\footnote{the footnote in minipage}

\end{minipage}

\vfil

\parbox{3in}{Here the text in parbox\footnotemark}

\footnotetext{the footnote in parbox}

\end{document} 

Output:

EDIT

In response to your comment, if you want

1. The mpfootnote counter not to be reset at each minipage
2. The mpfootnote counter to share its value with the footnote counter

you can do the following:

1. Insert

   \setcounter{mpfootnote}{\value{footnote}}
   

   just after the beginning of each minipage, e.g.

   \begin{minipage}{3in}
   \setcounter{mpfootnote}{\value{footnote}}
   

2. Insert

   \setcounter{footnote}{\value{mpfootnote}}
   

   just before the end of each minipage, that is

   \setcounter{footnote}{\value{mpfootnote}}
   \end{minipage}