17.13.4.1 annotationRef

This element specifies the presence of an annotation reference mark at the current location in the comment. An annotation reference mark is an information block that represents the metadata about the current comment within the document. This annotation reference mark should typically consist of the initials and a unique integer associated with its position in the document, but can be displayed in any desired format.

If this element is omitted from a single comment’s contents, then an annotation reference mark can be added at the start of the comment in reading order (right in a right-to-left paragraph or left in a left-to-right paragraph). As well, an annotation reference mark can be relocated as desired within a comment’s content.

[Example: Consider a document with text with an annotated comment as follows:

This comment is represented as the following WordprocessingML fragment:

<w:comment … w:initials="User">
  <w:p>
    <w:r>
      <w:annotationRef />
      </w:r>
      …
  </w:p>
</w:comment>

The annotationRef element specifies that the comment must start with an annotation reference mark. In this example, this mark is displayed as a combination of the user initial, User, and a unique sequential number, 1. end example]

[Note: The W3C XML Schema definition of this element’s content model (CT_Empty) is located in A.1. end note]