Content Reference

A content reference, in Jahia, is a content item of a specific type that points to another item, the source, located elsewhere in the repository. The Academy glossary compares it to an alias or a symbolic link. For a team, it is the way to reuse information without duplicating it, since you correct the source once and every reference displays the updated version.

Definition and how it works

A contributor creates a reference by pasting content "as reference" or by dropping existing content into an area. Jahia then offers the reference types that fit both the dropped content and the area. There are several: the generic content reference, the file reference, the image reference and the content folder reference, which displays all the content in a folder. Some variants are translatable, so they can point to a different image or document in each language.

A reference keeps its context. Displayed through a reference, the content appears as if it had been created there, since the breadcrumb and components that use the path place it under the reference’s page. The site used, for instance to resolve the template, is the reference’s site rather than the source’s.

Academy documentation: understanding content structures

Content reference vs copy: the differences

A content reference should not be confused with a copy (which creates a new object) and with a weak reference (which is only a property of another content item).

The content reference and its neighbors
Term	How it differs from a content reference
Copy	A copy creates an independent item: editing the original does not change the copy. A reference always displays the source, with no double entry.
Weak reference	A weak reference is a property of a content item that points to another item, such as an article’s image field. A content reference is a content item in its own right, placed in an area.
Absolute area	An absolute area automatically shares the whole content of an area across a branch of the site. A reference reuses one specific item, in a place the contributor chooses.

Content reference in practice

A company must display the same regulatory notice on about twenty product pages. The team creates the notice once in a content folder, then places a reference on each relevant page. When the wording changes, the legal team approves a single edit and every page follows after publication.

For a PDF sheet with one version per language, a translatable file reference points to the right document in each language, from a single position on the page.

Frequently asked questions

Should content be copied or referenced to show it on several pages?

If the content must stay identical everywhere, a reference is the better option, because the source is unique and a correction applies to every page. A copy makes sense when each page must be able to evolve its version independently, for example to adapt the wording to an audience. When in doubt, a reference avoids diverging versions.

Can a content reference point to content from another site?

The Academy documentation describes this case with one constraint. The sites involved must have distinct server names and be accessed through them. The displayed content then takes on the reference’s context, including its site for template resolution. Check this with the integrator before building a cross-site sharing strategy around it.

Can a single reference show a different image in each language?

Translatable variants exist for exactly this. Image and file references exist in a translatable version, in which the reference points to a different item for each language. This is useful for visuals that contain text or for documents published in several languages. The contributor manages a single position on the page and picks the target for each language.