You can use cross-references to link to information to another topic, an external webpage, or file.
Where possible, manage links between topics in relationship tables. The use of cross-references can cause issues, especially with reused content.
If you own common content that is reused, avoid using cross-references to topics wherever you can. When you use xrefs to topics and someone reuses your content, if they aren’t reusing the topic that’s the target of the xref, they’ll end up with a broken link in their output. It also causes potential problems related to localization, which are explained below.
If you reuse a topic that contains an embedded xref and the target topic is not included in your deliverable, your output will contain a broken link. If you’re reusing topics that include xrefs to topics, request that the content owner move the xref to a relationship table link instead.
When you reuse content that contains embedded xrefs, that creates a dependency on the topics that are the target of the xrefs. If the content is localized, all content that is referenced is included in the package sent for translation. So if you’re reusing content that includes xrefs to other topics, those other topics are included in the package for localization, even if you are only reusing an element in that topic that does not include the xref. This increases translation costs.
If you create relationships between topics, you do not need to include a text reference to that topic.
You can use cross-references in the following situations, but consider the implications for reuse and ensure that you also include the target topics in the publication:
High-level tasks or checklists.
Complicated task topics that document multiple pages or dialog boxes in an application.
New in this release or Change history topics.
Reference to external targets, such as websites.
The user might lose the context of the link unless the link is included in the appropriate text element.
