Conref, or content reference, is an attribute of an element within a topic or a map that pulls the content into the element from another element of the same type. Any topic and element with an ID can be reused by means of a conref.
Target location
Local elements
Local topics
External elements
External topics
Views of conref
Conref can be displayed two ways: either resolved (as regular content) or as the path to the target element. For more information, see DITA Maps XSLT Parameter Sets and DITA Topics XSLT Parameter Sets.
Figure 1. Resolved and unresolved views of conref in Serna.