###### 3.1.1.1.7 abstract

The abstract element occurs between the topic title and the topic body, as the initial content of a topic. It can contain paragraph-level content as well as one or more shortdesc elements which can be used for providing link previews or summaries. The <abstract> element cannot be overridden by maps, but its contained <shortdesc> elements can be, for the purpose of creating link summaries or previews.

Use the <abstract> element when the initial paragraph of a topic is unsuitable for use as a link preview or for summaries, because, for example, it contains lists or tables, or because only a portion of the paragraph is suitable. Note that when the initial paragraph is suitable as a summary, that content should be placed in a <shortdesc> element rather than in an <abstract> element. The <abstract> element allows for a wider range of content in your initial paragraph, such as lists and tables, and allows you to identify portions of the <abstract> content as useful for previews or summaries by embedding the <shortdesc> element within <abstract>.

When the contained <shortdesc> occurs within phrase-level content, it is treated as phrase-level content and should not create a separate paragraph on output of the topic. When the contained <shortdesc> occurs as a peer to paragraph-level content, it is treated as block-level content and should create a separate paragraph on output of the topic. When multiple <shortdesc> elements are included in an <abstract>, they are concatenated in output of link previews or summaries (separated by spaces).

When a <shortdesc> element occurs in a DITA map, it overrides the short description provided in the topic for the purpose of generating link previews, but does not replace the <shortdesc> in the rendered topic itself. This means that generated links to this topic will use the short description from the map for purposes any link previews provided with the link, while the rendered topic continues to use the short description inside the topic. If the <topicref> element in the DITA map also specifies the copy-to attribute, the content of the <shortdesc> element in the DITA map also overrides the short description provided in the topic. In this case, the rendered topic itself will display the <shortdesc> contents from the map in place of the <shortdesc> originally specified in the topic.

Processors may or may not implement this behavior.

###### Contains

Doctype | Content model
topic (base) | ( text data or dl or fig or imagemap or image or lines or lq or note or hazardstatement or object or ol or p or pre or simpletable or sl or table or ul or boolean or cite or keyword or ph or b or i or sup or sub or tt or u or q or term or tm or xref or state or data or data-about or foreign or unknown or shortdesc or draft-comment or fn or indextermref or indexterm or required-cleanup) (any number)
topic (technical content), concept, ditabase, glossary, glossentry, glossgroup, reference, task | ( text data or dl or parml or fig or syntaxdiagram or imagemap or image or lines or lq or note or hazardstatement or object or ol or p or pre or codeblock or msgblock or screen or simpletable or sl or table or ul or boolean or cite or keyword or apiname or option or parmname or cmdname or msgnum or varname or wintitle or ph or b or i or sup or sub or tt or u or codeph or synph or filepath or msgph or systemoutput or userinput or menucascade or uicontrol or q or term or abbreviated-form or tm or xref or state or data or data-about or foreign or unknown or shortdesc or draft-comment or fn or indextermref or indexterm or required-cleanup) (any number)
machineryTask | ( text data or dl or fig or imagemap or image or lines or lq or note or hazardstatement or object or ol or p or pre or screen or simpletable or sl or table or ul or boolean or cite or keyword or wintitle or ph or b or i or sup or sub or tt or u or menucascade or uicontrol or q or term or tm or xref or state or data or data-about or foreign or unknown or shortdesc or draft-comment or fn or indextermref or indexterm or required-cleanup) (any number)
learningAssessment, learningContent, learningOverview, learningPlan, learningSummary | ( text data or dl or fig or imagemap or lcInteractionBase or lcTrueFalse or lcSingleSelect or lcMultipleSelect or lcSequencing or lcMatching or lcHotspot or lcOpenQuestion or image or lines or lq or note or lcInstructornote or object or ol or p or pre or simpletable or sl or table or ul or boolean or cite or keyword or ph or b or i or sup or sub or tt or u or q or term or tm or xref or state or data or data-about or foreign or unknown or shortdesc or draft-comment or fn or indextermref or indexterm or required-cleanup) (any number)

###### Contained by

Doctype | Content model
topic (base), topic (technical content) | topic
concept, glossary, glossentry, glossgroup | topic, concept
ditabase | topic, concept, task, reference
reference | topic, reference
task (strict), task (general), machineryTask | topic, task
learningAssessment | topic, learningBase, learningAssessment
learningContent | topic, learningBase, task, concept, reference, learningSummary, learningAssessment, learningContent
learningOverview | topic, learningBase, learningOverview
learningPlan | topic, learningBase, learningPlan
learningSummary | topic, learningBase, learningSummary

###### Inheritance

- topic/abstract

###### Example: abstract with phrase-level short description

    <abstract>The abstract is being used to provide more complex content.
    	<shortdesc>The shortdesc must be directly contained by the abstract.</shortdesc>
    The abstract can put text around the shortdesc.
    </abstract>

Topic output

The abstract is being used to provide more complex content. The shortdesc must be directly contained by the abstract. The abstract can put text around the shortdesc.

Preview/summary output

The shortdesc must be directly contained by the abstract.

###### Example: abstract with block-level short description

    <abstract><p>The abstract is being used to provide more complex content.</p>
    	<shortdesc>The shortdesc must be directly contained by the abstract.</shortdesc>
    <p>The abstract can put text around the shortdesc.</p>
    </abstract>

Topic output

The abstract is being used to provide more complex content.

The shortdesc must be directly contained by the abstract.

The abstract can put text around the shortdesc.

Preview/summary output

The shortdesc must be directly contained by the abstract.

###### Example: abstract with multiple short descriptions

    <abstract>The abstract is being used to provide more complex content.
    	<shortdesc>The shortdesc must be directly contained by the abstract.</shortdesc>
    	<p>The abstract can put text around the shortdesc.</p>
    	<shortdesc>There can be more than one shortdesc.</shortdesc>
    </abstract>

Topic output

The abstract is being used to provide more complex content. The shortdesc must be directly contained by the abstract.

The abstract can put text around the shortdesc.

There can be more than one shortdesc.

Preview/summary output

The shortdesc must be directly contained by the abstract. There can be more than one shortdesc.

###### Attributes

Name | Description | Data Type | Default Value | Required?
univ-atts attribute group (includes select-atts, id-atts, and localization-atts groups) | A set of related attributes, described in 3.4.1.3 univ-atts attribute group |  |  |
global-atts attribute group (xtrf, xtrc) | A set of related attributes, described in 3.4.1.2 global-atts attribute group |  |  |
class, outputclass | Common attributes described in 3.4.1.9 Other common DITA attributes |  |  |

Previous Topic: 3.1.1.1.6 shortdesc

Next Topic: 3.1.1.1.8 body

Parent Topic: 3.1.1.1 Basic topic elements

Sibling Topics:

3.1.1.1.1 topic

3.1.1.1.2 title

3.1.1.1.3 titlealts

3.1.1.1.4 searchtitle

3.1.1.1.5 navtitle

3.1.1.1.6 shortdesc

3.1.1.1.8 body

3.1.1.1.9 bodydiv

3.1.1.1.10 related-links

3.1.1.1.11 dita