# Adding group references

A group reference is a declaration that references a group. It enables the referenced group to appear in the instance document in the context of the referencing declaration.

The menu option to add a group reference only appears if there are groups defined elsewhere in the document.

The following instructions were written for the Resource perspective, but they will also work in many other perspectives.

To add a group reference, complete the following steps:

1. In the Design view, right-click the content model you want to work with and select Add Group Ref.
2. Select the new group reference.
3. In the Properties view, select the group you want to refer to in the ref list.
4. Click the Documentation tab if you want to provide any information about this group reference. The Documentation page is used for human readable material, such as a description.
5. Click the Extensions tab if you want to add application information elements to your annotations of schema components. The Extensions page allows you to specify the schema and add XML content to your annotations.

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Adding groups