In this context the terms blocktags, inline tags, and value tags refer to how information is marked up and tagged with XBRL metadata. Here's a breakdown of the differences:
1. Blocktags (block tagging)
What it is:
Blocktags are used to tag larger sections of text, like an entire accounting policy note, paragraph, or section of the financial report.
Purpose:
They allow preparers to link narrative disclosures (e.g. accounting policies, risk disclosures) to corresponding XBRL tags, without tagging every individual number or word.
Example:
Tagging an entire paragraph with the tag ifrs-full:AccountingPolicies to indicate it’s about accounting policies.
Used for:
- Tagging notes to the financial statements
- Mandatory for certain disclosures defined in the ESEF taxonomy
2. Inline tags (inline XBRL tags / inline XBRL facts)
What it is:
Inline XBRL tags embed directly within the xHTML document. These can be applied to both block-level content or individual values (like numbers or dates).
Purpose:
To embed structured data (XBRL facts) in human-readable HTML content, making it readable by both people and machines.
Example:
<span class="ix:nonNumeric" name="ifrs-full:DescriptionOfAccountingPolicy" contextRef="...">Revenue is recognized...</span>
Used for:
- Tagging both block-level narrative content and individual numeric or textual facts
- Making data extractable and machine-readable
See also: List of text tags (hypertags/inline tags)
3. Values tags
What it is:
A financial value being tagged outside of the financial statements, for example in a footnote or in the notes section.
Purpose:
Value tags are the data points that are being tagged with XBRL metadata.
Example: If you tag 1,000,000 with the label ifrs-full:Revenue, then:
- ifrs-full:Revenue is the XBRL tag
- 1,000,000 is the value
Used for:
- Providing the quantitative data that gets reported and extracted
See also: How to tag values outside of tables
Related to: