diff --git a/news/changelog-1.8.md b/news/changelog-1.8.md
index 69d8774ffed..f563f1261d2 100644
--- a/news/changelog-1.8.md
+++ b/news/changelog-1.8.md
@@ -136,9 +136,10 @@ All changes included in 1.8:
 - ([#13031](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/pull/13031)): Add `.quarto_ipynb` files to `.gitignore` by default.
 - ([#13085](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/pull/13085)): Avoid `kbd` shortcode crashes on unknown OS keys.
 - ([#13164](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/pull/13164)): add `julia` to execute schema to allow autocomplete suggestions. (@mcanouil)
+- ([#13121](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/13121)): Allow `contents` shortcode to find inline elements.
 
 
 ## Quarto Internals
 
 - ([#13155](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/pull/13155)): Process `pandoc-reader-FORMAT` raw blocks through `pandoc.read(FORMAT)`.
-- ([#13255](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/pull/13255)): Move some Lua code to use Pandoc's Lua API.
\ No newline at end of file
+- ([#13255](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/pull/13255)): Move some Lua code to use Pandoc's Lua API.
diff --git a/src/resources/filters/quarto-pre/contentsshortcode.lua b/src/resources/filters/quarto-pre/contentsshortcode.lua
index 6e21e30bb08..174d9ddfc69 100644
--- a/src/resources/filters/quarto-pre/contentsshortcode.lua
+++ b/src/resources/filters/quarto-pre/contentsshortcode.lua
@@ -6,6 +6,27 @@ function contents_shortcode_filter()
   local divs = {}
   local spans = {}
 
+  local function handle_inline_with_attr(el)
+    if ids_used[el.attr.identifier] then
+      spans[el.attr.identifier] = el
+      return {}
+    end
+
+    -- remove 'cell-' from identifier, try again
+    local truncated_id = el.attr.identifier:match("^cell%-(.+)$")
+    if ids_used[truncated_id] then
+      spans[truncated_id] = el
+      -- FIXME: this is a workaround for the fact that we don't have a way to
+      --        distinguish between divs that appear as the output of code cells
+      --        (which have a different id creation mechanism)
+      --        and "regular" divs.
+      --        We need to fix https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/7062 first.
+      return {}
+    else
+      return nil
+    end
+  end
+
   return {
     Pandoc = function(doc)
       _quarto.ast.walk(doc.blocks, {
@@ -43,13 +64,10 @@ function contents_shortcode_filter()
             return nil
           end
         end,
-        Span = function(el)
-          if not ids_used[el.attr.identifier] then
-            return nil
-          end
-          spans[el.attr.identifier] = el
-          return {}
-        end
+        Code = handle_inline_with_attr,
+        Image = handle_inline_with_attr,
+        Span = handle_inline_with_attr,
+        Link = handle_inline_with_attr
       })
 
       local handle_block = function(el)
@@ -75,14 +93,22 @@ function contents_shortcode_filter()
           return {}
         end
         local div = divs[data]
-        if div == nil then
-          warn(
-            "[Malformed document] Found `contents` shortcode without a corresponding div with id: " .. tostring(data) .. ".\n" ..
-            "This might happen because the shortcode is used in div context, while the id corresponds to a span.\n" ..
-            "Removing from document.")
-          return {}
+        if div ~= nil then
+          -- if we have a div, return it
+          return div
+        end
+        -- if we don't have a div, try to find a span
+        -- and wrap it in a div
+        local span = spans[data]
+        if span ~= nil then
+          -- if we have a span, return it wrapped in a div
+          return pandoc.Div(pandoc.Plain({span}))
         end
-        return div
+        quarto.log.warning(
+          "[Malformed document] Found `contents` shortcode without a corresponding div with id: " .. tostring(data) .. ".\n" ..
+          "This might happen because the shortcode is used in div context, while the id corresponds to a span.\n" ..
+          "Removing from document.")
+        return {}
       end
       -- replace div-context entries
       doc.blocks = _quarto.ast.walk(doc.blocks, {
diff --git a/tests/docs/smoke-all/2025/07/23/13121.qmd b/tests/docs/smoke-all/2025/07/23/13121.qmd
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b9677dcea18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/docs/smoke-all/2025/07/23/13121.qmd
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+---
+format: typst
+title: Another section
+_quarto:
+  tests:
+    typst:
+      noErrorsOrWarnings: true
+---
+
+## A section
+
+Here we define a plot.
+
+::: {.cell execution_count=1}
+
+::: {.cell-output .cell-output-display}
+`code`{#a-cell}
+:::
+:::
+
+
+
+Here we use the plot, inside a callout:
+
+
+::: callout-note
+
+## Note the following plot
+
+{{< contents a-cell >}}
+
+:::
+
+
diff --git a/tests/smoke/smoke-all.test.ts b/tests/smoke/smoke-all.test.ts
index d04a0f3feb6..03efa8413f3 100644
--- a/tests/smoke/smoke-all.test.ts
+++ b/tests/smoke/smoke-all.test.ts
@@ -180,6 +180,9 @@ function resolveTestSpecs(
         } else if (key === "noErrors") {
           checkWarnings = false;
           verifyFns.push(noErrors);
+        } else if (key === "noErrorsOrWarnings") {
+          checkWarnings = false;
+          verifyFns.push(noErrorsOrWarnings);
         } else {
           // See if there is a project and grab it's type
           const projectPath = findRootTestsProjectDir(input)
diff --git a/tests/verify.ts b/tests/verify.ts
index f871dfe22c3..bd8689bec0a 100644
--- a/tests/verify.ts
+++ b/tests/verify.ts
@@ -153,6 +153,11 @@ export const noErrorsOrWarnings: Verify = {
     const isErrorOrWarning = (output: ExecuteOutput) => {
       return output.levelName.toLowerCase() === "warn" ||
         output.levelName.toLowerCase() === "error";
+        // I'd like to do this but many many of our tests
+        // would fail right now because we're assuming noErrorsOrWarnings
+        // doesn't include warnings from the lua subsystem
+        //  ||
+        // output.msg.startsWith("(W)"); // this is a warning from quarto.log.warning()
     };
 
     const errorsOrWarnings = outputs.some(isErrorOrWarning);