diff --git a/CHANGELOG.adoc b/CHANGELOG.adoc
index 3d6967f9cd816ec8e7e10650305de5706e031480..64b1e7ffac9e6ab810c4a7d0b68cc7520fbd2ddd 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.adoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.adoc
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ For a detailed view of what's changed, refer to the {url-repo}/commits[commit hi
 * preserve role on page title when adding as section title in assembly
 * add implicit author line to assembly if author is defined on top-level page (#93)
 * allow doctype of assembly to be set using `assembly.doctype` config key (instead of the `doctype` AsciiDoc attribute)
+* make separator used to scope IDs configurable using `assembly.id_separator` config key (#94)
 
 === Changed
 
diff --git a/docs/assembler/modules/ROOT/pages/configure-assembly.adoc b/docs/assembler/modules/ROOT/pages/configure-assembly.adoc
index 8526ce188f98a571cb4148f45bd4a2c23cc42fff..87b66e273d03dc47712a4dd3016fa81256b145cd 100644
--- a/docs/assembler/modules/ROOT/pages/configure-assembly.adoc
+++ b/docs/assembler/modules/ROOT/pages/configure-assembly.adoc
@@ -40,6 +40,12 @@ Acceptable keys and their default values are listed in the table below.
 |article, book, manpage
 |Sets the AsciiDoc doctype of the assembly.
 
+|<<id-separator-key,id_separator>>
+|:
+|Character
+|Sets the character Assembler uses as a separator when scoping IDs.
+Do not use underscore (`_`).
+
 |<<profile-key,profile>>
 |<set by exporter>
 |String
@@ -78,7 +84,7 @@ If `root_level` isn't set, the extension will automatically assign the value `0`
 
 The `insert_start_page` key controls whether the component version start page is implicitly inserted at the top of the navigation model.
 
-The `insert_start_page` key in an optional key that can be set in [.path]_antora-assembler.yml_.
+The `insert_start_page` key is an optional key that can be set in [.path]_antora-assembler.yml_.
 It accepts a Boolean value.
 
 `true`:: _Default_.
@@ -349,7 +355,7 @@ The child navigation entry for the _willow-creek.adoc_ page becomes a sibling of
 
 The `doctype` key controls the AsciiDoc doctype of the assembly.
 
-The `doctype` key in an optional key that can be set in [.path]_antora-assembler.yml_.
+The `doctype` key is an optional key that can be set in [.path]_antora-assembler.yml_.
 It accepts a valid doctype value, `book`, `article`, or `manpage`.
 The default value is `book`.
 
@@ -363,6 +369,31 @@ assembly:
 This key should be used when you do not want the assembly to contain parts or chapters.
 Assembler automatically adjusts section levels when the value is anything other than book.
 
+[#id-separator-key]
+== id_separator
+
+The `id_separator` key controls the character Assembler uses as a separator when scoping IDs.
+
+The `id_separator` key is an optional key that can be set in [.path]_antora-assembler.yml_.
+It accepts a single character.
+The default value is `:`.
+
+.antora-assembler.yml
+[,yaml]
+----
+assembly:
+  id_separator: '-'
+----
+
+Assembler uses `:` as a separator by default, which is not a valid ID character in XML.
+Thus, when converting to an XML format such as DocBook, you may want to customize this value.
+The recommended value is `-`.
+Do not use underscore (`_`) as this interferes with conversion.
+
+The separator is repeated three times between the page ID and the section ID (e.g., `page:::section`) and used as is between each resource ID coordinate (e.g., `component:module:page`).
+When the value is `-`, the separator is repeated four times betweeen each resource ID coordinate (e.g., `module----page`).
+This repetition is used to avoid conflicts with the endash replacement in AsciiDoc.
+
 [#profile-key]
 == profile
 
diff --git a/packages/assembler/lib/produce-assembly-file.js b/packages/assembler/lib/produce-assembly-file.js
index 3102c93d545947d0d5f346bfe010629191aa8466..82ff24c5b04a87d3de5016a6efb773c4115c3cf7 100644
--- a/packages/assembler/lib/produce-assembly-file.js
+++ b/packages/assembler/lib/produce-assembly-file.js
@@ -116,6 +116,9 @@ function mergeAsciiDoc (
     if (!val || val === '/') return ''
     return val.charAt(val.length - 1) === '/' ? val.slice(0, val.length - 1) : val
   })(asciidocConfig.attributes['site-url'])
+  const idSeparator = (assemblyModel.idSeparator || '').charAt() || ':'
+  const idScopeSeparator = idSeparator.repeat(3)
+  const idCoordinateSeparator = idSeparator === '-' ? '----' : idSeparator
   // FIXME: ideally, resource ID would be stored in navigation so we can look up the page more efficiently
   let page = urlType === 'internal' && !unresolved ? pagesInOutline.get(url) : undefined
   if (page && pagesInOutline.assembled.pages.has(page)) page = undefined
@@ -154,13 +157,13 @@ function mergeAsciiDoc (
     let idScope = docnameForId
     let idPrefix
     if (qualifyId) {
-      idScope = component + ':' + (module_ === 'ROOT' ? ':' : module_ + ':') + idScope
+      idScope = [component, module_ === 'ROOT' ? '' : module_, idScope].join(idCoordinateSeparator)
     } else if (module_ !== 'ROOT') {
-      idScope = module_ + ':' + idScope
+      idScope = module_ + idCoordinateSeparator + idScope
     } else if (ReservedIdNames.includes(docnameForId)) {
-      idScope = idPrefix = idScope + ':::'
+      idScope = idPrefix = idScope + idScopeSeparator
     }
-    idPrefix ??= idScope + ':::'
+    idPrefix ??= idScope + idScopeSeparator
     let pageFragment = ''
     let pageRoles = ''
     let pageStyle = doc.getAttribute('assembly-style', '')
@@ -384,19 +387,20 @@ function mergeAsciiDoc (
             targetModule = module_
           }
           if (pagePart.startsWith('./')) pagePart = topicPrefix + pagePart.slice(2)
-          if (targetModule !== 'ROOT') pagePart = `${targetModule}:${pagePart}`
-          if (!(targetPage = pagesInOutline.get(pagePart))) {
-            if (siteUrl && (targetPage = contentCatalog.resolvePage(pagePart, page.src)) && targetPage.out) {
+          const pageResourceRef = targetModule === 'ROOT' ? pagePart : `${targetModule}:${pagePart}`
+          if (!(targetPage = pagesInOutline.get(pageResourceRef))) {
+            if (siteUrl && (targetPage = contentCatalog.resolvePage(pageResourceRef, page.src)) && targetPage.out) {
               text ||= targetPage.asciidoc?.xreftext || target
               return `${siteUrl}${targetPage.pub.url}${fragment && '#' + fragment}[${text}]`
             }
             // TODO: handle unresolved page better
             return m
           }
+          if (targetModule !== 'ROOT') pagePart = `${targetModule}${idCoordinateSeparator}${pagePart}`
           pagePart = pagePart.replace(/\.adoc$/, '').replace(/[/.]/g, '-')
           const refid = fragment
-            ? `${pagePart}:::${fragment}`
-            : pagePart + (ReservedIdNames.includes(pagePart) ? ':::' : '')
+            ? `${pagePart}${idScopeSeparator}${fragment}`
+            : pagePart + (ReservedIdNames.includes(pagePart) ? idScopeSeparator : '')
           return `<<${refid}${text && text !== targetPage.title ? ',' + text.replace(/\\]/g, ']') : ''}>>`
         })
       }
diff --git a/packages/assembler/lib/produce-assembly-files.js b/packages/assembler/lib/produce-assembly-files.js
index d867531231b5fdddd694743c10aed3ee2f662943..816931b2650357bff82ada201f38ec49cb04590d 100644
--- a/packages/assembler/lib/produce-assembly-files.js
+++ b/packages/assembler/lib/produce-assembly-files.js
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ function produceAssemblyFiles (loadAsciiDoc, contentCatalog, assemblerConfig, re
   const { asciidoc: assemblerAsciiDocConfig, assembly: assemblyConfig } = assemblerConfig
   resolveAssemblyModel ??= (componentVersion) => ({
     doctype: assemblyConfig.doctype,
+    idSeparator: assemblyConfig.idSeparator,
     insertStartPage: assemblyConfig.insertStartPage,
     rootLevel: assemblyConfig.rootLevel,
     sectionMergeStrategy: assemblyConfig.sectionMergeStrategy,
diff --git a/packages/assembler/test/produce-assembly-files-test.js b/packages/assembler/test/produce-assembly-files-test.js
index 191b57b1cc1ce61253da20129ace50162334c30d..e2035686c78361d7cc11b216acab8c4144176557 100644
--- a/packages/assembler/test/produce-assembly-files-test.js
+++ b/packages/assembler/test/produce-assembly-files-test.js
@@ -171,6 +171,10 @@ describe('produceAssemblyFiles()', () => {
     await runScenario('rewrite-relative-page-links', __dirname)
   })
 
+  it('should allow id separator to be specified', async () => {
+    await runScenario('alternate-id-separator', __dirname)
+  })
+
   it('should skip commented lines', async () => {
     await runScenario('skip-commented-lines', __dirname)
   })
diff --git a/packages/assembler/test/scenarios/alternate-id-separator/data.yml b/packages/assembler/test/scenarios/alternate-id-separator/data.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..4b25f69ce0033524410adfae55cd2ed6a6fef7a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/assembler/test/scenarios/alternate-id-separator/data.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+name: the-component
+version: '1.0'
+title: The Component
+navigation:
+  items:
+  - content: xref:the-page.adoc[]
+  - content: xref:other-module:the-page.adoc[]
+  - content: xref:other-component::the-page.adoc[]
+  - content: xref:other-component:other-module:the-page.adoc[]
+files:
+- relative: the-page.adoc
+  contents: |-
+    = The Page
+
+    [#the-section]
+    == The Section
+
+    Also see xref:other-module:the-page.adoc#the-section[The Section] in xref:other-module:the-page.adoc[].
+- relative: the-page.adoc
+  module: other-module
+  contents: |-
+    = The Page in Other Module
+
+    [#the-section]
+    == The Section
+
+    content
+- relative: the-page.adoc
+  component: other-component
+  contents: |-
+    = Other Page in Other Component
+
+    [#the-section]
+    == The Section
+
+    content
+- relative: the-page.adoc
+  component: other-component
+  module: other-module
+  contents: |-
+    = Other Page in Other Module in Other Component
+
+    [#the-section]
+    == The Section
+
+    content
+assembler:
+  assembly:
+    idSeparator: '-'
diff --git a/packages/assembler/test/scenarios/alternate-id-separator/expects/index.adoc b/packages/assembler/test/scenarios/alternate-id-separator/expects/index.adoc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..360a1c05b62d1cca9d76d280e0db3d84fe012910
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/assembler/test/scenarios/alternate-id-separator/expects/index.adoc
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+= The Component
+:revnumber: 1.0
+:doctype: book
+:underscore: _
+:page-component-name: the-component
+:page-component-version: 1.0
+:page-version: {page-component-version}
+:page-component-display-version: 1.0
+:page-component-title: The Component
+
+:docname: the-page
+:page-module: ROOT
+:page-relative-src-path: the-page.adoc
+:page-origin-url: https://github.com/acme/the-component
+:page-origin-start-path:
+:page-origin-refname: v1.0
+:page-origin-reftype: branch
+:page-origin-refhash: a00000000000000000000000000000000000000z
+[#the-page]
+== The Page
+
+[discrete#the-page---the-section]
+=== The Section
+
+Also see <<other-module----the-page---the-section,The Section>> in <<other-module----the-page>>.
+
+:docname: the-page
+:page-module: other-module
+:page-relative-src-path: the-page.adoc
+:page-origin-url: https://github.com/acme/the-component
+:page-origin-start-path:
+:page-origin-refname: v1.0
+:page-origin-reftype: branch
+:page-origin-refhash: a00000000000000000000000000000000000000z
+[#other-module----the-page]
+== The Page in Other Module
+
+[discrete#other-module----the-page---the-section]
+=== The Section
+
+content
+
+:docname: the-page
+:page-component-name: other-component
+:page-component-version:
+:page-version: {page-component-version}
+:page-component-display-version: default
+:page-component-title: Other Component
+:page-module: ROOT
+:page-relative-src-path: the-page.adoc
+:page-origin-url: https://github.com/acme/other-component
+:page-origin-start-path:
+:page-origin-refname: main
+:page-origin-reftype: branch
+:page-origin-refhash: b00000000000000000000000000000000000000y
+[#other-component--------the-page]
+== Other Page in Other Component
+
+[discrete#other-component--------the-page---the-section]
+=== The Section
+
+content
+
+:docname: the-page
+:page-component-name: other-component
+:page-component-version:
+:page-version: {page-component-version}
+:page-component-display-version: default
+:page-component-title: Other Component
+:page-module: other-module
+:page-relative-src-path: the-page.adoc
+:page-origin-url: https://github.com/acme/other-component
+:page-origin-start-path:
+:page-origin-refname: main
+:page-origin-reftype: branch
+:page-origin-refhash: b00000000000000000000000000000000000000y
+[#other-component----other-module----the-page]
+== Other Page in Other Module in Other Component
+
+[discrete#other-component----other-module----the-page---the-section]
+=== The Section
+
+content