Linking Notes in Obsidian
harnessing your natural way of thinking
Are you ready to try an organizational structure that doesn't rely on Folder hierarchies? Excellent!!
The objective here is to understand the mechanics of how to link your Notes and connect your thinking through the functionality of linking Notes in Obsidian. Once we understand the method to achieve this, we'll discuss the ways in which you can leverage this core aspect of the system.
One of the main components of this method of navigation is bi-directional linking. What is that? So glad you asked!
Bi-Directional Linking
Put simply, bi-directional linking tells us that Object A points at Object B and in return Object B points at Object A. They are connected in two directions.1
How does this help us?
It means that regardless of which Note you're accessing, the related Note will always connect, providing a path from any direction. Let's use some specific examples to illustrate the benefits of this.
Borrowing from the storytelling in Adam Savage's video on pool and billiards, we're going to create a Note for the book he references, The Inner Game of Tennis, and a separate Note for the author, Timothy Gallwey.
Please Note: It won't always be appropriate or necessary to create distinct Notes for a book and the author. For the purposes of this example, we want to document our thoughts on our reading while also capturing information about Gallwey's tennis career, thus separate Notes. If you were only interested in the book and not details about the author, there likely wouldn't be a need to create two Notes. You'll get a feel for your preferences as you input your own information into Obsidian.
1. Creating a Link Between Two Existing Notes
A. First we need to create a Note for The Inner Game of Tennis. There's some core information we will want to capture about the book (title, author, publisher, etc.), but let's hold that thought until we create a few Templates. For now, we'll use some Lorem Ipsum generated text as a placeholder with a generic Template to give shape to the Note. We'll address Templates as their own unique topic once we have a stronger foundation of the types of information stored in Obsidian.
B. Next let's create a Note for Timothy Gallwey, the author of The Inner Game of Tennis. We're going to use some placeholder text here too.
C. For the moment, these two Notes have no connection. They are not linked. We have not put anything in place to indicate that there is a relationship between them. That comes next.
D. In this real life scenario, having just created the Note for Timothy Gallwey, you want to remind yourself that your interest in him sparked from reading The Inner Game of Tennis, the book that he wrote. Think of this as commentary for your future self. We want to reduce the likelihood of encountering a Note down the road and wondering, "What was I thinking? Why did I find this important?"
E. Under the References heading, jot, "When reading The Inner Game of Tennis I became curious about Gallwey's tennis career." Except hold on one second. We want to link that reminder for the future to the Note that we created for the book.
To do so, as you type, hit the left square bracket twice — like so [[. You'll notice that right square brackets — these guys ]] — automatically appear as you type. This indicates that you are in the process of creating a Link.
As you continue to type the title of the book, you'll see a popup menu suggesting Notes that fit your criteria. Notes that you have recently opened will show first. With each letter you type, the suggestions will become more specific. When you see the Note for The Inner Game of Tennis, select it by clicking on it.
You have successfully linked two Notes!! Do a little chair shimmy for good measure.
F. The font color for that text showing the linked Note has now changed. When you hover over it with your curser, a preview of the first few lines of the connected Note appears on your screen. Cool, huh?
G. From here you can click on the Link to navigate to the connected Note.
Helpful Hint: Hitting ⌘ [command] prior to clicking on the Link will open the second Note in a new Tab so that it and your original Note are both open.
H. Even if you do not overtly create a notation on your Note for The Inner Game of Tennis to create an in-text-Link back to the Timothy Gallwey Note, you will still be able to navigate between the two Notes through Backlinks. We'll save the ins and outs of Backlinks for a separate discussion. It's one of the most helpful functionalities within Obsidian.
Now, let's discuss an alternate approach to creating Links.
2. Establishing a Link by Creating a New Note
Approach One
A. As with our first example, you're reading The Inner Game of Tennis and documenting your thoughts as you go. Midway through typing your insights on the Note for The Inner Game of Tennis, you realize that Timothy Gallwey is an interesting character, and you want to explore the details of his tennis career.
You can create a new Note for Gallwey from your existing Note. These two Notes will automatically be linked.
B. Type the left square bracket twice followed by Timothy Gallwey and two right square brackets. As soon as you hit the space bar, the brackets will disappear. You'll see a lighter text similar to what appeared when you created the Link in the first approach. This indicates a Note that does not yet exist.
You may also notice that Obsidian automatically inserts the closing brackets for you. It does this with many pairs of punctuation — quotation marks, parentheses, brackets. Instead of typing the right square brackets, you can simply click elsewhere on the screen. You can turn this functionality off in Settings > Editor > Auto-pair brackets if you find it undesirable.
Approach Two
A. If you already had "Timothy Gallwey" typed when you realized that you wanted to create a distinct Note for him, you can highlight his name and type the left square brackets. This will transform the text into a Link to a Note that does not yet exist.
B. When you click on the faded text reading "Timothy Gallwey," a new Note will appear with his name already inserted as the Note title. Because you created this new Note from an existing Note, the Link between them is automatically established.
This is a super helpful approach when you know that you want two Notes to be linked but still need to create the second Note. It saves you time and lots of toggling.
3. Change It Once, Update It Everywhere
One of the absolute best aspects of functionality in Obsidian is what I call universal updates. I checked the Obsidian Help documents, and they don't have a special name for this. It really is basic data management, but far too many applications overlook it.
Here's what this means for you. When you make a change to the title of a Note, those changes are reflected across all of your documents. You don't need to manually update the title each place the Note is linked. That's pretty cool if you ask me.
However, if for whatever reason you don't want that functionality. You can toggle it off by going to Settings > Files and links > Automatically update internal links. Poof. The magic is gone. (And you made pixies everywhere cry. Turn it back on!)
4. Other Ways Linking Is Helpful
Remember that whole discussion about traditional Folder hierarchies and how Obsidian handles documents differently? Here's where it really starts to come into play.
Each Note can have multiple links to other Notes.
Let me repeat that. Each Note can have multiple links to other Notes. This might not sound like a lot on the surface, but it's incredibly impactful. It means that as you flesh out your thinking, all those various strands of connection can be put in place.
Reading The Inner Game of Tennis might remind you of other strategy books written by athletes. It might inspire some research on Zen thinking and practices. Perhaps you become curious about how technology has changed the ability to challenge line calls in Grand Slam tournaments and the impact that would have had on John McEnroe's tennis career. Each inquiry can live as its own Note linked to each of the Notes that prompted your curiosity leaving you a trail of breadcrumbs to retrace down the road.
To comprehend the robustness of this functionality more thoroughly and with concrete examples, let's move on to our next topic — Using Notes As Labels.
I looked up the definition of bi-directional to make sure that I wasn't missing something. I was not. It's defined as "functioning in two directions." We're on track.
I always love to hear how others are thinking. Share what works for you!