# Automatic backlinks (with manual insert option)

**URL:** <https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632>\
**Category:** Plugins\
**Created:** [5 January 2021 14:00 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632 "2021-01-05T14:00:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ambrt](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/ambrt/32/4428_2.png) [@ambrt](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/ambrt)\
**Post date:** [5 January 2021 14:00 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/1 "2021-01-05T14:00:07Z")

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This plugin gets notes that reference opened note (aka backlinks) and put them all at the end.

# Automatic version

![Peek 2021-01-27 19-49](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/2X/c/c67771d833bda2c3fef009c45abf697e85018a87.gif)

From of version 2.0.1 backlinks can show up automatically in preview pane!  
(Works with Joplin 1.7.4 an up)

> **[Releases · ambrt/joplin-plugin-referencing-notes](https://github.com/ambrt/joplin-plugin-referencing-notes/releases)**
>
> tes/releases

## Manual version

After install,the icon of hand will be added to Toolbar  
 ![ref-icon](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/2X/2/2d0e7b60e11260bd9a088fc9777771ea8e02779e.png)  
Clicking on will insert backlinks into text body of the note

# Flag to ignore

Paste `<!-- backlinks-ignore -->` anywhere in the note's text and it won't appear in backlinks sections of other notes.

# Options

- Auto-backlinks section can be hidden if there are no backlinks to note
- Choose text of section header (default is `## Backlinks`)
- Insert manually at the top or at the bottom of note
- Use manual insert hint if no backlinks present

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**Author:** ![laurent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@laurent](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/laurent)\
**Post date:** [5 January 2021 14:54 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/2 "2021-01-05T14:54:24Z")

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So it adds support for backlinks? If so you might want to add this somewhere in the title or description, as several users will be interested by this, and with that keyword it will be easier to find.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ambrt](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/ambrt/32/4428_2.png) [@ambrt](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/ambrt)\
**Post date:** [5 January 2021 16:18 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/3 "2021-01-05T16:18:31Z")

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Yes it adds backlinks. I'll edit title and description. Thanks for heads up.

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**Author:** ![blank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@blank](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/blank)\
**Post date:** [5 January 2021 17:58 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/4 "2021-01-05T17:58:36Z")

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It sounds interesting, but could you elaborate a bit on this plugin ?  
I've just installed it and I have no idea how it works.  
What do I have to do/type in my notes ? Is there a special syntax ?

A concrete example would be welcome.

Thanks !

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ambrt](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/ambrt/32/4428_2.png) [@ambrt](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/ambrt)\
**Post date:** [5 January 2021 18:49 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/5 "2021-01-05T18:49:01Z")

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Thanks for trying this plugin.

> [@blank](#):
>
> What do I have to do/type in my notes ? Is there a special syntax ?

After install, the icon of black hand (image below) should appear in toolbar:  
 ![ref-icon](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/2X/2/2d0e7b60e11260bd9a088fc9777771ea8e02779e.png)  
Clicking on it will get all backlinks (References) and put them at the bottom of the note.  
Like so:  
 ![inserted3](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/2X/e/e0392f28b944f1df4f47711de6691e7559992d36.png)  
and they will work like normal Joplin links.

If there's something not clear - ask away.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![blank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@blank](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/blank)\
**Post date:** [5 January 2021 19:55 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/6 "2021-01-05T19:55:01Z")

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Aaaah, I get it !  
I didn't notice the toolbar had a new icon !  
Maybe you should mention it in your github page, because it's not obvious.  
(I was searching in the top menus or the right-click menus...)

Now everything's fine. Very useful !

Thanks for your help.

A request, if it is possible : an option (something like a simple textfield ?) to insert a custom text instead of the default one "References" ?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ambrt](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/ambrt/32/4428_2.png) [@ambrt](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/ambrt)\
**Post date:** [5 January 2021 20:39 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/7 "2021-01-05T20:39:31Z")

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> [@blank](#):
>
> Maybe you should mention it in your github page, because it's not obvious.  
> (I was searching in the top menus or the right-click menus...)

It's in least expected place then. 😃  
Good point, i'll post some visual explanation on github.

> [@blank](#):
>
> A request, if it is possible : an option (something like a simple textfield ?) to insert a custom text instead of the default one "References" ?

Yes its possible. Let me update code and upload it.

> [@blank](#):
>
> Thanks for your help.

YW!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ambrt](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/ambrt/32/4428_2.png) [@ambrt](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/ambrt)\
**Post date:** [5 January 2021 20:59 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/8 "2021-01-05T20:59:32Z")

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Version with option to set custom heading text

> **[Release Joplin Backlinks plugin 1.0.2 · ambrt/joplin-plugin-referencing-notes](https://github.com/ambrt/joplin-plugin-referencing-notes/releases/tag/1.0.2)**
>
> es/tag/1.0.2

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rxliuli](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/rxliuli/32/4083_2.png) [@rxliuli](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/rxliuli)\
**Post date:** [6 January 2021 04:22 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/9 "2021-01-06T04:22:38Z")

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Good idea, find the current note backreference performance does not seem so slow, maybe I will implement it later of vscode plugin

Forward quoting notes  
Back reference notes  
Reference attachments for notes  
history record(Requires api support)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![blank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@blank](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/blank)\
**Post date:** [6 January 2021 06:27 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/11 "2021-01-06T06:27:32Z")

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Perfect ! Thank you !

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![uxamanda](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/uxamanda/32/6786_2.png) [@uxamanda](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/uxamanda)\
**Post date:** [7 January 2021 19:18 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/12 "2021-01-07T19:18:49Z")

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This is awesome! Thank you for sharing. Is it possible to assign a keyboard shortcut for adding the links?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![joesfer](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/joesfer/32/5735_2.png) [@joesfer](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/joesfer)\
**Post date:** [8 January 2021 06:39 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/13 "2021-01-08T06:39:13Z")

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This is fantastic, thank you for your work! I'm using your [highglighted text](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/create-note-from-highlighted-text/12511) plugin daily, and this will likely be the same.

Would it be possible to configure whether we'd want to _prepend_ (at the very top) or append to a note? most of the time appending at the end makes sense, but for masterpage notes, it's also useful to add backlinks at the very top (sort of an index).

Thanks again!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![davidpoza](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/davidpoza/32/1916_2.png) [@davidpoza](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/davidpoza)\
**Post date:** [8 January 2021 14:45 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/14 "2021-01-08T14:45:34Z")

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This plugin is awesome, an small step to being closer of a proper zettelkasten implementation

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ambrt](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/ambrt/32/4428_2.png) [@ambrt](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/ambrt)\
**Post date:** [9 January 2021 19:21 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/15 "2021-01-09T19:21:42Z")

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Yes it is, i'll do version where shortcut will be assignable.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ambrt](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/ambrt/32/4428_2.png) [@ambrt](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/ambrt)\
**Post date:** [9 January 2021 19:25 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/16 "2021-01-09T19:25:54Z")

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> [@joesfer](#):
>
> whether we'd want to _prepend_ (at the very top) or append to a note?

I see your point, good suggestion, will make setting for it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ambrt](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/ambrt/32/4428_2.png) [@ambrt](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/ambrt)\
**Post date:** [9 January 2021 20:24 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/17 "2021-01-09T20:24:41Z")

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new version is ready:

> **[Release Joplin plugin Backlinks 1.0.3 · ambrt/joplin-plugin-referencing-notes](https://github.com/ambrt/joplin-plugin-referencing-notes/releases/tag/v1.0.3)**
>
> s/tag/v1.0.3

@uxamanda the shortcut can be set now. By default its `Ctrl+Alt+B`

@joesfer you can now switch between behaviors in settings

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![uxamanda](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/uxamanda/32/6786_2.png) [@uxamanda](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/uxamanda)\
**Post date:** [9 January 2021 23:26 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/18 "2021-01-09T23:26:46Z")

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Thanks, appreciate it!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![davidpoza](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/davidpoza/32/1916_2.png) [@davidpoza](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/davidpoza)\
**Post date:** [10 January 2021 13:41 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/19 "2021-01-10T13:41:16Z")

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Just for notifying it, is plugin working on 1.6.6? At least not for me... I've returned to 1.6.4.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![blank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@blank](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/blank)\
**Post date:** [10 January 2021 14:23 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/20 "2021-01-10T14:23:00Z")

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Doesn't work for me too.  
Same error I noticed here for the plugin [Create Note from Text](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/create-note-from-highlighted-text/12511/22).

Windows 10 / Joplin 1.6.6 (prod, win32)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jb261](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/jb261/32/7324_2.png) [@jb261](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/jb261)\
**Post date:** [10 January 2021 18:34 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632/22 "2021-01-10T18:34:06Z")

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Not working for me either on Joplin v1.6.6.

> Joplin 1.6.6 (prod, win32)

[Next page](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/automatic-backlinks-with-manual-insert-option/13632.md?page=2)