Feature Request: Quick linking to notes

Features
1

I know this is not the first time this is requested, but that was a long time ago. Please hear me out.

I propose the option to link between notes is critical and should be a part of the main app, not just a plugin. Or, it should be a part of the mobile app, if not the desktop one, since there are no plugins on Android.

The feature does come up in discussions (like this one). There are old feature requests as well, like here or on github.

The stance I got from those was - if you need that feature, use a plugin. Initially, I agreed wholeheartedly. I have always wanted my note app to have two features - quick linking, and a list of links back to the note. When these became available, I have completely changed the way I take notes.

Whenever I write a new note now, I try to link it to an existing note. This, combined with a view of backlinks, make capturing ideas and connections between them a breeze and became an integral part of how I take notes and think about them. It also makes them more useful, since it's less probable I will write a note and never stumble upon it again, leaving it forgotten.

But now I find myself using the Android app less and less because of it. When I open the app to jot something down, more often than not I close it again without doing much, because I find that in order for the to make sense, I have to link to some other note. Sometimes I solve this by making the note into a todo, and adding links on PC later, but this is annoying and unnecessary.
(Let's disregard the Backlinks now - they're helpful/necessary for extracting knowledge from notes, but I can live without them on my phone; they'd have to be hidden in some menu anyway, not glanceable as they are on desktop.)

It doesn't matter to me much how the UI would work, as long as I could insert a link without leaving the note currently being edited. The @@ syntax is great on desktop; for the phone, maybe a menu action that pops up a search that lets me select a note would be better?

Will you maybe consider this again please, @laurent?

2 Likes
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Ok, just to make sure we're on the same page, are you aware that mobile plugin system implementation is number one idea in current 2022 GSoC ?

As it is quite desirable to be nominated on GSoC, it is far more likely to happen than one-off reintegration of one particular plugin. Not to mention that this reintegration require many things to be extensively reworked and overcomplicate the logic.

Personally, I don't understand why the topic of integrating X plugin to main app is coming up again and again.

The (default) plugin packaging with the app is on the list as well.

Why do people want Laurent to spread himself even thinner by taking away someone else's plugin and maintaining it by himself? Maybe it's just me being out of touch but I just don't see the benefit in this.

This all is not to say that I don't understand the struggle described above. I get that at the moment there are points for improvement. And yes, they are important, so they are worked on in the most efficient way cutting as few corners as possible. Quality takes time. And quality is imo one of the main reasons why many of us chose to accompany our lives with Joplin rather any other note taker.

2 Likes
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Well, first off - no, I've missed that. Not sure how. :sweat_smile: Thanks, that would suffice.

I guess that settles it; I'm okay with waiting how that one pans out, just as I waited when the desktop plugins were a-brewin'.

Still, for the sake of discussion:

I think I saw this in two main categories: either people thinking that one feature or another is "very important and should require no plugins", which I don't really get; the other is like mine, where someone wants to use a feature on the phone, where plugins are not supported.
I have wanted this feature on the phone for a long time, and since I'd completely missed that gsoc...

I really do get how difficult it is to update and maintain an application, that's why I tired to formulate it with just a polite "please maybe reconsider this".
Thanks for your reply.

1 Like
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One reason: each plugin runs in a separate process which adds memory overhead. Can be important for less powerful devices.

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I need this badly as well. I'm willing to build it an open a PR, but want to check with @laurent if he is open to this idea before I start working.

My idea is similar to @zblesk: Have a menu item in the editor called "Link to another note". Once clicked, it should show a popup with a search bar. Once I search I can select one note from the result list and it will insert the link to the note in the following format:

[title of the note](:/note_id_abcdefg)
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Did you try Quick links plugin or it's about mobile client?

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It's about mobile.

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Now, thanks to the awesome work of @personalizedrefriger, the Markdown toolbar was added to the mobile version of Joplin. I cannot praise this recent upgrade enough. And it got me thinking again about quick linking to notes on the mobile.

We now have a very handy pop-up dialog when we click the add/edit link button on the mobile toolbar. How about searching for notes while typing in the "Link text" field, or alternatively, the URL field? Is this something feasible in your opinion, @personalizedrefriger ? Anyone willing to pick this idea up?

3 Likes
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That does sound feasible. A "search for note" button in the link dialog might also make sense.

1 Like
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When it's easy to link to notes you use this often. Then your notes become richer.

I left Joplin in 2019 because of this, and now I use Obsidian which has it. Joplin still has a space in my heart though :slight_smile:

Cheers!