I agree with @bepolymathe. I don't use the backlink plugin, but use the graph because I like to see the relationships between notes... I think it is good the 2 are separate.
Ah, I think backlinks are one of the most useful features a note-taking app can have. With them, when I'm writing a note, I can just link to it quickly (with @@ from the other plugin) and be sure I will be able to notice the connection later, when I come to the note referenced.
Of course, if it's just a backlink, it might be best to have, dunno, a dotted/deemphasised line, or something...
Not having it is not a deal-breaker though.
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I agree that backlinks are essential. Outbound links are there to answer the question "Which notes should I connect this note to?". The backlinks are there to answer the question "Which note are connected to this note?". We don't usually ask ourselves this question at the same time of a job and that's why I think these features are better separated. But maybe there are possibilities to display either one or the other (with masks that can be activated or not 
) in a graphical way...
Hello,
Thx you for your work, i will participate to this threads when i will know it a bit.
(and yes this message is mostly to avoid closing...since i want to participate soon :))
I found a super edge "bug" or "unexpected" effect.
For some reason, I have two folders with the same name that are subfolder of different folders. Let say both C1 et C2 have the same name, but different notes within:
A - C1
B - C2
I have notes in C1 et C2 that I don't want to see in the graph. But, when I write the name of C in the option to hide the notes (Notebooks names to filter), only the notes of C1 dissapear, but I can see the notes of C2 in the graph. When I delete C1 and all it's note, the notes of C2 then don't appear in the graph.
Is it possible to make the "Notebooks names to filter" filter all the notes of folders with the same name?
It's absolutely not a big problem and I easily work around that issue while usefuly using the plugin. But I was wondering if it was a easily solved issue or a super complex thing.
I can definitely do this. I actually knew this was a bug when I first wrote it but it was a bit of a rush job.
Thank you for the detailed example and report!
Awesome, and amazingly quick, response. Thanks a lot !
This plug-in is very good. I think it has great development prospects. I hope it can bring me more extensions in thinking.
In recent days, the newly launched plug-in is called “Graph”. It has many similarities with this plug-in. It is said that it can learn from this plug-in.
We can make a complementary reference against all improvements.
Such a lovely plugin!
How much effort would it be to display note back links as well?
(Back link: Note 1 links to Note 2. It now would be awesome to display an edge 1 --> 2 , when 2 is selected)
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Hey @ruse, There have been some great contributions from @goliath-walker recently that added a toggle in the Graph UI Settings for displaying backlinks when using a connected graph (max note distance > 0)!
There are also visual improvements for indicating which link is a backlink vs a regular link. @goliath-walker is still shipping more visual improvements right now so that notes and their connections will be highlighted on hover. That should be out with v1.4.0 in the next few days
3 Likes
I just want to write to say that I really love the state of the plugin. It's super stable (for me at least) and helps make sense of the relationship between notes (since I make lots of intra link). I use it mostly with 2 level of distance between the notes and it's great (when I go with more distance or all notes, it become messy and unreadable. Not useful). You can see the link between related links, but it doesn't become messy and incomprehensible. I like the new hover color change to give a quick clear image of the related notes.
Overall, thanks again for the great work! It's super useful for me.
3 Likes
Hey there,
here is a quick visual intro of the new changes in addition to treymo's post.
(I need to split this up in different posts due to discourse new user limitations)
User interface
Link hover feature
Plugin settings
"max degree of separation"
maxDegree = 0 will show the whole graph (default: 0).
For bigger note count (hundreds or thousands of notes), it is recommended to set maxDegree to > 0. Values 2 or 3 are optimal in most cases.
"Include note back-links for selected note"
Enabling this checkbox will activate backlinks/referrers, as known in other plugins like Joplin Link System.
(default: disabled)
"Show note link direction arrows"
If you want the direction marks at the target side of note edges (default: disabled).
In future, users can customize all colors them selves via CSS setting.
Happy note traversing! 
2 Likes
Is it possible to create new notes right inside the node graph? That way one does not need to manually link them unless necessary.
@kartoo There is the plugin Quick Links: just type @@ and create a new note or link to an existent one - this is really cool.
You can also use Create Note From Text to extract existing text to a new note.
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Thanks but that is not what I was asking for. What I am asking for is being able to create notes/links right in the graph, see https://www.thebrain.com/
I understood your question. But does this make sense in the context of Joplin compared to a mind map?
Say for current note A you want to make a link to new to be created note B. Hence there is a link reference inside note content A needed. Where exactly in A should the link be inserted?
If you are asking to append this new link to the end of A - no, that's not possible atm.
The idea itself is interesting - some kind of context menu with additional actions, when right clicking one of the notes in the graph.
Why not? The functionality and the necessary backend are almost there. Why stay in the linear note taking land if there is a possiblity to expand the idea of note taking to more freeform methods?
The new note can be created inside a default notebook, the user can move it to somewhere else later if needed.
Can you post it as feature request, so this idea doesn't get lost?
1 Like