I have many folders and sub-folders. Using a search or the Note Tab plugin, I often get the note I want but also need to find the folder it is in. For example, I have a pinned Note Tab for 2025 newsletters I write. That folder breaks down by month, etc. Then I need to find the September folder by scrolling way down the long list of folders. It would be a time saver if I could sync the folder list to the selected note.
Does anyone have any ideas how I could do this?
I am confused, what do you mean by folder? Do you mean notebook maybe?
Using a search or the Note Tab plugin, I often get the note I want but also need to find the folder it is in.
When you click on that note, its notebook is automatically highlighted in the notebook list. I hope this helps.
Assuming your are talking about Joplin Desktop, not Joplin Mobile.
I have 3 panes.
You are absolutely correct; the corresponding notebook or folder is highlighted. However, I have 263 folders. For example, I have notes on probably 90 books. Under the books folder is another subfolder for each book. Inside the books folder is a set of notes I’ve taken on the book. I normally limit each note to no more than 5 or 6 typed pages. - Under my newsletters there is general newsletter information with code snippets and process info, then a folder for each year, then inside the year for each month, and a few more for things like “Future Newsletter Ideas” or cartoons I should use. I pin my base newsletter folder to a tab.
What I am wishing to avoid is scrolling through as many as 263 folders (or notebooks) to find the one corresponding to the note I’ve found or was pinned.
This isn’t catastrophic, but it is a bit irritating.
When I do a search then select a note in the note list pane, not only is the notebook highlighted in the notebook pane (but you would have to scroll 200+ notebooks thus useless to you), but the notebook is also visible as a button at the top of the note pane itself, as shown in the picture below. Do you see that button too? When you click on it, you get redirected to the notebook. Does it help?
Hi,
I have two suggestions one of them might work for you.
Thank you. I wasn’t recognizing that, and I should have. It does eliminate about half of my problem. I wasn’t getting the click on the folder above.
The only problem that remains is with Note Tabs. This is an amazing plugin, by the way, if you haven’t tried it. I have several notes I use a lot, for example, these three: Daily notes, Billing, and newsletter. I am now able to pin them as tabs above my notes.
The problem comes when I select one of those, and the folder isn’t on the screen, so I need to scroll around to find it.
What if in each folder you created a blank note that was named so that it would always float to the top.
Then you can link the note that you have pinned to that blank note and it will immediately take you to the notebook that you want to go to without having to scroll all the way down.
If the first line in the note that you have pinned is a link to that top note in the folder that it belongs to it should work out okay.
You're absolutely right—Joplin makes it easy to link between notes using internal Markdown links, but linking directly to a notebook is a different beast. Here's the breakdown:
---
What You Can Do in Joplin
Link to a Specific Note
- Right-click a note → Copy Markdown Link
- Paste it into another note:
`markdown
My Linked Note
`
Link to a Section within a Note
- Append a header anchor to the note link:
`markdown
Go to Important Section
`
---
What You Can't Do (Yet)
- Joplin does not support direct links to notebooks. There's no built-in way to float a notebook to the top or jump to it from a note.
---
Workaround Ideas for Your 500-Notebook Setup
1. Use Tags as Notebook Proxies
- Tag notes with the notebook name.
- Then use the Embed Search plugin to create dynamic links like:
`markdown
`search
tag:"NotebookName"
`
`
- Clicking this shows all notes with that tag—effectively surfacing the notebook.
2. Create a Master Index Note
- Build a note with links to key notes in each notebook.
- Organize it alphabetically or by category.
- Use collapsible sections or headers for easy navigation.
3. Use the Outline Plugin
- It adds a clickable table of contents to notes.
- You can simulate notebook navigation by linking to grouped notes.
4. Drag & Drop Notes into Other Notes
- This creates a Markdown link automatically.
- You can build a dashboard-style note with links to frequently used notes.
---
Bonus Tip: Pinning Strategy
Since pinned notes don’t reveal their notebook context, consider adding a line at the top of each pinned note like:
`markdown
Notebook: Notebook Name
`
This gives you a clickable reference to the notebook’s contents.
---
Thanks Leo, but I don’t use links between notes. I put notes that belong together (should be linked) into a folder together. Thus, many folders.
As for tags, I have not been able to use them effectively. I’ve tried two or three times, because people rhapsodize about how wonderful they are, but have never been able to make them work for me. Probably if I hadn’t already been using folders for 35 years before tags came into prominence, I might do it more naturally. As is, I use folders and search. I see search as a way to tag every word, so I know I’ve got the right tag for the note. 
I forget to tag some notes. I tag ones with a different tag than others and can’t keep my tags consistent. It’s easier to just open a folder and write a note.
I loaded an extension that allows me to pin notes to tabs how do I view the tabs I can't see any of the notes that I've pinned? Never mind they are on the right hand side of my screen. I can't tell what notebook it's in though.
I think I have an answer that might help you for the rest of the way. When you click on a pin note and the notebook is off the page try pressing control p and then typing in the name of the notebook and you should be able to click on the notebook and go there immediately. I tested it and it works.
Thank you. You almost had it. I think this works though:
Ctrl-P for full search
@ for the subset of folders only
Name of the correct folder; since the folders are filtered, it will quickly be able to be selected. I can actually see the name because I’ve enabled breadcrumbs.
The Notebooks pane (far left for me) then jumps to and highlights the appropriate notebook.
This definitely helps.
Now it stopped working. don’t understand why.
Thanks for the @ hint that does show the folders and makes it much easier.
If it stopped working try shutting the software and reopen it.
No reason Ctrl p should stop working.
Turned on bread crumbs and now I can see the notebook games. When I click on the notebook it goes to the notebook.
The CtrlP and @ continued to work. What didn't work was the notebook pane scrolling down to the linked notebook inside the notebook pane. It seems to go there but not show the pane. So, for example, if I go to the newsletter folder, I’d like to see it on the left-most pane (notebooks), to navigate easily to the 2025 sub-folder and the September sub-sub-folder under that. Or maybe the October folder to stick a new idea in for an article for next October.
What you trying to do seems to make perfect sense. Are you on Windows or Linux or Mac. I'm running on Linux right now.
Windows 11.
If a reboot didn't work I don't know what else to recommend other than hopefully you wake up tomorrow and it works.
Do you have a second computer that you can try it on?
If you're on Windows 11 and you feel comfortable in the Linux environment you can load WSL which will enable you to load the Linux version of Joplin and see if it works and then maybe the windows one will start working again.
I also on Windows 11 but I have a Linux virtual machine that I'm using Joplin in right now for testing and helping people.
@SteveShank have you tried the “Focus” submenu on the “Go” menu? Try Go/Focus/Sidebar (or Ctrl+Shift+S). That should scroll the “sidebar” (the list of notebooks/folders) to the highlighted item.
Thank you. That did it. ctrl-shift-s was already taken by another program, but I changed it. Super.
