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Display/map a note’s backlinks


Jerren

Idea

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I would be content if the browser arrow navigation or hotkey navigation worked consistently, but often it doesn't, sometimes notes in the history are missing, forcing me to rely on an often cluttered shortcuts bar, or temporary manual links which I may forget to delete later.

 

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9 hours ago, Don Dz said:

I would be content if the browser arrow navigation or hotkey navigation worked consistently, but often it doesn't, sometimes notes in the history are missing, forcing me to rely on an often cluttered shortcuts bar, or temporary manual links which I may forget to delete later.

Yeah, all the above and most of the time clicking on the back arrow displays a list as opposed to actually changing context the the previous post.  And then every once in a while it will work as advertised.  I'm just use to making believe I've hit long press on the back arrow.  🤷‍♂️

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7 hours ago, DTLow said:

"blocks of text" is a different topic
You could post this as a request

With Evernote, the basic storage unit is a note.    
Unique id's (and links) function at the note level

To segment a "block of text" I extract to a separate note
I have a Mac Applescript to process this; replacing the text with a note link and adding a backlink

Bi-directional links was the topic you linked to here as a feature request. They lose all most of their utility if they aren't linked at an atomic level. It's relevant. I appreciate you helping others, but I know EN very well. What you're describing is extremely different and time-consuming in comparison to the way Roam, Obsidian, etc etc do it.

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Upvote from me. This is probably the highest ranked feature that I would like to see implemented at the moment.

 

I like that Evernote has been implementing new features again, but none of the new ones so far have excited me. This one would and would probably be enough to get me to finally upgrade from the legacy plus plan that I'm currently on.

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When you create a link to Note B and then copy that link into Note A, you also implicitly create a “backlink” in Note B to Note A.  I don’t see that Evernote is currently able to display these backlinks (for example, with a pop-up window that shows all the notes that currently point to a given note, Note B in this case).  This would be useful for re-discovering relationships between notes, and when deciding whether or not to delete a note.  

It would also be nice to have a map, maybe visual, of all the links in a notebook and maybe even an entire account.  

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My need, which drove me to this thread, is not for a set of explicit (displayed) "backlinks" to a note A's referencing (linking) notes (B, C, etc. whichever ones have a link to A) but a simple "back button" type function in the application, like in a browser, so that when I follow a link I can find my way back to the note I just came from.  I'm dying for such a trail of "breadcrumbs"!  (Having all backlinks displayed would be of little help when I'm looking at a glossary entry (normally one of the ways I use a link) and want to go back, because the backlinks could be numerous for a frequently used term.)

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The bi-directional links should be based on blocks of text  and not pages. Being able to instantly pull up sections of related content, or to get to the exact area in another note you need is non-trivial.  Been using Roam for over a year and that difference makes all the difference. Roam is like a prosthetic brain and Evernote is like a filing cabinet. Recent EN releases are like a filing cabinet you have to jimmy open and maybe your info will show up. I’d move everything to Roam if I thought it would handle tens of thousands of notes.

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9 hours ago, Jerren said:

If I include a link to NoteA inside of NoteB, when I click on the link (in NoteB) and Evernote jumps to NoteA, there is not an easy way to jump back to NoteB.  As far as I can tell, the only way to do this two-way navigation is to manually copy the Note Link for each note into the other note.

It would be nice if NoteA would provide somewhere (maybe in the Info menu) a list of all the Notes that contain a reference to the current Note (a BackLink list).

The scenario is that I keep a notebook containing a daily work journal of what I've done (one note for each day). I keep a separate notebook containing notes with details about the different projects I'm working on.  I like to include a link in my daily journal note to the project note if something significant was done.  It would be nice if the project note provided me with a list of all notes that contain a link to it, so that I could quickly jump back to the daily journal notes.

 

Currently, I see these as my alternatives since a BackLink list isn't provided:

  • Use Tags to group the notes
  • Use the navigation history buttons on the menu to jump back.

 

Would this BackLink list feature help you with the way you use Evernote, or should I change my organization methods?

You can navigate back by using the browser arrows in the menu. If you open the note in a separate window, the arrows will appear automatically in that window. If you are moving from NoteA to NoteB inside the main window, you first have to customize the main toolbar to include the navigation arrows. You do that by right clicking in the area around the current buttons (like Sync, All Notes, New Note)

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How about a solution similar to the source-URL from a web clipping under Info and in the head of the note?

If more then one note would link to this one the drop-down could list all notes referring back to this one?

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1 hour ago, CalS said:

Yeah, all the above and most of the time clicking on the back arrow displays a list as opposed to actually changing context the the previous post.  And then every once in a while it will work as advertised.  I'm just use to making believe I've hit long press on the back arrow.  🤷‍♂️

Even with your ssd drive?  That happens a lot with my slow netbook with 2gb ram (the speed issue often makes my EN scripts unreliable).  On my 16gb desktop that never happens, though I still see speed issues with switching notes (used to be instant, long ago).

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Note history includes previous searches, which I find very useful. It usually seems to go back to the previous note in that search as well. Usually back through a search is close enough for me, though.

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1 hour ago, jefito said:

Usually back through a search is close enough for me, though.

Under some circumstances the previous search is sometimes removed/lost in history, apparently in connection with editing or deleting one or more notes.  Really weird when it happens.

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3 hours ago, Don Dz said:

Even with your ssd drive?  That happens a lot with my slow netbook with 2gb ram (the speed issue often makes my EN scripts unreliable).  On my 16gb desktop that never happens, though I still see speed issues with switching notes (used to be instant, long ago).

Not a speed issue at all, it's a bug for me.  When you click the back arrow you are supposed to go back 1 note, hold the back arrow and get a drop down of most recent notes.  The vast majority of the time when I press the back arrow I get the list.  Every once in a rare while it will go back one note, but then quickly fails back to just showing the list.  Clueless as to what temporarily fixes it, maybe it's right after  an install.  IAC, Ctrl+BackArrow works as expected.  I just put this in the sweet mysteries of life category.

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13 minutes ago, Badge said:

When you create a link to Note B and then copy that link into Note A, you also implicitly create a “backlink” in Note B to Note A.

I use "explicit" backlinks.  Copy the link from Note A and paste that in Note B

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Explicit backlinks are an extra step, and don't help in those cases where you want to see all the backlinks, explicit or not (though by definition, an explicit backlink is actually just a regular link that just happens to be tracing back to an incoming link).  

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1 hour ago, Badge said:

those cases where you want to see all the backlinks

Until a backlink feature is implemented, you can search for text "Note A" or "Note B"

This only works if you haven't changed the text

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9 hours ago, DTLow said:

I use "explicit" backlinks.  Copy the link from Note A and paste that in Note B

I do that too, almost religiously, but sometimes you forget and creating explicit backlinks is an extra step.  So, it is still quite useful to be able to see all the backlinks to a note, whether explicit or not.  

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9 hours ago, DTLow said:

Until a backlink feature is implemented, you can search for text "Note A" or "Note B"

This only works if you haven't changed the text

and if you remember that those links existed, but if you forgot . . .

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On 01.09.2019 at 04:34, DTLow said:

Until a backlink feature is implemented, you can search for text "Note A" or "Note B"

This only works if you haven't changed the text

Thanks for the answer, I was already looking for it. Since backlinks are quite important at the moment, when working with sites, maps, and other important data, I believe that this always applies to SEO. However as far as I understand it always refers to backlinks that can promote any topic. Since this is just as important to me, I found a site on various forums in search of information asiavirtualsolutions.com which allowed me to promote client sites myself.

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22 hours ago, Jeff Mazur said:

a simple "back button" type function in the application, like in a browser, so that when I follow a link I can find my way back to the note I just came from.

AFAIK this already exists - right click 'customize toolbar' and look for Back and Forward buttons.

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22 hours ago, Jeff Mazur said:

a simple "back button" type function in the application, like in a browser, so that when I follow a link I can find my way back to the note I just came from

Screenshot from my Mac.  I use the back arrow all the time       772819954_ScreenShot2020-01-06at8_47_53AM.png.6ac75e1099af137ed72315d8777eacaf.png

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On 9/1/2019 at 3:08 AM, Badge said:

When you create a link to Note B and then copy that link into Note A, you also implicitly create a “backlink” in Note B to Note A.  I don’t see that Evernote is currently able to display these backlinks (for example, with a pop-up window that shows all the notes that currently point to a given note, Note B in this case).  This would be useful for re-discovering relationships between notes, and when deciding whether or not to delete a note.  

It would also be nice to have a map, maybe visual, of all the links in a notebook and maybe even an entire account.  

There are two apps that allow implement this idea now: Roamresearch and Obsidian. Both have backlinks (explicit or implicit) and a map with all linked notes.

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Evernote currently supports forward linking — linking one note to another using the internal link. However, as the number of notes increases, it would be really helpful to automatically create reverse linking and show it in the note context section. A reverse linking would be able to tell if the note I am viewing now is already being referenced by other notes. 
 

Evernote is the best at capturing all sorts of notes, and I think this feature would be perfect for enabling Evernote to act as a knowledge management system where I can create something useful out of these captured notes. 

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1 hour ago, enctl said:

Evernote currently supports forward linking — linking one note to another using the internal link. However, as the number of notes increases, it would be really helpful to automatically create reverse linking and show it in the note context section.

I merged your post with an ongoing  request discussion    
To indicate  support, use the vote button at the top left corner of the discussion

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40 minutes ago, bounce said:

links should be based on blocks of text  and not pages

"blocks of text" is a different topic
You could post this as a request

With Evernote, the basic storage unit is a note.    
Unique id's (and links) function at the note level

To segment a "block of text" I extract to a separate note
I have a Mac Applescript to process this; replacing the text with a note link and adding a backlink

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