The secret to linked notes is anticipating autocompletion

The secret to smartnotes is anticipating autocompletion

The more I use Obsidian, the more I realize how much power there is in its autocompletion of bidirectional links, because it introduces linking at the point of composition – not just when searching afterwards. It's changing the way I think while writing, as I reach for distinctive, complex concepts that I've already been developing. This might seem as though it stifles creativity, but I find that it actually helps me to probe deeper, building on thoughts I've already had, if only by using the same phrases. If I'm stuck while writing, I just hit [[ and type a few key words, and I'll often be reminded of a related idea that I can integrate into what I'm writing.

As a result, I'm starting to think a lot more about which titles I use for my notes, so that I can get the most useful hits closest to the top of the autocompletion results window. And for that I would really like to better understand the principles that Obsidian uses for autocompletion. For example, words in the name of a folder seem to prioritize the hits significantly, but is that true? Does number of words in a note give it higher priority? What's currently frustrating is that I get results where there is one word with an "m" plus one word with an "o" and one with a "c" before I get some of my "Filename MOC" notes.

Once you start getting used to using autocompletion, you want to curate the set of items that will autocomplete. You shouldn't worry about this too much right at the start, but it's important not to put it off.

• It's key to prune your tags: Table of Bridge Notes
• In Obsidian, the autocompletion makes use of Folders
• The sequence matters in Obsidian, but I'm not sure yet how.