#2

For comparison, Roam doesn’t have tags - pages and tags are the same. I think they don’t have tags because the pages can function as tags. So pages can be multi-word. And if you visit the page, then that acts as a search via backlinks.
So my question is can you get the functionality you need from multi-word tags from multiword pages?
Also, what about using CameCase or snake_case etc…as an alternative.

1 Like
More fodder for the Folgzettel debate
#3

A simple way to do this could be to bound the multi-word tag with #, similar to how Bear does it.

#tag - single word tag
#tag with multiple words# - multi word tag

That would likely simplify the regex and processing needed to find and render these tags.

16 Likes
#4

Hyphens between the words works and using multiple tags is more flexible:
#minecraft-building-inspiration
#minecraft, #building, #inspiration

4 Likes
#5

Yes, I believe hyphen is the only character allowed, but here is a related request to include underscores https://forum.obsidian.md/t/underscore-not-handled-in-tags/493

2 Likes
#6

Spaces in tags would be strange, me thinks.

#7

I would love to use hierarchical tags, similar to how Tildes does them. Here is their reference for how it works: https://docs.tildes.net/instructions/hierarchical-tags

Basically, you can have #health and nest them like #health.brain, #health.environmental, … (They’re also called sub-tags.)

I believe this is a similar concept to multiword tags and accomplishes a similar goal.

4 Likes
#8

As the community points out, there are many alternative approaches to using tags.

I’m unfamiliar with Roam, and I’m having a hard time grasping @Shane comments.

CamelCase, hyphen’s, and underscores are practical approaches. While tried and true in programming, their aesthetic and readability is off-putting when reviewing notes. Just my opinion. Furthermore, as Obsidian does not yet have a mobile app, many of the mobile alternatives the team recommends, at least on iOS, do not implement hyphens or underscores in tags. And camelCase is transformed into lower case causing clarity issues.

Overhauling the tag system for one guy is an insane expectation on my part. I get that. One of Obsidian’s most endearing features has been it’s flexibility. Accommodating multiple words in tags would expand the app’s ability to meet different workflows and styles.

@justindirose mentions Bear’s approach of sandwiching multiple words between hashtags. Bear has established itself as a capable writing app. Perhaps the Obsidian team will consider this approach? It seems to be a good trade-off for users that don’t find multi-word tags so strange.

3 Likes
#9

This is somewhat related to my request for extracting tags from YAML front matter. The unsaid assumption there was that multiword tags should be supported.

2 Likes
#10

I’m not sure that having spaces in tags is a good idea. I currently have tags on one line in a YAML header in each file, separated by spaces. So tags with spaces would mess that up.

I do as @Dor suggested for multi-word tags:

Hyphens between the words works and using multiple tags is more flexible:
#minecraft-building-inspiration
#minecraft, #building, #inspiration

In my mind, hyphens already solve this use-case quite well and, I think, better than spaces would.

On another note, I have created another feature request that would greatly enhance the use of multi-word tags, regardless of how the words are separated:
Fuzzy matching in tag entry autocompletion

#12

In the meantime, you can use dashes, though I realize that’s not necessarily convenient.

#14

:warning: Please backup your vault before trying any of this. Batch regex replacements can irreparably mess up your notes. :warning:

If you’re willing to accept the compromise suggested by @ryanjamurphy, and able to perform a regex search & replace on your exported files (using VS Code, for example), the following expressions will replace #multi word tag# with #multi-word-tag.

(I could only do it using two sweeps)

  1. Find:
    (?<=#\w[\w ]+) (?=[\w ]+\w#)
    Replace:
    -
  2. Find:
    #([\w-]+)#
    Replace:
    #$1
2 Likes
#16

I think it’s quite natural to have the possibility to put spaces in tag names. Imagine when you take notes on topics which have very long names (like in academia): some have abbreviations, but not always (and having only abbreviations reduces clarity; especially when several names have the same abbreviation, which is common). I find adding hyphens less readable. Also in the same context, typical bibliography management softwares (like Zotero) allow for tags with spaces, so it would be useful for matching when people already have a collection with those softwares.

A possibility would be to enforce keeping space by putting quotes around the tag. Then for people who don’t care (or don’t like) spaces in tags, this would be transparent. This also gives a very clear signal that there are spaces in tags and I guess that it would not complicate too much the analysis.

#17

Somewhere I have seen #[multi word tag] syntax which would be more reliable IMHO. And aligned with markdown style to delimit text spans e.g. for purpose of linking.

#tag This sentence seems to start by tag unless you read it till the end when you realize that acording to some suggestions actually whole sentence is a tag#

Current solution/workaround:

If you need to use spaces for some reason (not hyphens, CamelCase, … suggested in posts above), Then Enclose multi-word key string in double brackets, i.e. create wiki link [[multi word tag]] instead of #multi-word-tag.

Related feature requests:

#18

I agree with @nixsee here, I think hyphens or underscores are fine once you get accustomed to thinking that way. Usually better to stick to standards whenever possible. I’m starting to heavily use the YAML frontmatter for tagging, and I see the #[some tag] syntax breaking things there.

#19

Just wanted to drop in and lend some more support here, I’m considering switching to Obsidian from Bear but the lack of multiple word tags is a really big deal for me for many of the reasons listed and it might be enough to keep me using Bear.

This may seem like an outlier issue but the number of other productivity applications that support spaces in tags ought to lend a little credence. Off the top of my head here are a few apps and systems that do: Apple’s file system tagging across multiple platforms, DEVONthink, OmniFocus, Hypothes.is, Readwise, 1Password, Drafts, MindNode, Evernote, Keep It, Ulysses, Flickr, Medium and Raindrop.io.

#20

Hi Justin, How those Word tags look like? (I’m curious)

Perhaps It can be implemented as plugin?

#21

Bear is probably the best example since it also has inline tags within the text of the note, I can’t comment on Justin’s workflow but here is a couple of examples of how I use them:

Here’s an example of my tags navigator, it may be worth mentioning that Bear organizes things exclusively by tags, there’s are no folders/notebooks/groups so flexible tagging with spaces and nesting is especially important.

Tags Outliner
Tags Outliner566×1464 60.9 KB

Here’s an example of how they work inline, the #my tag name here# syntax isn’t the most elegant looking but it works really well.

Inline Tags
Inline Tags922×404 39.7 KB

In my Obsidian testing some of this type of structure is going into folder names and Obsidian seems to manage them just fine; I see little reason the tagging system would need to be any less flexible than file linking but I am new here and still learning my way around the application.

5 Likes
#22

I’d just like to add that coming from TiddlyWiki, we had tags with spaces, as in TW, tags where just other “tiddlers” (obsidian notes).

I think it makes sense to separate out the clear concept: “Tags are just other files”, from the implementation “how do we denote tags with spaces?” Just because we dont yet have a good answer to the second doesnt mean the first one is also bad.

I think of tagging notes with the names of other notes. Anything allowed in the title of a note, should also be allowed in a tag. Otherwise, what is a tag? How is it separate from a note? What if a tag has the same name as a note?

All of these confusions are avoided if we just follow “tags are just other notes”.

1 Like
#23

Please let’s be reasonable and start allowing tags with spaces in them.

Every single other tool allows it - Evernote, Bear, TIddlyWInk, you name it. Only Obsidian stubbornly refuses to support it. And no - dashes, underscores and other hacks are just that, hacks. They are ugly and unnatural. If you like them go ahead and use them, but don’t force everyone else to think the way you do. We are all different, and judging by the number of hits when one searches for “space” and “tags” there is enough demand for it.

Thanks

#24

This continues to be the largest friction point to the extent that I’m wondering how difficult it would be to reimplement tags as a community plugin. It’s really a shame tags are arbitrarily limited to not accept a space character like so many other systems and apps do.

2 Likes