Alias Plugin

Hi everyone. I’ve seen that some people requested to convert the alias feature of:

We could make this a plugin and improve it but I’m pretty busy to handle this project alone.
Does anyone want to colaborate in the creation of this plugin, I’m looking for someone with some ts, js and the api knowledge (and willing to have some fun).
Reply here if interested and let’s get started.

Maybe we should wait to see if it makes it into core. That looks like it should be a fundamental app feature.

@anon41901724: what makes you think it will be a core feature? TBH, to me it seems more like something for a plug-in.

@mrweckx: what about an alias feature for a word. So, e.g. typing “Klas” or “Klass” or"Klaass" etc. is shown as “Klaas”.

Because it is a fundamental feature of a knowledge app based on links (DEVONthink has it), there’s dozens of use cases in the feature request thread alone. It’s one of the most commented on regularly. The devs have said on Discord there have talked about it internally (but I do not know the result of said discussions).

If you want to have links work fully on the whole range of the human language, this is as much core as block linking is.

@anon41901724: Obsidian is not in competition with DevonThink, so comparing the two does not make sense.

In any case, whatever you or I say, we don’t decide what is core, the devs do. So, if @mrweckx agrees with you to wait, that’s fine by me.

I have never mentioned any kind of competition, please do not imply words in my mouth. I am very well aware these are different apps with different feature sets.

However, this is a major piece of a knowledge management system, which both apps are - DT implementing this precisely as a piece of its own knowledge management system. You don’t have any use for it, cool, but a lot of people do, as a visit to the aforementioned thread will show you, with countless examples as to why this should be core.

@anon41901724: you did not mention the word “competition”, but using the 2 apps in the same argument means they are in effect competitors, like Obsidian and Roam, or Obsidian and Evernote, or Obsidian and etc. Apps operating in the same market segment are competitors, perhaps only partially so in certain cases.

As for what a lot of people want, I do not dispute it. Nevertheless, the devs decide on the features, and certainly on the priorities. And since we don’t know if and when “Alias” will become core, it seems to me that if there is someone who proposes to convert an existing something into a plug-in it would be more than welcome, esp. considering that many people, as you say, want/need it.

Is this still relevant after introducing support for aliases in Obsidian Release v0.9.16 ?

@malecjan thanks for reporting