Allow [[links]] to folders

[malecjan]

But if it says “folder already exist”, then IMHO it at least understands that relative link (and likely other relative links too, not tested). Then Obsidian just needs a tweak to do desired action (open folder as it does from absolute links). Is that correct?

[ryanjamurphy]

No idea. Never assume something is simple to implement though!

[garddun]

+1 this.

Obsidian for me is a tool for better note taking and organising, not the only answer. My Mac is based on folders, I have a lot of different file types in my folders, not just .md files, and all of them is used in different ways. One of Obsidians strongest points is that you can link knowledge to each other with links. But since a lot of my knowledge is in other file formats I would like to see them in context to the .md files in the same folder.

[coppereye]

Actually, it will say this on folders that don’t exist, too, if you try to use relative links like [[../somefolder]]. I think it’s a bit broken / not supposed to be used that way.

[tzhou]

ryan told me to post here:

the workaround I’d use is an obsidian search link, like [folder](obsidian://search?vault=Vault&query=path:this/folder)

Documentation

[onkeltem]

I don’t either support or unsupport this request.

I want to thank @miguelmarcos for referencing a beautiful plugin — Folder Note Plugin: Add description note to folder - Share & showcase - Obsidian Forum.

It solves two issues I’ve had for a long time:

• I couldn’t reference folders

• I always had a problem with selecting appropriate name such default folder notes. I used: index, about, default, _index etc. Sometimes I would even pick the folder name itself for the default note name.

And this Folder Note plugin addresses both issues!

First, it autocreates the default folder notes, solving the naming problem. I opted to use the default configuration, i.e.: note name equals to the folder name + hide it in the file tree.

Second, now I can easily link my folders with [[, as the name of the link is the same as the folder. Which looks really natural:

So currently I hardly can imagine a scenario of linking folders in my system. But your mileage may very of course.

[Badjer]

I don’t typically spend time in the forum much so not quite sure if a heart suffices as supporting the FR or if I need to do something else

To be clear, though, I support the linking of folders
Vote +1

[thwright]

Similar functionality exists in wiki.vim.

[Seri]

+1

This would be a useful feature.

[tmfelwu]

+1 for this feature

[Phineas]

+1 for this feature as core.

The folder-note add-on is not a bad workaround but doesn’t offer anywhere near the same functionality.

I would suggest more: Make it so that folders can double as notes. Ie. Contain text, be linked to, yet still act as folders. This is an outstanding feature of Notion. Although not strictly in the spirit of zettelkasten, it affords incredible flexibility for sorting and filing notes, so powerful.

[pshev]

I think it is important to remember that the intent of Obsidian is that you have your notes locally and they are in a form that is hoped to be future proof. What we have is a file system hierarchy of plain text notes. Obsidian provides a way to view/edit and add functionality/meaning to the plain text notes.

I think linking to folders Ia a common file system paradigm and I find it missing and should be supported. And the File Explorer should allow me to select a folder when I do a ctl-O. I thinl that the folder notes plugin is the right solution for doing more. In the file system you can create a note with the same name as a folder. The folder notes plugin adds a convention and GUI paradigm as to how to treat these notes.

Lets separate presentation from the storage model.

[Mat_35]

+1
I need it

[concentration]

+1

Came here looking for this.

[Synchronicity]

A link to a folder should expose the folder in the Explorer.

A year later, I’d still like to see this happen. A link to a folder could have a slightly different syntax, similar to ![[ for transclusions, but with another character in place of the exclamation point. Then the dropdown menu as you begin typing the name would show only folders, just as [[ and ![[ show only files.

cc: @ryanjamurphy

[obsequious]

@Synchronicity

with another character in place of the exclamation point

I’d prefer not to introduce yet more syntax. It’s getting hard to remember these Markdown syntax extensions.

How about if you wanted to autocomplete only on folder names you typed [[ and then / signaling to Obsidian you want only folders.

[Synchronicity]

Well, for one thing the use of ! for transclusions creates a precedent for it. And your suggestion would also be adding another character, just after [[ instead of before, and would also be additional syntax to remember. And it would be less precedented than putting a character before the [[.

[obsequious]

@Synchronicity

your suggestion would also be adding another character

Not quite the same. It’s a character that filters the search. It doesn’t show up in the end text. So someone who reads it wouldn’t have to interpret it.
Now, maybe you do want to make it clear in the link text that you’re pointing to a folder. in that case, you can follow Unix (or URL) convention and add a / to the end of the link text. So now, when you read it, it’s clear the link is to a folder. And note that the / character is the same. Much easier to remember.

[Synchronicity]

I’d still find it more elegant if adding ! before [[ indicates a transclusion and adding a different character indicates a folder, and I don’t think it would be hard to remember at all.

I’d also prefer it because the syntax would make it clear up front that it’s a folder link, rather than burying an indicator at the end, where it would look like the easy-to-ignore slash at the end of a URL.

But I think we’ve both made our cases well enough for the devs to choose one of them—or another approach entirely—if they do decide to implement the feature.

[graceXemplified]

I am looking for the same functionality. I havent found on as simple as an internal wikilink. However, I did install the Vantage plugin. It allows you to insert into a search based on more complex terms.

In doing do so the only term I entered was the path to a file and it inserted every file in that folder and all sub folders.

Not exactly what you or I were looking for but it gives me a workaround that will do for now.