I agree that just removing the need to click or open a link would be great, typically I just write the links in as I’m going and then have to go back through and click each of them to generate a new note (which I later fill in) but I would prefer if just typing them created them and then I could fill them in later. As it is if I happen to miss a link I’ve created when I look back over my note then that linked note doesn’t get created (until I inevitably link to it from elsewhere, which may not be immediate).
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I really like this idea of special styling for links that don’t have files. Perhaps this should be its own feature request.
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this is exactly what I would like to see too, I often find myself in exactly the situation you’re describing.
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I prefer the existing functionality for a variety of reasons and think automatic file creation on linking should be optional. I don’t want those files around until I’m ready to create them.
Re: Italizicing non-existent links:
I have many links that are titled after books and other sources which are already italicized.
I think an “exists” class in the CSS might be preferable, so it could be italicized, highlighted, differently colored, or just left alone in whatever way an individual prefers.
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I can see that depending on the way you use obsidian this may be something that you may or may not wish, so I think having a toggle for this automatic file creation in the settings would be the best way to please as many people as possible. My problem with simply italicizing non-existent links is that there’s still no guarantee that I would ever actually get around to creating them and for me I would prefer to have them created, as my notes first go to a kind of ‘pending completion’ folder, which I work through, but without a note being in that folder, there’s no indication that I wanted it to exist in the past (as I said before, until I inevitable eventually link to it again).
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What about the concept of dynamically creating a new notes by selecting the text and hitting either the Cmd+n to pre-populate a new note with the text title you had selected, or by hitting the quick switcher tool to pre-fill the text in the field and if it’s not created… create a new note?
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@bennett There is an existing request for note creation from existing text:
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We have another feature request that relatest to this now in a way, though asking for a manual way of creating these files vs automatic. I will say that I’m all in for the automatic creation of an empty note whenever I make a link that doesn’t already have a note attached to it. This is exactly how my mind works.
Link to the feature request for manual method: Create Note from Link without Opening
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Sounds like a user preference setting.
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Any update on this? Any hack perhaps.
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Checking up on this too. An option in the file settings would be so lovely. My use case: I display my notes on my website and without manually creating a new note from a link I 404 
When writing, we can link to a note that does not yet exist, and then follow that link and create the note by pressing Alt + Enter, or Ctrl/Cmd + Alt + Enter to open the newly created note in a new pane.
In both cases though, focus leaves the current note. It would be great if there was a way to look at the link under the cursor and create the note if it doesn’t exist, without opening that file in the editor or creating a new pane etc.
Alt + Shift + Enter might be a candidate shortcut for this.
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Just curious, but why would you want to create the note if you are not going to put content in it?
Related: https://forum.obsidian.md/t/auto-create-new-notes-by-linking-to-them/106
… we can link to a note that does not yet exist …
It would be great if there was a way to look at the link under the cursor and create the note if it doesn’t exist …
???
Sometimes I do this while writing, usually the idea is that I know that I will later want to create a note on the thing I’m linking to, but I haven’t finished writing the current note, or I don’t want to write the new note yet. However I want something to remind me and indicate that I was intending to make a note on that topic. My new notes are set to be created in a separate folder, so occasionally I just look through that folder and write up whatever is in there.
This works well for me because my use case is primarily writing up my maths notes. Usually I have some topic I want to write about, but there will be prerequisite topics that need to be introduced, so if I find myself referring to some topic I’ve yet to create a note on, that’s a good cue for me that I need to create such a note, but usually I do that after. It would be very difficult to keep track of all the topics I intended to make notes on without having the note exist in my incomplete folder, hence wanting the note to exist upon linking, without having to move to that linked note and interrupt my work flow for the note I’m currently working on
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This is definitely something that I am looking for as well. We discussed it in Discord a little bit.
One idea was making the links in the current note easier to navigate so that you could go back to them after the note, however, I still have a problem if that was the only thing implemented. What if I have more than one link that I want to make a note from? I would like to make a template or blank note for all of them so that I can use the quick navigation to go-to those notes afterward. If it was only the quick link navigation, I would be able to navigate back to one of the links quickly, make the new note, switch context, and continue there, but now what about the other 2 or 3 links that I needed to make notes for? I would have to go back to the original note, find the next link, and make the next note from there again. I would much rather have them all already created while I was making the original note.
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I agree, the behaviour you describe is something I would like too
Perhaps there are other ways to solve this issue without actually creating the file. Obsidian could provide a list of links without files. I’ve also requested that the quick switcher include these links.
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That could work as well.
Is there a reason that this would be better than just for example a toggle switch in the settings? Thanks!