Block reference with manually written ID not working in clean install

[xinyu1]

Bug Report: Block Reference Not Working Even in Clean Environment

System Environment:

• OS: [Your Windows version, e.g., Windows 10 22H2 64bit]
• Obsidian Version: 1.8.10 (latest)
• Installation: Fresh download from official website, no plugins, default settings
  SYSTEM INFO:
  Obsidian version: v1.8.10
  Installer version: v1.8.10
  Operating system: Windows 11 Home China 10.0.26100
  Login status: not logged in
  Language: zh
  Insider build toggle: off
  Live preview: on
  Base theme: adapt to system
  Community theme: none
  Snippets enabled: 0
  Restricted mode: on

RECOMMENDATIONS:
none

Description:
Block reference using manually written block IDs (e.g. ^blockid) does NOT work in any vault, even after:

• Complete uninstall (using Revo Uninstaller)
• Manual deletion of all %AppData% and related configuration folders
• Creating a brand new vault with all-English folder names and paths
• Using only plain markdown files, with UTF-8 encoding, and default theme
• No plugins, no custom CSS, no old settings

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Create a new vault at C:\TestVault
2. Create a note called block-test.md with the content:
   This is a block reference test. ^blockid
3. Create another note called block-ref-test.md with the content:
   ![[block-test#^blockid]]
4. Observe: The embed displays “Could not find block reference ^blockid in block-test”
   (see attached screenshot)

Additional Notes:

• Using automatically generated block IDs (via UI) does work, but is not practical for mass use.
• Tried both edit and reading mode, multiple restarts, no change.
• The .md file encoding is UTF-8 (checked in VS Code/Notepad++).

Screenshots:
(Attach your test screenshots, e.g. the “Could not find block reference” error and the blockid visible in the markdown file.)

My Motivation:
I want to efficiently build a phrase and sentence database, and quickly jump to/quote any sentence using hand-written block references (e.g., ^idiom1).
If this basic function doesn’t work, it severely limits the power of Obsidian for knowledge management.

Request:
Please help investigate or confirm if this is a known issue, and if there is any solution or fix.

Thank you!

---

[anon80950206]

Hello.

Does it work if you remove the quote marks?

[ariehen]

Quotes are shown if the block reference isn’t found:

---

I don’t recall this being an issue in v1.8.10, but it’s working fine for me in v1.9.4. I don’t have time to rollback to v1.8.10 at the moment to check.

[anon80950206]

Thanks—now I understand.

For me, the first one below works, but the second doesn’t. The only difference is having a space in the first one between the 。 and the ^:

这是一个块引用测试。 ^blockid1

这是一个块引用测试。^blockid2

So just a syntax issue? It needs a space to work?

[ariehen]

Good catch Guapa!

It may well be do to the spacing. It’s clear when using English alphabets there isn’t a space between the text and block ID, but not so much with Japanese and I assume all CJK character sets because of the double-width they take up.

Having Obsidian create the block ID (eg ^81fa1f) correctly adds the needed space, but when adding them in yourself you need to be careful.

[anon80950206]

Agree totally with your supposition. Hope the OP got it to work.