In 1.10.6 and prior releases, creating a link with the link format set to relative or absolute path would automatically include an alias of that file’s name, rendering the link as just the file name but retaining the exact path details. ie [[Tech/Hardware/Consoles/Consoles|Consoles]]rendered as Consoles
In 1.11.0 and above this behaviour was removed (confirmed intended on discord but not in release notes) so relative and absolute links just autocomplete the path with no alias, thus renderring as the entire path, rather than just the file name. ie [[Tech/Hardware/Consoles/Consoles]]rendered as Tech/Hardware/Consoles/Consoles
Issues this causes for my uses:
Links are now not naturally readable in text or are extremely long and clutterd such as in Properties and Bases views. Presenting as Tech/Hardware/Consoles/Consoles rather than Consoles
If I change to using shortest path link setting, if the file name is no longer unique in my vault then all links of this will be expanded to full path in the vault, running into the unreadable issue from 1. ie all links of Consoles in short path mode expand to Tech/Hardware/Consoles/Consoles
My reasons for using full path include number 2. as well as providing the path of a property link as searchable content when queried in a base. ie you may have a bunch of notes with a property of “RelatedNotes” which all link to “Playstation 3”, “Nintendo Wii” and “Xbox 360”. These consoles notes are located in a path containing “Console” so with .contains Bases filtering you can find all notes that are related to Consoles just by searching “RelatedNotes” for “Consoles”. As opposed to doing a multi term search for every relevant console in your vault.
Proposed solution
Include 2 extra options in the New Link Format dropdowns which are “Relative path to file with Alias” and “Absolute path in vault with Alias.” These options would behave how linking did prior to 1.11.0, including the filename alias automatically.
This retains the functionality created by non-aliased links whilst also offering the legacy behaviour.
Current workaround
Revert to 1.10.6 for the legacy behaviour or manually include the alias for every link that is created
I’d love to have an option where (absolute path) links automatically use the note title as display text. The paths are great for stability, but in body text the full path often hurts readability. This used to be a really nice balance in my workflow.
We have used this feature for years in a shared vault. I don’t understand the decision changing this behavior as it is a long standing workflow. Keeping it as an option would be great.
It took me 15 minutes to vibe-code a plugin to autocomplete custom link name based on filename. If anyone is interested i can look into how to publish it.
I would also vote to bring back the old behavior, if possible. Every time I make a link, I only want the name showing, not the full path.
Also, with the new behavior, if you rename a page, it doesn’t touch the aliases anymore, meaning you’d have to do your own manual find/replace to fix them all yourself.
Also, with the new behavior, if you rename a page, it doesn’t touch the aliases anymore, meaning you’d have to do your own manual find/replace to fix them all yourself.
This!
I was really surprised and dissappointed when I saw this feature was removed (quietly).
I consider this is a performance-related decision, but in the other hand it breaks also my worflow, especially with that alias-updating-thing being removed.
Why can’t this be reverted? I have used obsidian for a long time and never had any issues. It was very frustrating to see this and go on a goose chase to find people with the same issue. Can I manually allow aliases or something? I am sorta tech illiterate so I don’t know how to do that, this would make obsidian very clunky to use. Something it is was built not to be?
Damn so this goes even deeper. Atleast we could’ve been informed. My workflow was a bit damaged, but I guess I’ll have to manage somehow. Obsidian doesn’t feel like the trusty all reliable tool now. Gotta deal with the manual ways.
I rethinked that and I guess I could deal without this function, but I still see some space for improvements. Especially, adding alias for a link to a file without unique name should be more straight-forward (instead of manually reversing typing pointer before ]] braces and adding | and then the alias).
But anyway, I am still surprised, because that was a breaking change and it was released without a proper warning.
Or maybe there was a warning that I omitted? I thought I more or less read a changelog but I am not sure…
Adding my agreement to this. This has been a really bothersome change and I can’t find any reasoning behind it. I’m considering reverting to an old version of Obsidian unless this gets re-implemented. It’s extremely frustrating for it to not even be an option, and I don’t want to rely on quickly-made community plugins to get around what should be a built-in option.
This!