One of the big differences between tags and links in Obsidian shows up in the graph view (assuming that you have toggled tags to be visible under “Filters” in the settings for a graph):
- Clicking on a link node opens the linked note.
- Clicking on a tag node generates search results for notes containing that tag, in the side panel.
- In the settings of the side panel (showing search results), if you toggle the “Collapse results” setting to expanded, you see the line that the tag shows up in, giving you more context.
- In the same settings, if you toggle “Show more content” on, then you see more information.
- HOWEVER: if a note has a tag that appears only in the YAML metadata, then the search results don’t show any context; only the note title is listed.
- For example: if you always put a
#needsRevisingtag only in the YAML metadata, then the search for that tag will return a (clean) list of note titles in the side panel. If the tag is in the main text, then the search results will reveal the specific context in the note that needs revising.
- For example: if you always put a
One thing I like to do is to “pin” the graph of the whole vault, so that when I click on various nodes, the note opens in a new pane. Then, I can close the pane and I’m back to the full graph.