Help: When do I only write a note without parent , what shoud i do with link?

Basement
1

In zettelkasten’s thory, every note needs link to others;
Useing obsidian, it’s very easy to link a parent note to some child (even child has’t exists), ,just write childname in [[]].

But I found i don’t know how to link parent from child, especially the parent doesn’t exits.

Are there any other has same question or give me some tips ? Thanks very much!

1 Like
2

You posted this in “Knowledge management”, instead of in “Help”. So are you asking for advice on how to implement ideas from Zettlekasten?

Or are you asking technically, how to link notes in Obsidian? In Obsidian links, there is no “parent” and “child”. The link is just a directional link from one note to another note.

A -> B

But you can also have links going both ways. There is no hierarchy. A can have a link to B. And B can have another link back to A. Both can have a link to C. C can have a link to both A and B.

A -> B -> A

If in your knowledge system, you have an idea of what note is the “parent” of another note, you make the link using the exact same method. [[]]. That’s the technical answer.

But if you are asking how to implement a specific direction in your notes, or to make your notes flow in a series to match certain ideas from Zettlekasten, I don’t have any good answers, or I don’t fully understand the question.

“Maps of Content” might help you. On the process of making MOCs It is a concept that I think nickmilo is developing. It’s a way of building a map into your content. So you could create a page of links in order that you can use to show the shape or direction of your notes.

  1. [[A]]
  2. [[B]]
  3. [[C]]
4 Likes
3

I thought of one other thing that might be interesting. It would be a naming convention in your links.

Say you have the following notes:

Apple Seed
Apple Tree
Apple Harvest
Apple Pie

You could create a series by changing the display of the link using the vertical bar. This way the name of the note doesn’t change. Only what you see changes.

### Apple Harvest

This note is about picking apples.

<- [[Apple Tree|PREVIOUS: Apple Tree]] - [[Apple Pie|NEXT: Apple Pie]] ->

In Preview mode it could look like this:

Apple Harvest

This note is about picking apples.

<- PREVIOUS: Apple Tree - NEXT: Apple Pie ->

4 Likes
4

Since this is now 8 days old without a response, I’m going to move this to Resolved Help.

@rigmarole responses are fantastic. If the OP has more questions about how to link and organize notes, post in #knowledge-management or in the Discord channel with the same name.

2 Likes