How to see where all I have referenced yet non created notes links

What I’m trying to do

I want to see where else I have referenced a non-existing note. So when I think something is worthy of its own note, but do not have time or hierarchy ready to create a note, I just create a link which is non existing. I would at times have many places where this same link is typed, but the note does not exist.

How do I find where else this exact note reference is present, although there is no actual note under it?

Good use case:

I do create links to movie directors when I collect movie metadata. I don’t create a concrete note for a director unless I want to record something about that director, their style, genre preference, etc. So there are many director notes which are just typed as non existing links. Now, when I am adding a new movie note and type in the director’s name as a reference link, autocomplete shows that I have this link already somewhere, but it does not tell me where. If I click it, it unnecessarily creates an empty note, which I rarely want. How do I know where the autocomplete is coming from, which other places this non existing link is already written?

Things I have tried

  • Workaround: let the dummy empty note create, check its local graph or links, then delete the dummy note (this is too much to do and should have a better flow)
  • Searched forums and Twitter.
  • Then posting here.

You can have a look at this post.

1 Like

Not really. I want to see when I am editing a note, and there is a link which is not yet created. So I want to see which other places this link exits so I can either create a permanent note, or to have those cross cutting ideas of what was referenced by the same uncreated link in a different note. I do not ideally want to switch to a base.

I’m not aware of any other way.

I’m using a setup where I have multiple such bases permanently attached in a pane in the right sidebar, so they’re always easily accessible.