# Importance of naming with zettelkasten IDs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Knowledge management\ **Created:** [April 8, 2021, 3:36pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/importance-of-naming-with-zettelkasten-ids/16140 "2021-04-08T15:36:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 20
**Author:** ![AutonomyGaps](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/autonomygaps/32/2462_2.png) [@AutonomyGaps](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/AutonomyGaps)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 5:37am UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/importance-of-naming-with-zettelkasten-ids/16140/20 "2021-04-12T05:37:54Z")
> [@davecan](#): > > I want this phrase to act as a signal. When I do incorporate them I will probably create a note named `Transitive trust` that will store the core concept. I like this idea of a key phrase as a “signal”. The metaphor that comes to mind is like tossing a floating beacon buoy into the ocean, so that you’re likely to come back to it. This raises the issue of how best to use backlinks and unlinked mentions. Short distinctive phrases or even keywords (as distinct from tags!) are useful for revealing connections later, since these notes show up in the lists of backlinks. (The “Dangling links” plug-in is also useful for this.) > [@davecan](#): > > Which leads to the general strategy of “write a generic name and check unlinked mentions, then rename” This is a strategy that is recommended by @EleanorKonik: > [@Linking Uncreated Notes - Experiences or best practices?](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/linking-uncreated-notes-experiences-or-best-practices/11689/2): > > Ever since I figured out that it’s super easy to create links once I’ve created the file (especially using aliases) using the backlinks pane, I’ve tried to avoid creating links to files that don’t exist yet because I’ve discovered that it gets messy if I have [[thing]] and [[things]] (or, say, Egypt and Egyptian) and I have to remember which version I used every time – but if I later create a file Egypt, and alias it to Egyptian, it works fine. But if I accidentally screw up ever and link to Egy… Part of Eleanor’s cautionary point, as I understand it, is that tossing out too many of these beacons reduces the clarity of the signal. But she also has a more technical point: she leverages the fact that **aliases also show up in unlinked mentions** to find variations on a key term. For example, I have an author note about [[Niklas Luhmann]], which has “Luhmann” as an alias. If I go into the “unlinked mentions” part of the backlinks pane, I can see all the references to Luhmann, even if I didn’t use his first name (which is used in the title of the author note). If I click on “Link” for an unlinked mention, then the text is changed in the linked note, but in a way that still hides the first name in the preview mode (via the pipe): [[Niklas Luhmann|Luhmann]]. It also comes up in @nickmilo’s YouTube video with her (which I think you’ve commented on elsewhere). > [@Increasingly Atomic Folders: A Workflow](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/increasingly-atomic-folders-a-workflow/14345/17): > > Incidentally if anyone is curious, I did an interview / live notetaking session with Nick Milo over on the Linking Your Thinking channel where I showcase this process “with the garage door open,” as it were: [How to turn your notes into published articles and books using the Obsidian app with Eleanor Konik - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO5N_x2so0g) ### On the power of aliases, one further point: They are sometimes useful for phrases that are used regularly, as a sort of “snippet”. For the Luhmann note, I could also have an alias like “the originator of the idea of Zettelkasten (Niklas Luhmann)”. Then, when I type [[Luhmann…., one of the autocompletion options is this: [[Niklas Luhmann|the originator of the idea of Zettelkasten (Niklas Luhmann)]]. It’s a bit of a fanciful point, but I find it very handy for book titles, since for publishing or sharing, I don’t always want to use the abbreviated version that I use for the titles of my literature notes: [[AuthorYYYYShortTitle|Firstname Lastname, Full Title of the Book (YYYY)]]. --- _[View the full topic](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/importance-of-naming-with-zettelkasten-ids/16140)._