Include non-existent links in quick switcher

[sam.baron]

Quick switcher should search for all possible links because some links may not have files behind them.

See Auto-create new notes by linking to them - #10 by Silver

[curtismchale]

Maybe a bug report really, but I feel like today I was dealing with files that had : or / in the link and they didn’t work. I had to create the file with a slightly altered title and then redo my link.

I have NOT done full testing on that though. But we should take this into account in the quick switcher.

[sam.baron]

@curtismchale Not sure how this relates to the feature request. Separate bug?

[Gnopps]

I’m missing this functionality as well. Suggestion is for quick-switcher (Ctrl-O) to show also notes that have not been created yet.

Example: In my note about “Candy” I create a link to [[chocolate]]. “Chocolate” has not been created before. Later on I want to enter something about “chocolate”, see its backlind and may not remember what the correct link title is or if I even referenced it before. Thus I open Ctrl-O and search for “chocolate” but get no result.

Thus I’d like to see all notes included in the quick switcher, not just those whose actual files have been created.

[TehShrike]

This inconsistency is also getting in my way as I try to flesh out my life wiki. If I’m going around adding links to pages, it’s great that links autocomplete based on all links+files, even if the file doesn’t necessarily exist yet.

It’s a real pain to have notes not show up in the quick switcher just because the file doesn’t exist in the file system yet.

[obsidiandian]

Also, in the quick switcher, it would be nice for a link with empty file to show up when I type something similar to that empty note’s title (maybe in a different colour).

Currently, if I already have a link called e.g. “Bermuda triangle” but has no file associated with it, it would not show up when I use quick switcher and type “Bermuda”. So I end up pressing “enter” to create a file called “Bermuda”. This results in multiple links about the same concept.

[Gnopps]

Workflow right now is:

1. Search for note using Ctrl-O, no result
2. Search for note using Ctrl-F, note found (but not created). Click it and enter data.

It would be a lot quicker if Ctrl-O were to show uncreated notes as well - then step 2 would not be needed.

[kepano]

In Edit mode autocompleting links includes titles of notes that have not yet been created, whereas the switcher doesn’t.

The autocomplete in Edit mode is helpful to prevent duplicates. Since quick switcher is also used to create new notes, it seems like both should work similarly.

[Pseudonium]

+1 to this - often find myself wanting to ‘fill in’ a note that I’ve left uncompleted for a while, and I have to go through the intermediate step of autocompleting a link in like a daily note, then following to the file and making it.

[pralayb]

+1, upvoting tis feature request. It is annoying to have to click on a page link to create it, just surrounding them with [[]] should perhaps create the page automatically.

[n-patel]

Upvoting this feature request. It’s unintuitive behavior, and I tried multiple times before I realized that the quick switcher doesn’t retrieve uncreated files, even though the [[]] edit menu does.

Given that you can also create files through the quick switcher, you can also conceptually think of it as auto-suggesting appropriate titles.

[chante77]

+1 Without this feature, links share some of the limitations of tags; that is, you have to remember every one you’ve created.

[Amirreza]

+1 Really need this. I keep forgetting the uncreated [[]] links, and it doesn’t show up in quick switcher.

[jokysatria]

+1 Just realized how important this feature, especially if you like to set up non-existent links. I think the mechanism can be like creating a new note in quick switcher.

[bencodezen]

+1 on this feature as well!

Here’s my outline of my experience so far

Scenario:

1. I create a note with a reference to a note that I probably want to link to later on.

Learned about this cool new [[Obsidian Plugin]]

2. Later, I can reference this in another note easily with auto-complete:

Someone else also recommends new [[Obsidian Plugin]]

2. Later when I’m ready to create the Obsidian Plugin note itself, I hit Cmd + O to open up the note and type “Obsidian” but the auto-complete never mentions the reference.

Proposal:

Even though the file has not been officially created yet, Obsidian should surface that this theoretical note has been referenced and is basically ready to be created. Otherwise, it creates an odd UX of “Didn’t I mention this somewhere before?” and then you have to use the auto-complete within the editor to figure it out (which seems like an unnecessary step).

[WhiteNoise]

will be implemented in 0.12.4