Links in YAML header do not automatically update?

[royhj]

When renaming a note [[name]] -> [[new_name]], internal links to the note usually update automatically.
This does not seem to hold if the link is in the YAML header, i.e.

---
up: [[name]]
---

does not automatically update when I rename the note in my Vault.
Am I missing some configuration or misusing YAML?

---

Obsidian 1.0.0
Windows 10

Things I have tried

What I’m trying to do

[fynn]

I think you are misusing YAML here.

In your example, you wouldn’t actually create a wiki link, but a list, that has another list as it’s only element, and that sublist contains the string “name”.

If you want to have links in frontmatter, you could probably try using obsidian URIs, but I doubt that they would get updated automatically either. Maybe there’s some crazy way to do it with templater or other plugins though?

[royhj]

Thanks @fynn ,
But this breaks the breadcrumbs every time a file is renamed…
What is the recommended way to add breadcrumb links then?

[fynn]

This was only an idea as to how to put links to notes in frontmatter, because wrapping in two brackets doesn’t do that in YAML.

I honestly don’t think there is a recommended way to do it =(

What you could realistically do, is look for a plugin that provides breadcrumb links.

What you could theoretically do is write a plugin, that hooks into the note renaming process, goes through your vault and checks whether the renamed note is referenced in any frontmatter entries and renames them.

I’m also just a user, and not really familiar with the code base, so I don’t know how hard that would be, but I don’t think it’s a realistic solution for you (or me for that matter)

Anyway, good luck looking for a solution!

[royhj]

Inline dataview links are automatically updated and breadcrumbs seems to work with them identically.

But this leaves me wondering why leave the option to create breadcrumbs in the YAML header in the first place… just a pitfall for newcomers that later have to rename everything manually? Still have a feeling I’m missing something

[ariehen]

Additional info:

Renaming note does not update references in YAML blocks

I use YAML blocks in my notes, and I include references to related or parent notes in the block (Zettelkasten-style). Example: title: Child note title parent: [[Parent note title]] However, if I change a note title, I expect that all references to that note to be updated. This works except for references contained in YAML blocks. So in the example above, changing the note title “Parent note title” doesn’t affect the link “parent: [[Parent note title]]”

Current status on internal links in YAML frontmatter

I just wanted to check on the latest situation regarding adding [[links]] in YAML frontmatter. I’ve seen this thread and in particular this answer from 2020 but wanted to check that this is still the latest advice today? If I add internal links in frontmatter, will that page be shown as a linked mention (backlink) in the associated page? Will internal links in YAML frontmatter be updated when the name of the linked page gets updated? Will YAML frontmatter be scanned for unlinked mentio…

Wikilinks in YAML front matter

Mod-Edit: I renamed this thread to focus on wikilinks in YAML frontmatter. The other part of the title “Notion-like databases from metadata” is already possible with Dataview, Database Folder, and all related plugins. First, I’d like to thank all contributors to Obsidian for making the absolute best knowledge management application! Over the years many applications never quite delivered what I was looking for and ideas of a better system started accumulating in my mind. The most notable idea…

How to specify links within frontmatter?

Is it currently possible to specify links in frontmatter? I saw there have been multiple feature request threads in the past about this functionality but I haven’t been able to find any recent discussions regarding it.

[fynn]

Here’s a plugin that does it

[royhj]

Afaik, the breadcrumbs plugin does not help in updating links in the YAML header.

Following the links above by @ariehen it seems that I didn’t miss anything, it simply doesn’t work…

If this is true, then I think that breadcrumbs should consider disabling linking through the YAML frontmatter.

[mnvwvnm]

For valid links in frontmatter you need to use this syntax:

---
up: "[[name]]"
---

But the issue remains: links in frontmatter don’t update, don’t count as backlinks/outlinks, don’t show in graph, … They’re only raw metadata.

[royhj]

Thanks,
And now to manually fix this throughout the vault…

[mnvwvnm]

My post isn’t the “solution”! I just point to the right syntax, not to a way to solve the auto-update. If there’s any plugin that do that… well, that I don’t know (I know that breadcrumbs use dataview plugin, but I don’t know how it works…)

[royhj]

I just needed to be sure how things work… so, solved it in this sense
Again, this is very confusing for newcomers.

Took me a while to understand why my breadcrumb keep breaking and now I have to manually move the links to inline links.

Decided to use a closing section in each note to add this (breadcrumb info) and links for cross context connections… would be real happy know what other users of breadcrumbs do.

[mnvwvnm]

You can use a foldable callout or, for example this method:

%% 
my metadata
field1:: value
field2:: [[file1]]
%%

[royhj]

Interesting, two things I totally missed about comments:

• dataview picks up data from comments
• and links are auto updated in comments.

This will definitely be useful, thanks.

[CawlinTeffid]

It might be worth filing an issue on the Breadcrumbs plugin’s GitHub if none exists yet.

[royhj]

Thought it might be useful for others to update this question:
Obsidian 1.6.3 handles links in YAML much better.

---
up: "[[name]]"
---

Links now update, count as backlinks/outlinks and show in graphs.