Retain/remember status of “Backlinks in document”

Feature requests
1

Use case or problem

I use backlinks extensively to find notes related to a particular concept, and have a keyboard shortcut to enable/disable backlinks in the document. This works great, except that backlinks regularly disappear and I have to re-enable them…and when I do, they are expanded automatically which makes it much harder to see which notes contain a link to the current note.

Of course, I then have to use the mouse to click on the collapse icon so I can see just the linking notes and not the context (which doesn’t interest me). Having to use the mouse to collapse the backlinks view is a real nuisance, and something I find myself doing many times each day.

Proposed solution

I’d like to see some sort of preference setting for the default backlinks view: collapsed or expanded, rather than just showing them in expanded view every time.

Alternatively, it would be even better if the backlinks view didn’t keep disappearing, but that’s another story.

Current workaround (optional)

The only current solution is to use the mouse to click on the collapse icon, which is painfully slow and fiddly when you just want to quickly see a list of the notes which link to the current note.

50 Likes
2

I completely agree, I’m hoping for same feature, I hope it gets implemented at some point, it becomes real tiring having to use the mouse to collapse the backlinks!

6 Likes
3

+1, fingers crossed that we get this option!

4 Likes
4

+1 Totally Agree!

1 Like
5

Use case or problem

I’d like the “Backlinks in document” to preserve my ideal settings similar to the way search does. For example, I prefer collapsed and sort by modified descending.

Proposed solution

If I set “Backlinks in document” to be collapsed, then ideally it should preserve that setting until I change it.

Current workaround (optional)

I need to set my ideal settings for backlinks on every launch of Obsidian.

Related feature requests (optional)

Preference setting to auto-collapse backlinks in document

6 Likes
6

Do you have any objection to your FR being combined with the one you linked to?

They seem very similar to me. Or at least your point about remembering the settings is an excellent addition to the existing FR already there.

7

If you think that makes more sense, then no objection. I think my request solves the specific problem of the linked post, but in a general way that solves other variations. Also, it’s congruent with how they solved the same problem with search results.

1 Like
8

+1 This would make backlinks a lot more usable for me :slight_smile:

2 Likes
9

This was the first thing I knew I wanted from the moment I began trialing Obsidian.

+1

10

Obsidian Plugin creator @NothingIsLost created a cool plugin that allows you to store preferences within query blocks. Someone requested a similar feature for “Backlinks in Document” here and the dev is considering implementing it!

3 Likes
11

I have exactly the same problem.
I use backlinks in document, because I prefer to see the structure-view in the side-pane, and it’s somehow annoying to click a hundred times a day to collapse the lists, especially in my project-notes.
Is it possible to make the backlinks collapsed by default?

1 Like
12

Nothing yet? People have been asking for this many years now. Someone even said it has been implemented, but clearly isn’t
(Backlinks and search results do not stay collapsed when restarting obsidian - #5 by voseidon)

4 Likes
13

+1 Please

14

I just flagged the comment saying it was implemented, hoping the mods/developers see that

1 Like
15

I came here looking for this. The state of the backlinks panel is still not saved, and I can find no preference to collapse the panel by default.

Please add this feature.

16

+1

This really shouldn’t be hard to implement.

17

+1 for me . I turn it on all the time

1 Like
18

As mentioned in:

the Obsidian Query Control plug-in can do this.
There is a setting which can collapse any search result(including the backlink result) by default.

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2 Likes
19

+1

The default sorting by filename of backlinks in document does feel a bit counter-intuitive. having the links sorted by reverse chronological order—and even better, being able to choose the sort order and save it—makes more sense from a contextual, note-taking point of view.

5 Likes
20

+1 that will make the backlink feature more usable