Tag aliases

Usecases

Linking translations of words used in tags like #dog and #hund.
Also for abbreviations or synonyms. (#USA, #U.S. etc should group together)

Implementation

I’d want an expanded tag panel were I can see all of my tags and either right click them and edit them one by one, or have an edit button at the top of the list that opens a bigger gui that gives access to all tags and their aliases.
This could also be added with tag folders like described here

31 Likes

Same issue here.
Was tagging some addresses for restaurants, and have to choose in which language to tag.
Maybe something like #restaurent|レストラン would work?

3 Likes

I would like that too as I write both in English and Portuguese so trying to use tags in only one language feels bad
I was thinking it could be like a note where you have a mapping of all your aliases

4 Likes

+1, Same question

Same issue, would be very nice to have it. It is a feature I would need on a daily basis. Thanks for bringing this up.

2 Likes

Use case or problem

I would like to add inline tags within my text rather than having to add a corresponding tag separately, which is less natural and one more step. This works when the tag word is only used in one variation. But it is not possible to tag EXPOsé and l’EXPOsition under the same EXPO tag. That would be neat, though.

Proposed solution

allow an ending delimiter to tags, not just the # at the beginning.
This could be written this way l’#expo#sition or #expo#sé. The ending delimiter would not appear in view mode.

Current workaround (optional)

Related feature requests (optional)

reply to revive this topic,it’s a good & necessary feature

+1 here, would be very useful indeed!

1 Like

+1 here from me as well! seems like it wouldn’t be too hard to implement and would be extremely useful.

I was also hoping to find this feature in Obsidian. My use case is that I have different tag hierarchies, say,

  • task tags (#todo/read, #todo/findout,…)
  • status tags (#status/draft, #status/current, #status/prefinal,…)
  • project tags (#projects/teaching/courseX, #projects/research/some project,…)
  • keyword tags for literature notes (#subject/emotions, #subject/social-interaction,…)

I would like to be able to use just #courseX as a synonym for #projects/teaching/courseX or #draft for #status/draft. After all, I know that courseX is a teaching project and draft the status of a note. The task hierarchy is only for organizational purposes.

Given that this feature is not yet available, I’m trying to come up with workarounds.

Technically, one possible pathway is to use links instead of tags, but we all have our reasons why we use tags for some things, so I don’t really see this as a viable solution. And in terms of portability, the resulting alias links are not optimal either.

In the case of task tags, I am currently just using #read etc without any hierarchy because the tasks plugin allows me search for tasks with specific tags, so the hierarchy is not strictly needed for organizational purposes.

When tagging notes as related to certain projects, I noticed that typing #courseX will allow me to select #projects/teaching/course, which really makes creating the tag easier. But the long pathname is still ugly/ difficult to read. I wonder whether this can be solved with a CSS snippet?

Another use case for tag aliases would be when you’re using the Johnny Decimal system: you can have nested tags with the numbers as a shorthand but if you don’t remember the code for something you can use the full text version.

Does someone know whether tag aliases is something that can be implemented as a plugin or whether it needs added functionality in core?

I’m bumping this one because I would find it INCREDIBLY useful. I also use tags quite a bit. Not only do I have hierarchies, but even if I have Tag Wrangler open in the sidebar so I can remember how I phrased the tag, it often comes up that something might be used for two different hierarchies. (E.g., #(…)/perfectionism is under neurodivergence/adhd AND under #mental-health bc it’s linked to anxiety.)

(…and yes, I’m using that tag because it’s funny as an example about trying to tag everything correctly.)

Or, even more so, things that are both a subheading and merit their own heading. Some of those I don’t WANT to be aliases – I don’t want #rpgs (first-level tag with subtags) and #links/rpgs to link to the same places, because the heading version is to help bundle tags about stuff I’m currently doing, while the links tag is obviously a link list. But some I do: #mindfulness for example, is its own tag, as well as under #mental-health/mindfulness , because not all ideas I’ve noted about mindfulness are specifically talking about it from that perspective. But they’re still connected and might be useful to see when I’m looking it up and certainly vice-versa.

So the feature I’d most like out of this request is the ability to SPECIFY aliases rather than automatically create them.

Tag Wrangler allows us to merge, but
a) while I love community plugins, depending on them for a core function to work isn’t the best and
b) that’s not applicable in these cases anyway, since these tags are actually needed and useful: what’s needed is the ability for the program to recognize that a page falls under a tag when searching either/any of the tags.

(Even better, if we can see those aliases as a form of connection! I know that’s part of the giant link vs tag debate and I think making tag aliases would help people see where concepts align, even when they’re not SO aligned that you want to link something – and encourage people to use tags the way Obsidian designed them to be used.

That mindfulness use case is a good example. I have no reason to link a page that’s not related to mental health to a mental health page, but I might very well find use in thinking about the broader concept of mindfulness starting from a mental health place.)

(Sorry for all the bolding - I find it useful to break things up to core ideas and hopefully it helps people parse my talkativeness. ADHD on both counts, lol.

1 Like

For people like me, who write in multiple languages, this feature will be of incredible help.

I often find myself searching for tag:#tag1 OR tag:#таг1 OR tag:#mot-clé1

Which is very tedious to write every single time.

I would prefer to search for tag:#tag1, but get the results for all three tags and tag aliases can solve that.

Adding all three tags to a single note is not a solution since sometimes I have to add 4 separate tags to a note, and if I do that in 4 languages, that means 16 tags, which is unmanageable.

Thank you for your consideration.

4 Likes

Another bilingual user here requesting tag aliases! It would be especially useful when dealing with concepts that have multiple names, like synonyms or related terms.

Potential implementation:

  • Tag aliases could appear under the drop-down list when clicking on a tag in the Tags pane. To differentiate them from subtags i.e. tag/subtag, they could have a unique alias icon next to them.
    • Or perhaps show an alias icon in the Tags pane next to tags that have aliases. Clicking on the icon opens a menu showing all of the tag’s aliases. This might be preferable to the drop-down list, as it avoids confusion with collapsed nested tags (the chevron next to tag indicates subtags and nothing else in this case).
    • When right-clicking a tag alias, an option to “Choose as default name” could be added. If selected, the alias would switch places with the current default tag name.