#1

My notes links randomly appear with triple brackets:

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This creates links to non-existing notes and breaks the links to the real notes:
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The links were working earlier and I didn’t install or use any new Plugin, script or CSS. As far as I know there is no fixed pattern or specific set of notes impacted. The frequency is also random - was very common months ago, didn’t happen for a long time, but I had the problem again today.

Can it be a problem with 0.9.13 that I installed earlier today?

To fix this I have to search and replace manually sometimes dozens [[[ by [[ and ]]] by ]] but I have no guarantee that it won’t happen again.

Hope you can help.

Thanks!

Environment

  • Operating system: Macos upgraded to BigSur today but this happened in the past with other MacOS versions
  • Obsidian version: 0.9.13

Additional information

1 Like
#2

It’s possible that you entered those extra braketes your self without realizing it.
If you have reproduceble steps that Obsidian entered those breakets, please let us know.

#3

Thanks for the quick reply WhiteNoise. Unfortunately that’s not the problem.

My vault has hundreds of research papers that I load into Obsidian and only edit to accept backlinks and add Tags at the end of the documents. On those documents, I never create the links to other notes manually with [[. It’s not possible that I could have typed [[[ by mistake.

I cannot reproduce the problem. Can’t detect a pattern - sequence of actions or use of a plugin, for example, before the problems appear.

Hope someone has an idea of what it can be.

#4

Do you ever use the “add backlink” button from the backlinks pane?

#5

Thanks. Let us know if you find a pattern.

#6

Yes, I do. Could that be the problem generating the extra [ … ] brackets?

#7

Just spotted the problem / pattern:

When a document includes a link to a Web page using the format:

[Note title](https://www. …)

If a link is not created automatically and it is done accepting Backlink suggestions, Obsidian ignores the existing bracket [ ] and adds two more becoming [[[Note title]]].

Is it possible to add this extra validation to the Backlink process and prevent this from happening?

1 Like
#8

This is a relevant feature request: Exclude backlink mentions in link markup from suggested backlinks

#9
1 Like
#10

Thanks for the heads up to that thread but the request looks different.

I don’t want the links excluded from backlinks. They should be on backlinks and when accepted only added one extra [ ] because the original text had one pair already. Meaning, ends up with [[ … ]] as it should.

#11

no, the thread is relevant. You cannot have a wiklink within a markdown link.

This: [[project]](http://...)
or [[[project]] link ](http://www...)
is not possible

1 Like
#12

The option:

[[project]](http: //…)

is totally viable and addresses a very good use case. Let me explain:

I copy Web Pages (relevant research papers and articles) and convert them to markdown using Typora, to save a copy on my vault. The Web Link text is then converted to a Wikilink [[ … ]] to reference other pages on the vault (research papers citations, for example). The (http://…) is not deleted or changed.

By clicking on [[project]] I can access my copy of the content on Obsidian, where I’ve added tags, written my comments and connected with other Obsidian notes.

Clicking on the second item (http://…) I am redirected to the original page on the Web. Often useful to download an updated version or to use some other functionality or other pages on the same web site.

This is not only possible but absolutely AMAZING for someone accessing and cross-referencing hundreds of research papers. This alone is well worth a subscription service payment.

#13

I understood your workflow 2 posts ago. But unfortunately it’s not likely to be supported.
Let me try to explain again.
This is a type of link [xx](address). This is another type of link [[xx]]]. Nesting or concatenating them is not a valid format and it won’t work well.

In your case, I suggest you to do this:
[[xx]] [xx website](http://address)

or even

[[xx]] http://address

#14

Got it!

Thank you for the effort of posting one more message to explain this. We need behaviours like that to have a great Obsidian community.

Now I understand that this doesn’t fit standards and I realise that the only solution is a custom script or plugin.

This is so impactful on my work (and I guess others copying web content to Obsidian) that there might be a custom solution available somewhere, or will be in the future… maybe I can write a Perl or Python script myself at a later time.

Thanks again!