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Etonymdocs

Links

Etonym reads standard Markdown links and [[wikilinks]], and it always writes standard links. See Bring your notes if your folder already uses wikilinks.

Section titled “Insert a link to a note”

Type [[ and start typing a note’s name. The list shows notes with their folder, and names from a note’s aliases frontmatter. Pick one, and Etonym replaces what you typed with a standard link and a path relative to the current note:

[Meeting notes](../meetings/2026-10-21.md)

To link to a heading, type [[Note# and pick the heading from the list. The list is in name order, not in the order of the note. The link ends with the heading’s anchor, written the way GitHub writes it: lowercase, spaces as -, punctuation removed.

In a path, Etonym encodes only spaces (%20), %, (, ), #, < and >. Letters from any language stay as they are.

To make a link from selected text, press Ctrl+K. Etonym writes [text]() and puts the cursor between the parentheses.

Section titled “Follow a link”

Ctrl+click a link, in editing or in reading view. While Ctrl is held, links show a hand pointer. A plain click only moves the cursor.

  • A link to a note saves the current note, opens the target, and goes to the heading if the link names one.
  • A web link (http:, https: or mailto:) opens in your default browser or mail app. Links of any other kind, such as file:, are never opened.
  • A link whose target is missing shows dimmed with a dotted underline, and its tooltip says Not found: and the target. Ctrl+click shows No note named “…” in this folder. Etonym never creates a note from a link.
  • A link to a file that is not a note, such as a PDF, does nothing.

Go back and forward between notes with Alt+← and Alt+→.

Section titled “How links find their note”
  • A standard link’s path is relative to the note’s own folder. A path that starts with / starts at the top of the open folder. Case does not matter.
  • A [[wikilink]] without an extension matches a note by name, in any subfolder, ignoring case. With an extension, it matches that file. It also matches a note’s aliases. When several notes match, Etonym prefers one in the same folder, then the one with the shortest path from the top of the folder.
  • A link that points outside the open folder has no target.

Links inside code and inside <!-- --> comments do not count: they are not backlinks, renames do not update them, and Find broken links skips them.

Section titled “Backlinks”

When other notes link to the current note, a Backlinks button with their count appears on the path line. Choose it to see each linking note with the line that holds the link. Choose a line to open that note there. Press Esc to close the list.

Standard links, wikilinks, images (including HTML <img src="…">) and note embeds (![[Note]], which shows as text) count. Images and HTML files you open from the file tree have backlinks too, so you can see which notes use them.

Rename and move

Section titled “Rename and move”

When you rename or move a note, a folder or an image in Etonym, it updates the links:

  • Links that point to the moved file get the new path. Anchors stay.
  • Relative links inside a moved note are fixed so they still point to the same files.
  • Wikilinks keep their form: a link by name gets the new name, a link by path gets the new path, and the label and #heading stay.

Only the link text changes. Encoding and line endings stay as they were, and notes without such links are not written.

When a move includes a file that is not a note — an image, an HTML file, or any file inside a moved folder — and notes link to it, Etonym first asks, for example Rename “photo.png” and update links in 2 notes? The name is the file’s current name, and the number counts the notes to update, not links. Choose Move to go ahead or Cancel to leave everything as it was. Moving only notes, or folders that hold only notes, does not ask.

Files the tree does not show, such as PDFs, cannot be moved on their own in Etonym. They move with their folder.

For an HTML <img src="…">, only the src value changes.

If some notes cannot be updated, the move still happens and Etonym lists the notes it could not change.

Moves made outside Etonym, in Explorer, by Git or by another program, do not update links. Use Find broken links afterwards.

Section titled “Find broken links”

Run Find broken links from the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P). The Search tab shows Broken links, grouped by note, with the broken target highlighted on each line. A link that leaves the folder with .. is marked Outside this folder. If there are none, it says No broken links.

Choose a line to go there. The list updates as you fix links, so fixed lines drop out. Choose Close, or type in the search box, to go back to search.

The check skips web links, links to a heading within the same note, a missing heading in a note that exists, and links to a folder.