Allow renaming links when linked note is renamed

Comments: 21

• 01 Jun, '20
  Bill Admin

  A hesitation we currently have about this one is that changing the text in the original note could mean breaking sentence construction. It seems risky to change the wording in the middle of a sentence if the user backlinks a note that changes names. That possibility, combined with the difficulty of pulling this off make the feature somewhat unlikely, but still putting it up for a vote to gauge demand.

• 01 Oct, '20
  Lucian

  I think one good point about this is that since we now have contextual backlinks, it should be relatively easy to see whether sentences that include a link break or not (I am assuming we could make the contextual backlink update along with the change of note title). In my opinion, this should make for smoother changes and fewer negative effects.

• 10 Nov, '20
  Teltrix

  Maybe make this:
  1. A toggle-able setting
  2. (even better) Prompt to rename in-line references upon note re-name
  
  Just having the option would be nice, as I do find it in both Roam, RemNote, and TiddlyWiki. I generally construct my sentences in such a way that, if the note name were to change, the sentence would not break. (i.e. note names are almost always nouns.)

• 11 Nov, '20
  Lucian Admin

  Another approach could be to have each backlink show a small button that udpates the link text to the current note title.

• 20 Dec, '20
  Mark Lopez

  If the backlink is different/changed from the old title then retain the backlink text.
  Otherwise it should change it automatically.
  Not doing so feels so weird to me.

• 27 Dec, '20
  Lucian Admin

  "Renaming note title updates all backlinks references" (suggested by Al on 2020-10-28), including upvotes (2) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

• 14 Jan, '21
  Aurelius

  “A hesitation we currently have about this one is that changing the text in the original note could mean breaking sentence construction. It seems risky to change the wording in the middle of a sentence if the user backlinks a note that changes names.” A possible solution would be to introduce aliases: allowing different word combinations to link to the same note. When renaming a note, there could be a pop-up window asking whether to change the name across the whole database, or to convert those instances to aliases.

• 14 Feb, '21
  Karl

  For me this should be part of the platform anyway, a no brainer

• 08 Apr, '21
  Kendall Merged

  It's possible to link within notes using "<note_url>#Heading", but changing the heading later won't update references currently

• 04 May, '21
  Justin Maxwell

  +1 Karl. Amplenote: You’re favoring the edge case that sentence structure will be affected (which does not affect usability) over the more likely case that links will break when titles change (which is P0 usability). Please prioritize the more important of the two.
  
  (Mentioning I’m a founder user for whatever clout that adds to this opinion as it was advertised as prioritizing)

• 04 Jun, '21
  28x44

  Isn't the sentence structure issue solved by using a link or rich footnote, since you can set the text of the link independent of what the link is to? If you set the link to a note, a preview of the note is show on the rich footnote as well.
  
  Could be made easier by regular markdown style links [description](http://example.com) or a special [[http://example.com |link notation]].

• 06 Jun, '21
  Bill Admin

  "Changing a heading/anchor name should update links to that heading" (suggested by Kendall on 2021-04-08), including upvotes (2) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

• 15 Oct, '21
  Paul

  To me, the whole idea of making online linking easy (just type the square brackets and create a new note on the fly) is part of what makes modern note taking and note linking apps more useful than non-linking apps. Often, the names of links created on the fly do need to be refined (you wrote the person’s name wrong or you realize it’s better to link to a note for an organization, not a person, etc etc). Updating all link names helps consistency and allows you to just write without stopping and having to think about the exact link name you want to have there forever. It might cause a loss of focus, while you go off to search the correct spelling etc.
  
  I will say that my most common use of this functionality in Roam was to correct typos in link reference names, such as realizing I didn’t capitalize a proper name or I didn’t spell the link title correctly.
  
  I strongly support this suggestion.

• 07 Nov, '21
  Joonas

  This is an option in Obsidian for example, you can choose on the note if you want to rename links or set it to always rename links.

• 20 Feb, '22
  AP

  I really like an option where I can click on a button to convert a renamed reference or an option in the "Backlinks Subsection" where I can convert all of them?
  
  This is really useful if I change how I am labeling a "term" that ties a bunch of ideas together.

• 06 Mar, '22
  Grant

  I see note above that this is difficult to do but also that it may impact on sentence text. the value of this is that it enables us to rename and then regroup ideas as thoughts change. I am currently merging and renaming links manually one by one. when needed.

• 01 Jun, '22
  Amoenus

  The current behaviour is so unintuitive. It's so jarring to see renamed notes but to have all links unchanged.
  It is an enormous turnoff, especially coming from other apps that don't have such behaviour. I am all for having a choice, and do not, necessarily, want default behaviour change. That said, I would definitely want an option to auto-rename backlinks alongside note name change.

• 23 Jun, '22
  April

  Great idea! And the feature can be optional (toggle on or off) for people who use the links in full sentences.

• 25 Aug, '22
  thumDer

  It is finally implemented! https://www.reddit.com/r/Amplenote/comments/wxbodd/new_features_in_amplenote_you_might_have_missed/

• 26 Aug, '22
  Lucian Admin

  https://www.amplenote.com/help/backlinking_bidirectional_linking#Renaming_Backlinks

• 27 Sep, '22
  Callum

  In my opinion, the current implementation feels clunky and unintuitive.
  
  Automatically renaming links when a note title is updated should be standard behaviour, as I'm used to in other note taking apps.
  
  It's sort of a given that when you rename a note title, you'd expect it retrospectively update links. By renaming the note, that's a "risk" you're taking (I'd argue a link being updated making the original context of the link confusing is the minority of cases, however the current implementation suggests this is the majority of cases)