Notion Backlinks | The PERFECT Companion To Your Notes

In this video, I cover Notion's latest added feature of bi-directional linking, or backlinks. If you enjoy this video, check out the rest of my Notion Tutorial Series: • Notion Tutorial Series
0:00 Intro
1:07 Backlinks in Notion
2:06 How To Create Backlinks
4:30 Creating a New Page With A Backlink
5:54 Coordination With Master Tag Database
8:18 Closing
💥Gear used to make this video:
📹Camera: iPhone 11 (amzn.to/3hEDeLd)
Logitech C920 Webcam (amzn.to/3dkAAHe)
🎤Microphone: Boya by-MM1 Shotgun Mic (amzn.to/37Eas8U)
▲ Tripod: Geekoto 77" Tripod (amzn.to/3hCbS8B)
▮ Tripod Mount: Ulanzi Aluminum Tripod Mount (amzn.to/3fDh3D8)
💻 Computer: 2020 16" MacBook Pro (amzn.to/3drSFTv)
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[@Azn_Bran]

I started with Notion, then went to Obsidian, then to Roam and I loved it. After a major data loss in Roam I started to doubt a bit and then after a few months of $15 charges I realized it just didn't bring enough value for the cost. I've since gone back to Obsidian but I am excited for this feature being added to Notion. I just wanted to add that I kept Notion the entire time for my collaborative work and for my long term life planning. Roam/Obsidian was for notes, research, and journaling. Excited for the future of Notion! Great video!

[@daniellangewisch]

Thanks man! Those are all great productivity apps. While there never is one "best" one, I have found that Notion gives the most flexibility for me and covers most of what those others apps offer as well.

[@DavidEsp1]

02:52 Hadn't realised possibility to put links in the title/name of a page. Thanks.

[@robertovelicaz7719]

Thanks for releasing this video, you really explain the concept well with simple examples!

[@daniellangewisch]

Thank you! I’m glad it was helpful 🙂

[@biaaldrich7522]

I was looking for a good, to the point and well explained video to understand these functions of notion and finally found it! Thank you!!

[@daniellangewisch]

Thank you so much for the kind words, Bia! They are greatly appreciated 😃

[@ghtegnerlitt]

I have watched a few videos about Notion backlinks, but they left me a bit confused. Your video was easy to follow and understand, thank you very much! :)

[@daniellangewisch]

Thank you so much for the kind words! I know that Notion can sometimes feel overwhelming, so I am glad that my videos could help you out! 😃

[@tmccall72]

This is awesome. I have a notion database where I’ve started to capture literature reviews for my dissertation. I was linking them by a keyword field in a relational database but this is another way to capture the connections.

[@daniellangewisch]

I totally agree! While relations can totally do the trick, I found this to be easier when there is a connection I want to make that may not apply to the entire page. Glad you enjoyed it! 😃

[@pspicer777]

C Elegans is a worm. The significance is that we have completely mapped it's neurons and their pathways.

[@DannyHatcherTech]

Definitely a nice addition to Notion but it is not quite where I think it should be but it is a nice start. I am looking forward to the future.

[@daniellangewisch]

Danny Hatcher totally agree. Good start but plenty of improvements can be made. Just happy to see this feature on a free application!

[@DannyHatcherTech]

@@daniellangewisch So true. I know a few of the developers working on the backlinks have plans to develop them further, can't say how or when but they are working on it 🙊😁

[@daniellangewisch]

Danny Hatcher that is so exciting!!

[@DannyHatcherTech]

@@daniellangewisch 😁😁

[@chris.d.walton]

I think they have changed link function from [] to @ sign. I think that's the same funciton?

[@ForgottenTasmania]

Could you put the keystrokes onscreen please? I like what you’re doing, I just can’t see (as a beginner) what you are typing to get there. Great presentation.

[@daniellangewisch]

That is a great suggestion! Thanks! 😃

[@danielhlynianchuk7767]

Good video, though fix background mic noise when you get a chance 😉.

[@daniellangewisch]

Thanks for checking out the video, Daniel! Fortunately, I have been able to improve my setup since then so I don’t have that issue anymore 😃

[@morningcoffee1111]

I think I have Old Brain. My slow moving old brain doesn’t see how this is different than just opening the notes app and searching for a term. I just search “worms” and everything with worms is listed beneath. Or, if I’m doing continuing research on worms I’d just place all that content into the worms folder that I would have created. What parts am I missing?

[@chiyungwong3774]

Worms was a popular game back in the day! (Showing my age here!)

[@daniellangewisch]

I never knew! Thanks for pointing that out. 😃

[@ksprashutv]

Thanks for this. I'm not sure I understand how this complements the Master Tag Database. It looks to me like a replacement for it - one or the other. What I'd really love is to be able to use backlinks to keep linking my pages, but have them all pop up as a filterable + sortable database somewhere. I don't think we can make make relational tables out of backlinks, can we?

[@daniellangewisch]

Thanks for checking out the video! Unfortunately, backlinks still are not great within the current structure of Notion as you cannot integrate them into a relational table. You would be better off just using relations. Other apps like Obsidian (my preference) and Roam Research are better at handling backlinks if you are interested. Hope that helps!

[@manosprotonotarios5187]

Soon Biology Page will end up having a huge number of links. Can you organize all these in a collapsible bullet list of multiple levels (like a tree)?

[@daniellangewisch]

Thanks for checking out the video! One way you could do that is create multiple toggles, and then within each toggle, have a linked database to all of your links with filters to show what you want under each one. Not sure if that answers your question, but hope that helps!

[@po-t7299]

Not sure I understood how the master tag database works with the back linking. I am starting to implement my tag database but I decided to work with several levels of databases. One database with general large areas (authors, researchers, location, scientific fields, or any large topics I follow), connected to generic but more specific databases (e.g. database "Person" where I can segment and create two relations to the entries 'authors' and 'researchers' in the general database). If you implement the links inside templates, you just have to apply the templates to new entries. And if you need to modify something, you just to modify the template and it seems (I think) it will update all the notes related to that template.

[@daniellangewisch]

Thanks for watching! That is a very interesting. I will have to look into that!

[@TedMattos]

Hi Daniel, thanks for this video. Quick question: is there a way to create links/backlinks to BLOCKS of text, rather than pages? My goal: if I have a chapter of the Bible in a Notion page. I'd have each VERSE of the book (e.g., John) in its own block. This way, if in another place in Notion, I want to write notes on a certain VERSE, I can link the notes page to the VERSE, rather than the entire book of the Bible (John). Not sure if that makes sense, or if that's even doable. :) Thanks much!

[@microstrader]

I want the same feature.

[@dfxdfx5368]

You know what I don't like about master tags (yeah, I know it's been a year since you posted this video, so you probably are using a different method) is the fact that I can't use colours for my tags. So I believe that one can use a master tag for specific purposes, for instance for an exam, and then go on with his Notion set-up by using normal tags for his other pages. It's a shame though, I'd like to build one to connect everything.

[@daniellangewisch]

That’s a good point! Master tags only make sense if you are planning on actually using the pages of the tags for additional organization. If all you need is to filter by the tag itself, a traditional tag is just fine. Appreciate the comment! 😃

[@piiak6848]

Luckily didn’t get far with Roam. Cancelled my Roam trial and sticking with Notion for my dissertation research.

[@daniellangewisch]

That’s a good call, Piia! Roam is neat, but too expensive for me. I have recently been trying out Obsidian for connecting my notes and it has been pretty interesting!

[@anthonykolliopoulos]

I understand nothing! can you demonstrate backlink with master tag database?

[@zp7026]

I am unsure if I should go back from making database relations and just embrace this new backlinking feature

[@daniellangewisch]

I think they both have their uses. The database relation can work if the entire page is relevant to the thing you are relating it to, where as backlinks can be useful if only a certain paragraph or line within the page is relevant to what you are linking it to.

[@nickseagull5873]

Would be perfect if the autocomplete didn't take an eternity to load.... :/

[@daniellangewisch]

Thanks for checking out the video! That has actually been one of my complaints of Notion recently...it can be frustratingly slow at times.