What ZK software can parse [[datetime]] ID links between notes?

martinl

I've been using Rene's Sublimeless Zettelkasten for a few years, building up a note archive that uses datetime ID links. I think The Archive follows the same convention.

• For example, if I create a note called "Test note" now, the text file will have the name 202310191918 Test note.md, and the link inside the software will look like this: [[202310191918]] Test note.

It would be interesting to try an alternative app/software at some point. I've looked around quite a bit, and I'm surprised about how few there are who supports this link ID syntax. Most software like Obsidian, Roam, and the like, uses the "[[full title inside the brackets]]" style, making them unable to parse my note link syntax. Some allows for choosing slightly different ID types, but usually never this specific one which I thought was one of the simpler ones.

For example, clicking the "test note" link in Obsidian would just result in the software creating a blank note called 202310191918.md. The only software I'm aware of can parses the datetime link ID type, are these two:

• 1Writer for iOS mobile phone
• The Archive for MacOS

I haven't found anything that supports the datetime link ID for neither Android nor Windows. Are any of you aware of any software I've missed that can be used? All platforms are interesting, from iOS/Android to Windows/Linux/Mac. I'm aware it's a possibility to edit all of my notes using a Python script or similar to make them compatible, but that would break compatibility with the software I use today. Happy for any tips. Cheers

dax7

You should try Zettel Notes (android)

Read more about the supported formats here in documentation https://znotes.thedoc.eu.org/note/editor/zettelkasten#wiki-style-links-between-notes

Play store link
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.eu.thedoc.zettelnotes

Sascha

Obsidian has a plugin to import [[ID]] type links.

martinl

@Sascha said:
Obsidian has a plugin to import [[ID]] type links.

Thanks. Are you thinking about the "Unique note creator" plugin? It's closer to the goal, but it doesn't make it possible to import a note archive using the [[ID]] links where the note title is outside the brackets.

A note created with that plugin will have this syntax: [[202310201217 Test note]], or alternatively [[202310201217]] if you don't give it a title. But Obsidian always requires the associated Markdown text files to have the identical file name as the link. That is, what's written inside the brackets must be identical to what's written in the Markdown text file name.

All notes from the old Sublimeless Zettelkasten software makes [[ID]] notes, but includes the full title in the Markdown files themselves. So when you click on [[202310201217]], it will correctly identify 202310201217 test file.md in the note archive and open this file. It just searches for the first "word" in all files instead of the whole title. While Obsidian will look for a file called 202310201217.md, conclude that it does not exist, and then create a new blank file with that name instead. So no links will work.

I did some extra reading on The Archive now, and I think I've misunderstood how it makes and recognizes note links. It seems to be identical to the Obsidian syntax, using the unique note creator (?)

Looks like this is a very niche problem, so I don't expect too many replies on this. I would be very grateful if anyone knows how to solve it though

alfred

Have you considered trying to do a sort of sophisticated find and replace on (a copy of) your notes?

It would be possible to write a python script, for example, that reads all the file names of your notes then then looks for the link tags and replaces the link text with the obsidian compatible link text. I imagine chat gpt would be able to guide you through this

ctietze

@martinl said:
All notes from the old Sublimeless Zettelkasten software makes [[ID]] notes, but includes the full title in the Markdown files themselves. So when you click on [[202310201217]], it will correctly identify 202310201217 test file.md

The Archive behaves the same way by default. If finds matches by start of the file name, not only by the full file name.

Are any of you aware of any software I've missed that can be used?

Only mentioning open source software: There are Emacs packages that do this, and these would work on all platforms, but you may not enjoy it zetteldeft comes to mind, but also denote.el and org-roam I believe. Then there's Zettlr which can do the same trick.

martinl

@ctietze said:

@martinl said:
All notes from the old Sublimeless Zettelkasten software makes [[ID]] notes, but includes the full title in the Markdown files themselves. So when you click on [[202310201217]], it will correctly identify 202310201217 test file.md

The Archive behaves the same way by default. If finds matches by start of the file name, not only by the full file name.

Are any of you aware of any software I've missed that can be used?

Only mentioning open source software: There are Emacs packages that do this, and these would work on all platforms, but you may not enjoy it zetteldeft comes to mind, but also denote.el and org-roam I believe. Then there's Zettlr which can do the same trick.

Thank you for the heads up on the packages and Zettlr. I couldn't get Zettlr to work, but maybe I didn't try well enough. Also nice to know that The Archive works the same way with regards to search. It's funny how rigid most other software are on this front.

JustinW80

I was just taking another look today to see if Obsidian supported link-as-search (I think that's what the feature's been called on this forum) yet, and looks like they do not.

I'm also using Rene's sublimeless_zk on Windows most of the time, and sometimes Zettlr. Both are cross-platform. And of course The Archive on macOS.

Link-as-search is a must-have feature for me, and it's more robust for maintaining links through filename renames.

ctietze

@JustinW80 said:
Link-as-search is a must-have feature for me, and it's more robust for maintaining links through filename renames.

Yeah, right? Once you get used to it, it's very versatile!

c4lvorias

Hey, have you settled in something?

martinl

Hi, I'm still using sublimeless_zk and 1Writer. It works well for me - the first one covers Windows and Linux on the laptop, which is what I use, and 1Writer works well on iPhone.

And then I know Zettlr is worth checking out if I switch to an Android phone, and the Archive could be interesting to try of I ever switch to a Macbook

Sascha

@martinl said:
And then I know Zettlr is worth checking out if I switch to an Android phone, and the Archive could be interesting to try of I ever switch to a Macbook

My completely unbiased opinion: Just for The Archive alone, it is worth it...