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Alphanumeric Index

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Florian Lengyel edited this page Jul 4, 2026 · 14 revisions

The alphanumeric index is a reserved set of notes that turns ordinary WikiLinks into a lightweight index.

The scheme uses explicit links rather than an external index database. Add one or more alphanumeric index WikiLinks under the ## SEE ALSO section of a note. Each index link corresponds to one or more significant words in that note's title. Opening an index note then shows the notes that link to it in tools that expose backlinks, linked mentions, inbound links, or related files.

Mechanism

Obsidian's linked mentions provide the main index mechanism. A note that contains an internal link to an index note becomes a linked mention of that index note. Therefore, when a note contains an index link such as [[0000.0000.0PQR]], opening the P-Q-R index note in Obsidian shows that note as a linked mention.

Obsidian's graph view also gives a visual check on the same links. A note that links to an index note appears as connected to that index note in the graph. Obsidian search can also find index references directly, either by searching for the index ID or by searching for the plain title text placed after the WikiLink.

Zettlr has a similar explicit-link facility. Opening an index page and viewing the related Files pane displays the links pointing to the index page.

Link form

Use an ID-only WikiLink followed by the title as plain text:

[[<ID>]]  <TITLE>

The two spaces after the closing double brackets separate the WikiLink from the title text. The two spaces at the end of the line request a hard line break in Markdown previewers that follow the usual two-space line-break convention.

Use this form for index entries:

[[0000.0000.0ABC]]  A-B-C

Avoid this form in new index entries:

[[0000.0000.0ABC|A-B-C]]

Obsidian and Zettlr both support pipe-style internal-link titles, but [[<ID>]] <TITLE> keeps the target inside the WikiLink and the display title outside it. That is easier for simple WikiLink parsers and plain-text search tools to tolerate.

Reserved index notes

The repository README reserves exactly these index notes:

ID Title H1 heading
0000.0000.0000 INDEX # INDEX
0000.0000.0ABC A-B-C # A-B-C
0000.0000.0DEF D-E-F # D-E-F
0000.0000.0GHI G-H-I # G-H-I
0000.0000.0JKL J-K-L # J-K-L
0000.0000.0MNO M-N-O # M-N-O
0000.0000.0PQR P-Q-R # P-Q-R
0000.0000.0STU S-T-U # S-T-U
0000.0000.0VWX V-W-X # V-W-X
0000.0000.00YZ Y-Z # Y-Z
0000.0000.0009 0-9 # 0-9

No other <ID> <TITLE> combination is an index note. Ordinary note IDs remain open except for uniqueness, immutability, operating-system compatibility, and the reserved index IDs.

Indexing a note

Choose one or more words from the note title and add the corresponding index links under ## SEE ALSO.

For a note whose title includes words beginning with P, R, or S, the SEE ALSO section might include:

## SEE ALSO

[[0000.0000.0PQR]]  P-Q-R  
[[0000.0000.0STU]]  S-T-U

Those links create explicit references to the P-Q-R and S-T-U index notes. Opening either index note in Obsidian shows the note under linked mentions. Searching for P-Q-R, S-T-U, or the corresponding index IDs also finds the note because the title text is present outside the WikiLink.

This is a low-cost retrieval aid. A note may have zero, one, or several index links.

Bootstrap script

The repository script scripts/create-index-notes.bat creates the reserved index notes for a new Zettelkasten vault.

Usage from the repository root:

scripts\create-index-notes.bat path\to\zettelkasten

If no path is supplied, the script writes to the current directory.

The script behavior is deliberately narrow:

  • creates the target directory when it is absent;
  • creates only the reserved index-note files;
  • skips existing files;
  • never overwrites existing notes;
  • creates the master INDEX note with links to all subordinate index notes under SEE ALSO;
  • creates each subordinate index note with a link back to INDEX under SEE ALSO;
  • writes index links in the [[<ID>]] <TITLE> form;
  • does not inspect, validate, or constrain ordinary note IDs.

On an existing populated vault, the script only creates missing reserved index files. Existing index notes are left untouched.

References

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