Lists
Mentions and backlinks
Mentioning a list from a thing creates a link, and the mentioned list records that it was mentioned.
Backlinks are part of Twos Plus. Pluscurrently free for everyone
Why you'd care
Sublists nest, which is a parent-child relationship. Linking is the other kind: two lists that relate without one owning the other. A person's list mentioning a project, a day mentioning the trip it was part of.
The useful half is the reverse direction. Open the project and you can see every day that referenced it, without having tagged anything.
The 60-second version
Type @ inside a thing and pick a list. The link is created, and a backlink appears on the other list.
Going further
Backlinks are automatic. You never create one. Mentioning is the only action, and the reverse side maintains itself.
Backlinks expand inline. A backlink chip can be opened where it sits to see the thing that mentioned it, without navigating away and losing your place.
Dead links go inert. If the target list is deleted, the chip becomes plain text rather than a link to nothing.
Universe draws these. The Universe graph has a Backlinks dimension: every list you have mentioned becomes a line from the list the thing lives in to the list it points at. Tapping either end shows the text of the linking thing, so you can see what the connection actually was. Pluscurrently free for everyone
Tips
- Mention a project list from your day rather than duplicating the note into it. The backlink does the filing.
- Linking is better than tagging when there are only a handful of connections. Tags are for patterns, links are for specifics.