Inline Block/Note/Heading References ("Transclusion")

Submission

Andrew Ford

Mar 11, 2021

Board: Features
Status: Planned

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Inline Block/Note/Heading References ("Transclusion")

Also called Transcluding. Benefits of this are being able to display a number of atomised notes within a single parent note - and any changes made to the child note will be reflected wherever it is embedded, so no duplicate information or out-of-date copies etc. Other applications that support this have done so by modifying the wiki-link syntax similar to an image embed. ![[embedded note]] Edit from below: If block-referencing and heading references are supported this would be even more powerful. ![[embedded note#heading]] or ![[embedded note^block-reference]]

Andrew Ford

Mar 11, 2021

31

Eduard MetzgerMar 11, 2021

Do you mean "Block References"? In your example its a link to a full note. How would this be displayed? I understand if you link to a block like ![[note^blockID]] for example, the block = text paragraph or heading could be displayed and behave exactly like you described.

Andrew FordMar 11, 2021

Eduard Metzger: Both are true. Full notes or particular blocks or sections could be referenced. I didn't mention this because that would require another feature too: [[note title#heading in note]]. It depends how long people's notes are and where metadata is placed etc as to whether whole notes are embedded or just sections within. I imagine that notes embedded in this way could be contained inside a rectangular background element similar to the 'references' section at the top of notes but displayed in-line wherever the syntax is invoked.

Eduard MetzgerMar 11, 2021

Andrew Ford: Excellent! I love this idea. Much easier to start with also. Because in block referencing I need also to establish the block id system. I'm renaming it a bit to clarify.

Andrew FordMar 12, 2021

Eduard Metzger: I was just thinking on this further.. block referencing would be VERY useful in Noteplan for the purpose of directly displaying tasks in Daily Notes that actually live in Regular Notes (Project Notes). Instead of the current function of listing a project note in the daily notes references section if it has a task to be completed on that day, you could actually display the task itself in the main view automatically when it is scheduled for that day. Meaning a Daily note becomes a task management powerhouse, where you can complete any scheduled todos for that day directly, without needing to navigate away to other notes.

Eduard MetzgerMar 12, 2021

Andrew Ford: Good point, there could be an alternative linking function which copies the block reference into daily notes instead of creating a backlink. I also thought of making it possible to "drag" a linked task from the reference area into the note and therefore creating the block reference.

Colin GoldMar 16, 2021

Eduard Metzger: this is another transformational feature. If I could vote 100 times I would!

Eduard MetzgerMar 19, 2021

Colin Gold: I agree. "Internally", it has a higher priority than the votes reflect here. I think it's also a hard to understand feature compared to others.

Igor GentilAug 11, 2021

Andrew Ford: YES to this idea! I currently have a couple of scripts that scan project notes, move to-do items to the right daily note and replace them in the project note with a reference. All to make the daily notes a task list for projects. Would love this feature!

DavidApr 29, 2023

Eduard Metzger: Well, after using obsidian and IAWriter's transclusion it becomes quite obvious and would shoot noteplan in yet another galaxy. It would be really cool if syntax of NP would be compatible with e.g. Obsidian's ![[note]] or ![]() <3

DavidSep 16, 2025

Agreed. Also I for sure would love to have this available in all notes, not just tasks. If users only want to use it in tasks they can choose to do so. I have kind of a knowledge reference in noteplan and this would really help for preparing talks, lectures and papers as it does in iawriter and obsidian.

Rob GraceMar 19, 2021

This typically works with systems that render a preview, where the transcluded text would be viewed read-only. How would NotePlan handle editing of the block reference itself (editable) vs the transcluded text (side-by-side, read-only?)

Eduard MetzgerMar 19, 2021

Rob Grace: NotePlan could also render it as a read-only image. You won't notice it's an image and a click on it could reveal an edit dialog where you can change the text or jump to the note. That's the plan.

RhubarbMar 25, 2021

I can see why transparent inclusion of blocks is necessary to implement some *task-oriented features*. The most obvious use case is changing the state of tasks that are maintained in regular notes and date-tagged with `>YYYY-MM-DD`. When they appear in daily view or review or overdue, I want to be able to check them off right there. (See also feature request "[Distinguish Scheduled Tasks from Note References](https://noteplan.canny.io/task-management/p/distinguish-scheduled-tasks-from-note-references)".) But I think it would be a mistake to expand this feature to more general blocks. Noteplan is *not Roam or Obsidian*. In Obsidian, transclusions of notes and blocks with `![[embedded_note]]` work so well, because Obsidian is designed as a knowledge base that can handle complex graphs. Noteplan's unique selling point is to be "calendar driven" and to treat "tasks as first class citizens". I think of Noteplan in terms of *notes and tasks*, not as a complex mesh of interwoven and embedded things. I think of Noteplan as a tool that combines *note-taking and task-planning*, with a strong emphasis on tasks. Transclusion yes, but only of tasks.

Bart De RuyckSep 25, 2021

Rhubarb: I fully agree with this one. The biggest issue today is the disconnect between tasks inside a project and tasks on the calendar. Where do you organize and complete the work? Either you link to your project note where all tasks are stored from inside a to do in a daily note like: * Work on [[Project X]] But this had the disadvantage of not recording what you actually worked on on that day. It also clutters NotePlan with identical tasks. The other way of working is to add the actual tasks from inside the project note to your daily note. But then you lose the context inside the project because tasks are scattered over different days/weeks. Even adding a date reference after the tasks inside the project doesn't really solve this. Transclusion does. Each task inside a project note can be embedded in a daily note and checking it off anywhere keeps the action in sync. This is a major part of solving the puzzle. But I agree it cannot be extended beyond tasks. This would open Pandora's box and create all sorts of issues.

RhubarbApr 24, 2021

Duplicate? https://noteplan.canny.io/knowledge-management/p/inline-blocknoteheading-references-transclusion

Eduard MetzgerApr 24, 2021

Rhubarb: merged

Rob GraceMay 12, 2021

Should this actually be two separate requests?: 1. Inline Block references [[note#heading]] link for *navigating* to 2. Transclusion ![[ref]]

MatthiasDec 20, 2021

+1 for sure. This would be a game changer. I feel like being able to reconstruct ideas without changing the source material but linked to it, yet seeing it all in front you would be like taking Zettelkasten to 2.0

Jonathan ClarkJan 30, 2022

My visual representation of this is to use indentation for the 'sub-tasks'. That tells me (but not NotePlan) that there is some relationship. Do you have a specific syntax you'd like to suggest that could do more than this?

Alissa GerhardJan 31, 2022

Jonathan Clark: This works perfect if the tasks are at the same location. However, some projects have a more complicated structure of tasks (e.g., I need to set up features A and B on the first server before I can implement C on a completely different software) I am really unsure about syntax here. maybe hashtag one task, and then have a specific char to "reference a line with that hastag"?

Eduard MetzgerFeb 4, 2022

Thanks for sharing this. Indeed, it's currently a challenge since NotePlan is not inherently an outliner, but a page feature is planned via block references.

Mike EricksonFeb 8, 2022

One of the oldest feature requests around, still waiting for this :-)

Eduard MetzgerMay 12, 2022

Currently working out the details, but in general it works and available in the alpha version (untested) to a handful of users. In the next couple of days the beta will be released on TestFlight (tested). **What will change?** You will be able to copy a synced block from one note to another (or into the same). NotePlan will attach a blockID to that block of text (one paragraph, like one task for example) and any changes you make to that task will be synced across your notes to it's copies. The blockID, rendered as an asterisk symbol, is clickable and you can look up where all the copies are of a particular block.

Eduard MetzgerMay 16, 2022

Beta Available: ➡️ TestFlight (iOS & Mac): https://testflight.apple.com/join/fm9q4OjE ➡️ Mac AppStore: https://noteplan.co/download/NotePlan-3-Beta-785-AppStore.zip ➡️ Setapp AppStore: https://noteplan.co/download/NotePlan-3-Beta-785-Setapp.zip **Synced Blocks** - Added synced blocks as experimental features. You can enable them in the new preference tab "Lab" on iOS and Mac. Synced Blocks allow you to mirror a paragraph, such as a task, across notes. The state and content of all copies will be updated if you modify only one. Here's how you can create a Synced Block: - On Mac: Either drag an item from the references area into your daily note or click on the drag button which appears when you hover over a paragraph inside the editor. - On iOS: Either drag an item from the references area into your daily note or click on the asterisk icon in the toolbar, which will create a Synced Block from the selected paragraph(s). - Tap on the asterisk icon which is added to the text to look up the location of the other copies. Find the full change log here on Discord: https://discord.com/channels/763107030223290449/763108484455071764/975757573057830962

Michael ColacinoMay 30, 2022

I think the line synch feature Eduard just added is great, but it would be even better to have this be block-oriented like Roam, so that anything beneath a heading would also be copyable and synchronzed, as suggested by Andrew. No idea if this is a lot of effort or not, but transclusion is what makes Roam special and the concept of assembling a note from chunks of several others is a powerful knowledge management concept.

Eduard MetzgerJun 15, 2022

Moving it back to 'planned'. The "Synced Line" feature is implemented but not yet the final solution, just a small step towards a final block syncing solution.

Hayden SchmittAug 12, 2022

Please consider adding a shortcut in the next version where you can append the synced line/block to the bottom of another note simply by typing in the [[backlink]] and hitting said shortcut! This would save a few seconds and makes sense if you keep topical notes that you add to from daily notes by transcluding.

nopiDec 29, 2022

For transcluded notes or paragraphs, instead of displaying all the text, an image-like box of a fixed size could leave the parent note more readable. One could click to open it in a separate window at that position, or scroll to see more context if needed.

Jonathan Ragan-KelleyJul 24, 2023

FWIW, while I appreciate synced blocks, I *also* wish I could `![[embed a whole note]]` inside another. It's a separate use case from individual blocks that are mirrored multiple places.

Gopinath KathiresanJul 25, 2023

Eduard Metzger Hope this will be implemented for an entire heading and all contents within it and not just for one task or paragraph. Essentially one heading and its contents can live in both places and we should be able to edit in both places. This is something I have been requesting for 4 years now :-( This will be a gamechanger for my workflow where I have track multiple meeting notes everyday across time.

StefanoJan 20, 2025

Is this still planned? I see it marked as such but there's been no activity in a long time.