Backlinks

A link points from one note to another; a backlink is that same connection seen from the other end: the list of notes that refer to the current one.

Backlinks are maintained automatically and are read-only from this side. A backlink disappears when the note that created it removes the link; it cannot be deleted from the note being pointed at.

What counts as a backlink#

Any rInternal (reference) links pointing at the current note, which covers two rather different cases:

• Relations that Trilium maintains on your behalf.
  • The most common is internalLink, created whenever a note refers to another one through Internal (reference) links in its text.
  • Embedded images (imageLink), relation map connections (relationMapLink) and note inclusions (includeNoteLink) work the same way.
• Relations you define yourself.
  • If another note carries ~author pointing at the current note, that note is listed here as well.

Relations coming from a Saved Search are excluded, since a search stores an ancestor relation that would otherwise list every one of its results as a backlink.

How entries are displayed#

Each entry names the note the reference comes from, followed by one of:

• An excerpt of the surrounding content, with the link itself highlighted. This is available for Text notes and for AI chat notes. Roughly 200 characters of context are quoted around the link, trimmed with an ellipsis where the surrounding text is longer, and images are left out.
• The name of the relation, for every other note type where the source cannot be quoted. This is the case for Relation Map notes and for any note carrying a relation you defined yourself.

A note is listed once per reference it makes, so a note that links to the current one three times occupies three rows.

Of note:

• For AI chat notes, only the assistant's own prose is quoted. A chat that reached the note purely through tool calls has nothing to quote and is listed by relation name instead.
• Excerpts are only generated for roughly the first 50 sources. On a heavily referenced note, the remaining entries fall back to showing the relation name.

Where backlinks are shown#

• In the Connections tab of the Right Sidebar, as a dedicated section.
• As a badge in the Status bar showing the number of backlinks. The badge only appears when the note is being read normally (not in a revision or attachment view) and when there is at least one backlink; pressing it opens the section above.
• Incoming links are also drawn on the link map, see Note Map (Link map, Tree map).
• On the old layout, backlinks are showed as a dedicated button in the Floating buttons area.