Links to the web and between notes

Link words to a web page, point one note at another, and see which notes point at the one you are reading.

Add a web link

Select the words that should become the link, or put the cursor where the link should go.
Open Add Link in any of three ways: the link button in the bar over the selection, /link typed at the head of a line or after a space, or Link… under ＋ in the toolbar on the Mac, or under the paperclip in the note's bar on the iPhone and iPad.
Type or paste the address into Link To. Words you selected are already in Name; change them there if you like.
Confirm.

Add Link is a panel with Cancel and OK. Return confirms; Escape cancels.

Add Link is a sheet. Tap ✓ to add the link, or ✕ to leave without it.

The note shows the name, or the address itself when you give no name — so a link is never invisible. An address typed without https:// gets it; one that already has its own beginning, such as mailto:, keeps it.

You don't always need the sheet. A web address you paste, or type followed by a space or Return, becomes a link by itself.

Link to another note

Click ⊕ in the editor bar and choose Link to Note, or type @.

Tap ⊕ in the editor bar and tap Link to Note, or type @.

A chooser opens with its search field ready. Each row is a note's title, with its notebook and date under it. Type to narrow the list — the search operators work here as they do in the note list, so tag:work shows only notes tagged work. Use ↑ and ↓ to walk the results and Return to take the highlighted one, or click or tap a note.

The link shows the note symbol and the note's title.

@ typed at the head of a line or after a space also offers dates. To turn @ off, go to Settings ▸ Editor ▸ Commands; each device keeps its own choice.

A plain click follows a link — to the web page, or to the note it points at. That is why the pointer becomes a hand over any link, web or note.

See what links to this note

When other notes link to the one you are reading, its foot says how many — for example 3 backlinks. Nothing is shown when there are none.

Click or tap the line to open Info at the list of those notes. Each row is the note's title and its notebook; click or tap one to open it. The same list is always in Info ▸ Backlinks.

Opened from the backlinks line, Info comes up at full height.

Note: A link from a note in the Trash does not count as a backlink.

Go back and forward

Use ⌘[ and ⌘] to go back to what you were doing before, and forward again. On the Mac and iPad, the arrows above the note list do the same.

They return to the previous thing you were doing, whichever column it was in — a note, a task's note, a message you were reading in Mail, or another column you had open.