In the zettelkasten method (Zettelkasten method of note taking), each note is associated with a unique ID number. This ID is used as a searchable plaintext hyperlink, and is placed anywhere you would like to create a reference/link.

It's based on a timestamp YYYYMMDDHHmm, and sometimes adding ss to the end if needed. This guarantees that it is always unique to the current time, is human readable/parsable, and also includes the time the note/reference was created. That additional metadata can be useful at times.

If used as an anchor (the place to link to), it is left as an open ID. If used as a link to an anchor, it is surrounded by two square brackets - for example Unique IDs Make Notes Easy to Find.

• It is placed in the title of every note
  • **202007070939 Note title.md**
• It's used in citations
  • [[202007070939]] Note title
• If there is a location within a note, I can create an anchor by prefacing it with a § symbol
  • ``
• When linking to a subsection, there are two links back to back
  • -[[202007070939]] Note title

Only the ID is enclosed in the square brackets, because that is the only part of the link that is guaranteed to be completely unique. Note titles can change over time, as well as not always needing to be included in the reference.

Citations

• One Page Designs

#toolong