Referencing is what makes Hypernotes so special. It's what enables you to build a true network of your knowledge using bi-directional links, auto-suggesting relevant pages, allowing you to link pages or blocks mid-sentence, and view it all in the knowledge graph. 



Adding a reference in-line

There are several ways to add a reference to another page or block while you're writing a note.


Using the quick command menu

You can type / to open the quick command menu and select "Page reference" or "Block reference" from the list:



Doing so will create either square brackets or circular brackets, with the cursor between them. It will suggest pages or blocks that match what you type:


You can either finish typing, or select one of the results. Hit enter to add the reference and begin typing the rest of your note normally again. Your reference will appear as a blue linked text in the note:



Using typed shortcuts

Instead of typing / then choosing the reference type from the menu, you can simply type the square or round brackets, or the # symbol to add your reference.

  • The square bracket shortcut - [[]] - allows you to start typing to search for the name of a page. Type "Enter" to add the selected reference.
  • The hashtag - # - does a similar thing, but it's more helpful for pages with shorter names, or if you're using a tagging system.
  • Circular brackets - (()) - allow you to reference an entire block.


Changing the link text using an alias

When adding a reference in this manner, the text used for the reference will be the exact name of the note you're referencing, or the exact content of the block you're referencing. Sometimes this doesn't flow in the sentence you're trying to write, or you want to change the way it appears on the page. You can do this by creating an alias (or change the "anchor text", for those more used to web editing).


To create an alias for your reference, add single brackets - () - directly behind a reference and type the text you want displayed instead into them. For example:

  • #Sun(sunny) will link to the page "Sun" but will be displayed as "sunny". 
  • [[Link Text]](the linked text) will link to the page "Link Text" but will appear as "the linked text" in your sentence.
  • ((The weather this week will be mostly sunny))(Weather Report) will appear as "Weather Report" in your text but link to the block "The weather this week will be mostly sunny".

Just like normal references, aliases are shown with blue text to indicate a link.


Creating a new page

When using references, whether creating them from the quick command menu or typing them out with square brackets or hashtags, it's important to note that you can also create a new page (rather than just selecting an existing page).


If no page exists in your notebook that matches what you've typed inside the brackets, then a new one will be created once you hit "Enter". The new page's title will be exactly the same as what you type inside the square brackets.


Automated referencing through page mentions

If you've referenced a lot throughout your notebook, you'll notice a "Mentions" section at the bottom of most of your pages. The page mentions show you which pages mention the name of your page somewhere within their text (using a reference, as described above).



Mentioned in

To view the mentions, click where it says "Mentioned in". It will show you the title of the page in small gray lettering at the top, followed by the block within the page where your currently open page is explicitly mentioned.


Mentions like this appear when your page has been explicitly referenced using a # or [[]] syntax. On the source page, you will be able to click a link to be taken to the referenced page.


Unlinked mentions in

There may also be a section called "Unlinked mentions", which collects pages that contain a phrase that matches your page title exactly, but have not explicitly been referenced.



To connect these references individually, click the icon that looks like two linked squares, shown in the top right of the mention:

To connect all unlinked mentions, click "Connect all", shown on the top right of the unlinked mentions section. These will then appear in the "Mentions" section. Connecting these pages will also cause the green highlighted text to become a link to the page. 


Any time you add a new page that contains the name of your currently open note, the new page will be added as an unlinked mention.


Adding references in the knowledge graph

You can also use the knowledge graph to link notes with one another. Linking pages in this way will cause them to appear in the mentions section of the linked pages, even though no text inside each of the pages directly references or mentions the other page.


To add a reference from the knowledge graph, hover over a node, then click on the blue dot that appears to the top of it and drag it to the node representing the page you want to reference and drop it there.



You can also create a new page in this manner. Either click on the blue dot, or click and drag it out then let go. A box will pop up asking you to "Find or create page".