NotePlan Backlinks

This script automates the creation of backlinks between NotePlan notes (including calendar entries).

Disclaimer: I take absolutely no responsibility for any data loss. I assume you have backups, and know that running random code from the internet against your valuable data is generally considered a bad idea. Having said that, I use this with my own data and it seems to work 🤞

Usage

• Download the backlinks.rb file somewhere to your disk
• Open a Terminal, and run ruby backlinks.rb

Alternatively, you can save this code as ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/NotePlan 2/Update Backlinks.scpt (adjusting the path to your ruby binary and to your backlinks.rb file):

tell application "NotePlan"
  do shell script "LC_CTYPE='en_US.UTF-8' ruby /path/to/backlinks.rb"
end tell

Then, enable the Scripts Menu in Script Editor › Preferences › General. You’ll now have something like this on your main menu, and updating the backlinks will only take you two clicks:

Customization

Formatting

By default, backlinks will be added at the end of your notes, with this format:

♻︎ Backlinks
- [[Link One]]
- [[Link Two]]
- [[Link Three]]
♻︎ Backlinks

To change it, edit the BACKLINKS_MARKER constant in the first line of backlinks.rb

The script assumes your Notes are synced using iCloud. If you're using Dropbox, you'll want to adjust the path in PATH_TO_NOTEPLAN.

Exclude Pages

If you want to stop backlinks from appearing on some pages, you can add them to the list of excluded pages. To do that, open backlinks.rb and add the page name to the EXCLUDE_PAGES array at the top.

Changelog

• 2020-05-25: Added support for exclude pages: a list of pages you don't want to add Backlinks to
• 2020-05-24: The script now displays the line where a link appears on the source page, so you have some context for your backlinks
• 2020-05-15: Added support for Calendar notes

Roadmap

• Option to remove backlinks from all notes
• Read Backlinks template from a NotePlan note (this was something VoodooPad did, and I think it's brilliant)
• Update script remotely? This may not be worth the trouble of implementing, but on the other hand it would be nice to know if you're running an outdated version…