More Zetteldeft commands

Backlink: §2020-02-15-1626 Zetteldeft basic commands

Once you are familiar with the basics (§2020-02-15-1626), it’s time to learn some additional commands.

First off, use C-c d . (for zetteldeft-browse) to enter a "follow link loop": select a link to follow with avy, similar to zetteldeft-follow-link but in repeat. Exit the loop with ESC or C-g.

When navigating your Zettelkasten, you might want to open a link in another window. Rather than hitting C-c d f, use C-c d F (which is zetteldeft-avy-file-search-ace-window). It will split the window if you only have one window open, follow the link in the other if you have two windows, or prompt you to pick a window in which to open the destination if you have more than two.

See a tag in a note you’d like to search for? Quickly open a Deft search for it with C-c d t (for zetteldeft-avy-tag-search) and make your choice with avy. Forgotten which tags are in use? Generate an overview of all tags in a new buffer with C-c d T (for zetteldeft-tag-buffer). For more on tags, see §2021-03-29-2226 Tags in Zetteldeft

Because all links are kept in plain text, it can be useful to use Deft to search for an ID (rather than opening the note the ID belongs to). For example, with C-c d c (which calls zetteldeft-search-current-id) you search Deft with the note ID you are currently visiting. This allows you to quickly identify which notes link to the current note.

Let’s say you’ve created a note, but later want to rename it. With C-c d r (or zetteldeft-file-rename) you can. It will even change the #TITLE: declaration at the top of your note (or zetteldeft-title-prefix). What’s more: if you rename an existing note without a Zetteldeft ID in its filename, the rename function will generate one and include it in the new filename. You can use this feature to migrate existing notes into Zetteldeft (but beware of multiple notes with the same ID).

To find dead links in your Zetteldeft notes, call zetteldeft-dead-links-buffer. A new buffer will display links that have no destination.

Finally, you may want to check how many words your Zettelkasten contains, with C-c d x (or zetteldeft-count-words).

But wait, there’s more! For some more advanced Zetteldeft features, hop over to §2020-04-27-2358.