# Links and mentions

Link to a page or a thing with a mention, or by highlighting your own words.

A mention puts a page or thing in your sentence by name. A linked highlight keeps your own words and colours them. Every page lists what links to it.

![A line with a mention of Priya Shah, in green with a person icon, and the words “the leftover hall tile is enough for the pantry wall” highlighted in lilac, with a project badge in the right margin](img/linked.webp)
*A mention, then a linked highlight with its badge in the margin.*

## Mentions

1. Type `@` (at the start of a line or after a space), or `[[`.
2. Type a few letters of a name. The list shows pages, tagged things and [days](dates.md). Names that start with your letters come first.
3. Press `Enter`, or click one.

![A line ending “@pri” with the Link to menu: Priya Shah #person, then New #task, New #person and New #project “pri”, and New page “pri”](img/mention.webp)
*Typing @ opens the Link to menu.*

If nothing has that name yet, the list offers to make it: *New #person “Priya Shah”* (for your most-used tags), or *New page “…”*. A new tagged thing lives on its own, and the mention points at it.

- A mention is one solid piece. `Backspace` takes it whole.
- It always shows the current name and icon. Rename the page, and every mention changes.
- Click it to go there.

## Linked highlights

Link your own words to a page or a thing, without changing them.

1. Select the words.
2. Press `⌘K`, or click **Link** in the toolbar.
3. Type to find the page or thing. Press `Enter`.

- The words stay as you wrote them. The thing's colour shows behind them.
- A small badge in the right margin shows the thing's tag icon (or its first letter, if the tag has no icon). Click the badge to go there.
- The thing's page lists the passage, with the words around it.
- Paste a web address in the same box to make a web link instead.

To take a link off: select the words, press `⌘K` and pick *Remove link*, or click the pressed Link button in the toolbar. A mention gives back its name as plain words.

## Peek

On a computer, rest the mouse on a mention or a reference for about half a second. A peek opens: the thing itself, not a summary.

- It shows the title, the tags, the fields and the first 8 lines.
- You can edit it right there.
- *Go to page →* opens it in full.
- It stays while the mouse or the caret is in it. `Esc` closes it.

![A peek over the page for Priya Shah: her name, the #person tag, her Company, Phone and Email, and Go to page](img/peek.webp)
*The peek: the thing itself, editable.*

Phones have no peek. A tap goes straight to the page.

## Backlinks

Every page shows what points at it, in three groups:

- **Shown on**: the pages a thing is shown on.
- **Mentioned in**: lines with a mention of it, or words linked to it, with the words around them.
- **Pointed at by a field**: things whose field points at it, such as an Owner.

See it on a thing's page in [Tags and things](tags.md#own-page). Click a row to go to that line. A day page with nothing linked to it hides the section.

Backlinks sit in the right panel, in its **This page** view, beside the page rather than in it. Open the panel with its button at the right end of the band across the top, or `⌘⌥\`. Under each row is where that line lives: its page, its day, or the thing it is inside.

### Dated this day elsewhere

A day page's right panel also lists things whose date field holds that day, such as a task due then. Each row shows the thing's box (for to-dos and tasks), its name, and on the right where it lives; point at a row to see which field and day. A week, month, quarter or year page lists what is dated in it, with the day too. Click a section's heading to fold it.

## Links to things deleted for good

A link to something deleted for good stays in the line. It is drawn grey with its last name: Old plan. Clicking it says “That was deleted for good.” Something in the Trash is not deleted for good; restore it and its links work as before.