With the Backlinks plugin, you can see all the _backlinks_ for the active note. A backlink for a note is a link from another note to that note. In the following example, the "Three laws of motion" note contains a link to the "Isaac Newton" note. The corresponding backlink would link from "Isaac Newton" back to "Three laws of motion". ```mermaid flowchart LR laws((Three laws of motion)) newton((Isaac Newton)) laws --link--> newton newton --backlink--> laws ``` Backlinks can be useful to find notes that reference the note you're writing. Just imagine if you could list the backlinks for any website on the internet. ## Show backlinks The Backlinks plugin displays the backlinks for the active tabs. There are two collapsible sections: **Linked mentions** and **Unlinked mentions**. - **Linked mentions** are backlinks to the notes that contain an internal link to the active note. - **Unlinked mentions** are backlinks to any unlinked occurrence of the name of the active note. It provides the following options: - **Collapse results** toggles whether to expand each note to display the mentions in it. - **Show more context** toggles whether to truncate or display the full paragraph that contains the mention. - **Change sort order** determines how to sort the mentions. - **Show search filter** toggles a text field that lets you filter the mentions. For more information on how to build a search term, refer to [[Search]]. ## View backlinks for a note To view the backlinks for the active note, click the **Backlinks** ( ![[obsidian-links-coming-in.svg#icon]] ) tab in the right sidebar. > [!note] > If you can't see the Backlinks tab, you can make it visible by opening the [[Command palette]] and running the **Backlinks: Show backlinks** command. ## See backlinks of a specific note The backlinks tab lists backlinks for the active note and updates when you switch to a different note. If you want to see the backlinks for a specific note, regardless of whether it's active or note, you can open a _linked_ backlinks tab. To open a linked backlinks tab: 1. Open the [[Command palette]]. 2. Select **Backlinks: Open backlinks for the current note**. A separate tab opens next to your active note. The tab shows a link icon to let you know it's linked to a note. ## Show backlinks in a note Instead of showing the backlinks in a separate tab, you can show the backlinks at the bottom of your note. To show backlinks in a note: 1. Open the [[Command palette]]. 2. Select **Backlinks: Toggle backlinks in document**. Or, enable **Backlink in document** under the Backlinks plugin options to automatically toggle backlinks when you open a new note.