Search Operators for LINKS (backlinks, forwardlinks)

[chercavallario]

Use case or problem

It seems that we cannot search for links in Obsidian. In other words, we can’t search for all files that link to a particular file.

For instance we can’t create a graph view or do a regular search that shows what links to all files in a given path. If I’m a project manager and want a graph overview of files that link to the contents of my manufacturing folder, I can’t do that.
Proposed solution
Solution

Create a LINKS: search operator.

    links:path:manufacturing would show all files that link or backlink to files in the manufacturing path
    links:file:manufacturing* would show all files that link or backlink to file names that start with manufacturing
    links:manufacturing would show all files that link or backlink to files that have the word manufacturing in the content
    links:(path:manufacturing AND aluminum) would show all files that link or backlink to files in the manufacturing path and mention the material “aluminum”

It may be useful to differentiate links from backlinks. Possible operators for this might look like:

    linkto:path:manufacturing
    linkfrom:path:manufacturing

Additional search capability like this should provide benefit for Global Search as well as in Graph View.

Note that Obsidian natively does a basic version of this in the backlinks pane. But there, results are limited to only one source file at a time.

    Note, I’m removing the 2nd proposed solution below this line from this Feature request to exercise better (more atomic) forum management. It has been written as its own feature here Add a Depth Slider to Filtered Graph View

Consider it edited out but I’m not deleting it because some related comments have already been made.
Slightly less powerful solution

Satisfies the need, but only within the graph view.

Add a depth slider to the Filter section of the standard Graph View. Note that it would only make sense to activate if there’s a search term that results in a subset of the vault.
Current workaround (optional)

It’s possible to do this on a single file basis by opening a Local Graph. Currently, Local Graph only work for one file at a time.

[Hyzstried]

You can get partway there with Dataview queries that list incoming links using the `file.inlinks` field, though it’s still clunkier than having a real search operator. I’ve been mapping lots of cross-file relationships lately, and adding a LINKS operator would make life way easier. While I was reorganizing my vault, I also used generative engine optimization ideas to keep my notes more findable across different AI tools.