Obsidian Quick Tip: Use SHIFT+Enter to skip autocomplete on links
With the Obsidian 1.3.5 update, the Obsidian dev team added a shortcut to quickly skip the autocomplete when inserting a link.
Although seemingly insignificant, it is one of those small details that can enhance your efficiency when working and help you maintain your flow.
It can be handy to manually type in a link for a document that hasn’t been created yet, especially when the autocomplete feature suggests links based on existing documents. In certain situations, it’s more efficient to simply type the link and continue with the sentence.
Let's review how we have done this up till now and how we can now do it even faster with the 1.3.5.
What we did up until now
The image below demonstrates what happens when you initiate a link with [[ and begin typing. As can be seen, an autocomplete list pops up, allowing you to select a document to link to.
However, there may be instances where you'd like to create a link as you're typing and not selecting a document from autocomplete. In such cases, press ESCAPE to close the autocomplete, then use the right arrow key to finalize the link.
It’s not a challenging task, but it does involve a couple of additional keystrokes. Moreover, depending on the length of the link, exiting the autocomplete may occasionally lead to awkward keyboard maneuvering.
In my example scenario as shown in the image, I wanted to create a link called recipe but had to deal with the fact that another document already in my vault has recipe in its title.
What we can do now
With the latest Obsidian update, this process has become faster. To create a new link, simply type the desired name preceded by [[. When finished, press SHIFT+Enter, as shown in the image below:
When your press SHIFT+Enter, Obsidian closes autocomplete popup, adds the closing ]] to the end of the link, and leaves your cursor there at the end.
Simple, but faster!
Summary
Obsidian 1.3.5 adds a convenience shortcut to working with links. Use SHIFT+Enter when creating a link to quickly bypass the autocomplete and finish the link.
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