Getting started with Smart Connections

Install Smart Connections. Then use the note already in view to surface related notes without writing a search query.

Still deciding whether Smart Connections fits your workflow? Start with the Smart Connections overview.

Use this when

Use Connections when a note is already open. Use it to find earlier work, reconstruct a decision, or identify relevant missing material.

For example, Connections might surface a meeting note while you draft a project brief. Preview the result. Recover the earlier decision. Then drag the useful source into the draft to preserve the link.

Quick Start

Before you start

• Install Smart Connections from Obsidian Community Plugins. Enable it.
• Open a note with meaningful text: a project note, meeting note, draft, research note, or decision note.
• If Smart Environment is not loaded, select Load Smart Environment. Continue when the status view shows Smart Environment ready or Ready.

Check the edition label. Then follow the row action to finish activation. Active means that the plugin is loaded. The workflow is complete only after a useful result appears.

Open the Connections view

1. Open the note you are actively working on.
2. Open the Command Palette.
3. Run the command for your installed edition:
   • Core: Smart Connections: Open: Connections view
   • Pro: Smart Connections Pro: Open: Connections view
4. Leave auto-refresh running. When it is active, the menu offers Pause auto-refresh.
5. Make sure that ranked results appear beside the note.

The image shows the Pro command. Core uses the same Open: Connections view command under the Smart Connections prefix.

The ribbon action opens the same Connections view when it is available. See Open the Connections view for the current entry points and auto-refresh and fixed-target behavior.

Find one useful related note

Look for ranked rows with readable source identities and relative scores. When the Pro Graph + List component is selected, a mini graph appears above the list. Its lines are exploratory signals, not authored links.

With Landing Page Messaging as the target, Beta Reader Feedback appears near the top of the result list. Review the source before using it.

Continue with how to read result rows and how the mini graph works.

1. Scan the first few results in the Connections view.
2. Expand one promising result to inspect its contents.
3. Open the source when the excerpt is not enough to judge the relationship.

See Read result rows, Expand a result, and Hover preview for more detail.

Review one source without losing the anchor

Expand a row or use Hover Preview when a quick inspection is enough. To open a source while keeping the original result set visible, choose Pause auto-refresh first. During normal note-to-note work, leave auto-refresh running.

After opening the candidate, check that the Connections target still names the starting note. The open note and the preserved target should be different. Treat the displayed score as a relative ranking signal, not a probability or quality judgment.

Beta Reader Feedback is open in the editor while Landing Page Messaging remains the fixed Connections target.

In this example, Landing Page Messaging remains the fixed target while Beta Reader Feedback opens for review. The source supports a bounded decision: keep the page concrete, avoid exaggerated claims, and write for a working consultant rather than a generic course audience.

Connections surfaced the source. The reviewer decides whether to change the landing page. Connections did not write or independently validate the source.

Use the result

After you review the source, complete the loop with one of these actions:

• Write the useful conclusion in your own words.
• Drag the result into the destination note to create an Obsidian link.
• Keep the source open for closer review.

Connections does not change the note for you.

Preview the matching passage first. Add an Obsidian link only when the relationship belongs in the note.

See Drag a result into a note when the relationship should become a durable link.

Open another Connections surface

Complete the Connections view workflow first. Then choose another surface when its placement fits the work.

Inline connections

Inline Connections uses the nearby passage as its anchor and shows the matching line range, source names, and relative scores.

Continue with the Inline connections guide.

Footer connections

Footer Connections appears at the end of the note. Expand a result to inspect its contents before opening or linking it.

Continue with the Footer behavior and recovery reference.

Connections in Bases

After choosing Landing Page Messaging as the reference, the same five Base rows receive relative relevance values.

If useful results do not appear (troubleshooting)

1. Try a richer note

Open a different note with more meaningful text. Then reopen Connections.

Empty or very short notes often provide too little material for useful results.

2. Verify the active note

If a substantive note still produces no results:

1. Open Smart Environment settings.
2. Make sure that the note's path is inside the intended source scope.
3. Make sure that no exclusion removes the note.
4. Update the source or exclusion setting.
5. Reopen Connections for the same note.

See Troubleshoot empty or stale results for the full recovery sequence, including the Inspect active note route.

3. Verify vault coverage

If several substantive notes produce no results:

Notice Needs embedding and the Sources and Blocks coverage cards. Finish preparation before changing Connections Pro ranking settings.

Open Environment stats through one of these paths:

• Right-click the Smart Connections status-bar item. Select Show stats.
• Open the status view. Select Environment stats.

Compare Eligible, Current embeddings, Needs embedding, and the Smart Sources/Smart Blocks collection cards.

Eligible items should be current before retrieval is treated as ready. If Needs embedding remains non-zero or a collection is incomplete, allow preparation to finish or review:

• Smart Milestones
• Smart Environment settings

When eligible coverage is current, reopen Connections from a meaningful note. Preview one result.

Choose the right starting point

Connections is for current-note discovery, not every search job.

Use Smart Lookup when you are starting from a question instead of the current note.

Make it routine

For the lowest-friction routine, leave the Connections view open beside your notes while you work.

Return to it whenever the note in view makes you:

• search for earlier work
• reconstruct prior reasoning or a decision
• wonder what relevant material is missing

Repeat the same loop:

1. Open or return to Connections.
2. Preview one promising result.
3. Apply one useful result to the work already in progress.

Before moving on, use one useful result to change the note, decision, or next action.

Continue from here

Once you can repeat the loop above: