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An alias is an alternative name for a note. Aliases let you reference the same note using multiple names — useful for acronyms, abbreviations, nicknames, or alternate spellings. For example, you might add AI and Machine learning as aliases for a note titled Artificial intelligence.
If you only want to change how a link looks in one specific place, use display text instead. Aliases are for when you want to reuse the same alternate name throughout your vault.

Add an alias to a note

Add an aliases property to the note’s frontmatter. Aliases must be formatted as a YAML list:
---
aliases:
  - Doggo
  - Woofer
  - Yapper
---

# Dog
You can add as many aliases as you need. Each entry becomes an alternative name you can search for and link to. When you type an internal link with [[, aliases appear in the autocomplete suggestions alongside note titles, marked with a curved arrow icon.
1

Start typing the alias

Type [[ and begin entering the alias name. It appears in the suggestions list.
2

Select the alias

Press Enter to select it.
Obsidian creates the link using the full [[Note title|alias]] format to maintain interoperability with other apps that support Wikilinks:
[[Artificial intelligence|AI]]
Obsidian uses [[Artificial Intelligence|AI]] rather than just [[AI]] to ensure the link resolves correctly in other Wikilink-compatible applications.

Find unlinked mentions for an alias

If other notes mention an alias as plain text without linking to it, you can find those mentions using Backlinks. For example, after setting AI as an alias for Artificial intelligence, the Backlinks panel shows unlinked mentions of AI across your vault. When you link an unlinked mention, Obsidian converts the plain text into an internal link with the alias as the display text:
<!-- Before -->
This note discusses AI in depth.

<!-- After linking the unlinked mention -->
This note discusses [[Artificial intelligence|AI]] in depth.
Aliases appear alongside note titles in the [[ autocomplete suggestions, with a curved arrow icon next to them. Select an alias to create a link using it as the display text.

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