In Obsidian, unlinked mentions are occurrences of the active note’s name that appear elsewhere in the vault without an internal link. ## What they are Obsidian looks for plain-text matches to the current note’s title in other notes. These appear under **Unlinked mentions** in the Backlinks pane. Example: - Current note title: `Photosynthesis` - Another note says: `Photosynthesis depends on light energy.` - Because that text is not written as `[[Photosynthesis]]`, it can appear as an unlinked mention. If you convert the text to `[[Photosynthesis]]`, it moves from **Unlinked mentions** to **Linked mentions**. ## How they work Unlinked mentions usually depend on the note title matching text elsewhere in the vault. Exact naming and spelling matter. You can view them in the Backlinks pane in the right sidebar. ## Why they help Unlinked mentions help you: - Find references written before you made a dedicated note. - Catch missed opportunities to create internal links. - Turn repeated terms into connected notes. When you hover over an unlinked mention, Obsidian may show a **Link** button so you can convert the plain-text mention into a real internal link.