Merge as Alias

Merge one note into another while turning the original note name into an alias and automatically updating all internal links in your vault.

This is especially useful when consolidating duplicate or near-duplicate notes without breaking existing links.

Features

• Adds the source note’s name as an alias to the target note
• Updates every internal link from [[Old Note]] → [[Target Note|Old Note]]
• Merges both content and YAML frontmatter
• Configurable frontmatter merging behavior
• Automatically opens the target note after merging
• Available from the three-dots menu and Command Palette

How to Install (Beta)

1. Install the BRAT plugin from the Obsidian Community Plugins store.
2. Go to Settings → Community plugins → BRAT .
3. Click Add Beta plugin.
4. Paste the following repository URL: https://github.com/quietbyday/obsidian-merge-as-alias
5. Click Add Plugin.
6. Enable "Merge as Alias" in Community plugins.

To update to the latest beta version, go to BRAT and click Check for updates (or restart Obsidian).

Settings

You can configure the merge behavior in Settings → Merge as Alias:

• Merge list fields — Combine arrays (tags, aliases, categories, etc.) without duplicates
• Concatenate text fields — Join string fields when both notes have the same key (e.g. description, summary)
• Text separator — Separator used when concatenating text fields (default: " | ")
• Add separator before merged content — Insert a divider before the appended content
• Content separator text — Custom text shown before merged content

Even when the separator option is disabled, merged content always starts on a new line for clean formatting.

Usage

1. Open the note you want to merge away (source note).
2. Click the three dots menu (or use Command Palette) and select "Merge entire file as alias with...".
3. Choose the target note you want to merge into.
4. The plugin will handle the rest and open the target note when finished.

Planned

• Adopt Obsidian's declarative settings API (getSettingDefinitions()) so settings appear in the settings search on Obsidian 1.13.0+. Deferred for now — the current settings tab works on all supported versions.

Changelog

0.5.2 (Current)

• Raised minimum app version to 1.6.6 to match the processFrontMatter and trashFile APIs used
• Popout-compatible timers now use window.setTimeout() (corrects the activeWindow.setTimeout() shipped in 0.5.1)
• Added build provenance attestation to the release workflow
• Release notes are now generated automatically from this changelog

0.5.1

• Raised minimum app version to 1.6.6 to match the processFrontMatter and trashFile APIs used
• Used activeWindow.setTimeout() for popout window compatibility
• Added build provenance attestation to the release workflow

0.5.0

• Resolved all issues flagged by the Obsidian community plugin validation bot
• Fixed command ID to not duplicate the plugin ID
• Replaced vault.delete() with fileManager.trashFile() to respect user trash preferences
• Improved TypeScript type safety (removed any types)
• UI text and notice strings now consistently use sentence case

0.4.0-beta

• Added Changelog

0.3.0-beta

• Added "Confirm file merge" setting in the options panel
• The confirmation dialog now properly respects "Don't ask again"
• Users can re-enable the confirmation dialog anytime from Settings
• Improved safety before destructive merge operations

0.2.0-beta

• Added confirmation dialog before merging (similar to Obsidian's core merge behavior)
• Minor UI and stability improvements

0.1.0-beta

• Initial beta release
• Core merge functionality with alias creation
• Automatic internal link updating
• Configurable frontmatter merging
• Settings panel

License

MIT License