How to Use Denote

vkvk17 included in category Learning

2026-03-28 2026-03-28 1114 words 5 minutes

Contents

About

These are casual notes on how to use Denote. Most of the content is translated or adapted directly from the official documentation.

References

Denote documentation

Creating Standard Notes

Commands that prompt the user for input when creating notes include, but are not limited to:

denote
denote-signature
denote-type
denote-date
denote-subdirectory
denote-rename-file
denote-dired-rename-files

The `denote-templates` option

Users can start a new note from a template.

A template can be configured like this:

elisp

(setq denote-templates
      '((report . "* Some heading

* Another heading")
        (memo . "* Some heading

* Another heading)))

A better approach is to use concat to join strings together:

emacs-lisp

(setq denote-templates
      `((report . "* Some heading

* Another heading")
        (memo . ,(concat "* Some heading"
                         "

"
                         "* Another heading"
                         "

"))))

Maintaining separate note-directory silos

The idea of silos means that notes are stored in different places, and those directories are separated from one another. We call these directories silos.

To create a silo, first create a .dir-locals.el file inside the note directory. When creating it, Emacs will ask whether to store this path variable; choose yes.

Write the following into .dir-locals.el:

emacs-lisp

;;; Directory Local Variables.  For more information evaluate:
;;;
;;;     (info "(emacs) Directory Variables")

((nil . ((denote-directory . "/path/to/silo/")
         (denote-infer-keywords . nil))))

Here is my notes directory (01Index is my denote-directory):

bash

./01Index/
├── .DS_Store
├── 20240228T160157--mastering-eshell__emacs_linux_shell.assets
├── 20240228T160157--mastering-eshell__emacs_linux_shell.org
├── 20240315T225352--c语言程序设计现代方法__c.org
├── 20240317T201104--cpp-primer__cpp.org
├── 20240407T230222--西方哲学史__reading.org
└── ltximg
./02Area/
├── .dir-locals.el
├── 20240201T021341--emacs-manual-note__emacs.assets
├── 20240201T021341--emacs-manual-note__emacs.org
├── 20240302T153745--计算机网络原理__network.assets
├── 20240302T153745--计算机网络原理__network.org
├── 20240320T175109--操作系统__operatingsystem.assets
├── 20240320T175109--操作系统__operatingsystem.org
├── 20240328T141613--计算机系统结构__computerarchitecture.assets
└── 20240328T141613--计算机系统结构__computerarchitecture.org
./03Resource/
├── .dir-locals.el
├── 20240221T162109--kde-plasma-桌面-korganizer-等软件关闭后仍然占用约-800-m-内存__bug_kde.assets
├── 20240221T162109--kde-plasma-桌面-korganizer-等软件关闭后仍然占用约-800-m-内存__bug_kde.org
└── 20240222T000349--opensuse-tumbleweed-和-kde-的个人安装过程__kde_linux_opensuse.org
./04Project/
├── .dir-locals.el
└── 20240417T220159--denote-使用方法__emacs.org

After that, we still need a custom user command that selects the silo automatically. In normal use, denote will put notes into 01Index by default. When we switch to 02Area, Denote-related commands will automatically store notes in the current silo.

My user configuration is as follows:

emacs-lisp

(defvar my-denote-silo-directories
    `("/home/MEGA/02Area"
      "/home/MEGA/03Resource"
      "/home/MEGA/04Project"
      ;; You don't actually need to include the `denote-directory' here
      ;; if you use the regular commands in their global context.  I am
      ;; including it for completeness.
      ,denote-directory)
    "List of file paths pointing to my Denote silos.
  This is a list of strings.")

  (defvar my-denote-commands-for-silos
    '(denote
      denote-date
      denote-subdirectory
      denote-template
      denote-type)
    "List of Denote commands to call after selecting a silo.
  This is a list of symbols that specify the note-creating
  interactive functions that Denote provides.")

  (defun my-denote-pick-silo-then-command (silo command)
    "Select SILO and run Denote COMMAND in it.
  SILO is a file path from `my-denote-silo-directories', while
  COMMAND is one among `my-denote-commands-for-silos'."
    (interactive
     (list (completing-read "Select a silo: " my-denote-silo-directories nil t)
           (intern (completing-read
                    "Run command in silo: "
                    my-denote-commands-for-silos nil t))))
    (let ((denote-directory silo))
      (call-interactively command)))

The implementation of silos is not especially elegant. It is a relatively new feature, so for now we can only make do with it. I think the author should probably integrate this distributed-repository concept into the configuration around denote-directory.

After all, I cannot always put all notes in one folder, and always using denote-subdirectory is not a great solution either.

Note File Naming Convention

Notes are stored in denote-directory, which defaults to ~/Documents/notes.

By default, Denote follows this naming convention:

text

DATE==SIGNATURE--TITLE__KEYWORDS.EXTENSION

The DATE field represents the date in year-month-day format, followed by an uppercase T for the current time. DATE also serves as the unique identifier of each note file.

The SIGNATURE field contains an alphanumeric string. A signature has no predefined purpose; it is defined by the user. One possible use is to establish ordering relationships between files, such as 1, 1a, 1b, 1b1, 1b2, and so on.

The TITLE field is lowercase by default and uses hyphens.

The KEYWORDS field consists of one or more entries separated by underscores; when entering KEYWORDS, use commas as separators.

Examples:

text

20220610T043241--initial-thoughts-on-the-zettelkasten-method__notetaking.org
20220610T062201--define-custom-org-hyperlink-type__denote_emacs_package.md
20220610T162327--on-hierarchy-and-taxis__notetaking_philosophy.txt

denote-prompts can be configured in the following forms:

text

DATE.EXT
DATE--TITLE.EXT
DATE__KEYWORDS.EXT
DATE==SIGNATURE.EXT
DATE==SIGNATURE--TITLE.EXT
DATE==SIGNATURE--TITLE__KEYWORDS.EXT
DATE==SIGNATURE__KEYWORDS.EXT

Linking Notes

denote provides several commands for creating links between notes.

All linked files must be Denote files; other files cannot be recognized.

Adding a single link

The denote-link command selects a file in the minibuffer and inserts it into the current file as a link. The link format depends on whether the current file is Org or Markdown.

In Org files, links to headings are also supported through the denote-org-store-link-to-heading command. Other file formats are not supported.

When denote-link is called with a prefix argument (C-u by default), it sets the link to the [[denote:IDENTIFIER]] format regardless of file type.

By default, the link description is determined as follows:

The `denote-org-store-link-to-heading` user option

The option denote-org-store-link-to-heading determines whether org-store-link links to the current heading in an Org file.

org-store stores the current link so it can later be inserted with org-insert-link, and the denote-org-store-link-to-heading option affects this command.

When this option is non-nil, org-store-link stores the link to the current heading instead of the Denote file itself.

If the heading does not have a CUSTOM_ID, Denote creates a PROPERTIES drawer and includes it in the heading. If a CUSTOM_ID already exists, org-store-link uses it as is.

Inserting a link to a heading inside an Org file

As part of the denote-org-extras.el extension, denote-org-extras-link-to-heading provides links to headings inside Org files.

The link takes this form:

text

[[denote:IDENTIFIER::#ORG-HEADING-CUSTOM-ID]][Description::Heading text]]

Inserting links that match a regular expression

The command denote-add-links adds multiple links that match a regular expression. These links are inserted as a list, for example:

text

- link1
- link2
- link3

Examples of usable regular expressions:

journal matches all notes whose title contains journal.
_journal matches all notes whose keyword is journal.
^2022.*_journal matches all notes that start with 2022 and contain the keyword journal.
\.txt matches files with the txt extension.

Linking to an existing note or creating a new one

In a note-taking workflow, you may be developing one topic and want to connect it to another. Denote provides several convenient commands:

denote-link-after-creating

Create a new note in the background and link to it directly.
denote-link-after-creating-with-command

This command is similar to the previous one, but it prompts for the command used to create the note.
denote-link-or-create

Use denote-link on the target file, creating it if necessary.

The backlinks buffer

denote-backlinks generates a custom buffer that shows backlinks to the current note. A backlink is a link that points back to the current entry.

By default, the backlinks buffer is designed to show the names of files that contain annotations linked to the current entry. Each file name is displayed on its own line.

text

Backlinks to "On being honest" (20220614T130812)
------------------------------------------------

20220614T145606--let-this-glance-become-a-stare__journal.txt
20220616T182958--feeling-butterflies-in-your-stomach__journal.txtx

The backlinks buffer uses Emacs’ built-in Xref infrastructure. On some operating systems, users may need to add certain executables to the relevant environment variables.

How to Use Denote

About

References

Creating Standard Notes

The denote-templates option

Maintaining separate note-directory silos

Note File Naming Convention

Linking Notes

Adding a single link

The denote-org-store-link-to-heading user option

Inserting a link to a heading inside an Org file

Inserting links that match a regular expression

Linking to an existing note or creating a new one

The backlinks buffer

The `denote-templates` option

The `denote-org-store-link-to-heading` user option