Table of Contents

Problem

Org-roam’s completion at point functionality is fantastic in Emacs, offering a swift and seamless alternative to the note insert binding and buffer.

I frequently utilize this feature while journaling, especially when jotting down notes about people in my life.

[[id:{UUID}][Chloe]] and I went on a walk…

However, this approach is cumbersome on mobile devices. I don’t remember the UUID, and even if I did, the org wiki link itself - [[link][text]] - is tedious to type out on mobile.

While I could replace those note IDs with something more convenient and memorable, typing the wiki links themselves remains cumbersome.

My objective was to find a solution that feels natural and swift on mobile devices while maintaining the continuity of the link references when I return to Emacs.

Solution: iOS Text Replacement

Text replacement example

I use iOS’s native “text replacement” functionality to solve this problem. By typing //chloe, it will automatically expand to [[id:fad72232-8a9c-4ed8-bc0c-fae789ad6150][Chloe]]!

To set this up on iOS, search for “Text Replacement” and then add a new entry:

  • Phrase: This is the output value, which is what is expanded to.
  • Shortcut: This is the input value that triggers the phrase expansion above.

In my “Chloe” example above, the configuration is:

  • Phrase: [[id:fad72232-8a9c-4ed8-bc0c-fae789ad6150][Chloe]]
  • Shortcut: //chloe

Therefore, whenever I want to refer to my wife’s note, it’s a fluent //chloe and I continue writing.

I hope this helps! 👏