UUID stands for "Universally Unique IDentifier". This allows each note to have an automatically generated unique label at creation. # Notability > Their uniqueness does not depend on a central registration authority or coordination between the parties generating them, unlike most other numbering schemes. While the probability that a UUID will be duplicated is not zero, it is generally considered close enough to zero to be negligible. I'm using UUIDs for a couple of interesting things in [[Obsidian Editor]]: - [[Soft Links]] in local Obsidian (since [[2023-04-26]]) - Permalinks in Obsidian Publish (since [[2023-09-11]]) # Soft Links [[Soft Links]] are a technique for referencing other notes without creating connections between them visible in the backlinks or graph. # Permalinks Permalinks as defined in a note's frontmatter are the canonical URL for a given note in Obsidian Publish. All other URLs from aliases or location paths will redirect to the permalink URL. While not the most aesthetic or search engine optimized way to generate a URL, it is the most reliable. It means that notes always have a permalink at creation time and are immune to issues caused by renaming, moving, or otherwise reorganizing notes - so long as the file is not deleted. And even then, if two files are merged, the UUID can be placed into the other note's aliases list. Another thing that can be done is moving the permalink to the aliases list in the note, if a friendlier permalink is desired. That way the UUID is still live and will redirect to the new URL. # See Also - [[Soft Links]] - [UUID](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Universally_unique_identifier) on Wikipedia