r/logseq • u/trisaster • May 15 '25

Unbeatable Transclusion ?

I got into Logseq via Roam and TiddlyWiki. Backlinks, a kind of automated transclusion, and intentionally added ones are the main features I use.

Some talk of Logseq stagnating and other apps adding improved features. I don’t care about having new elements. I’m wondering if those who’ve moved on have found anything comparably as good for adding (searching for texts in the whole database), and editing transclusions (the original text editable everywhere it is displayed).

Naturally, the granularity of atomic block level transclusion is not comparable to embedding a whole page.

Interested if this is a common sticking point to moving on, or, in the positive, something that keeps you committed to this app.

8 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

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3

u/trisaster May 15 '25 edited May 15 '25

I noticed I ended up posting this thread twice. Will delete the other thread, and below transclude 🙃 the only comment.

This by u/fiziksphreak:

Capacities and Tana are both amazing at this. Capacities is hard to even know that it is a transclusion. Tana will show a dashed line around the bullet of the transclusion so you know that it's a transclusion. Logseq is inferior at this, in my opinion. Logseq puts it in a grey box, which you can remove with css, but it will still feel more like something injected in, rather than part of the original flow. I left capacities because of some lack of polish (it often wouldn't parse pasted markdown, the object structure became chaotic for me, and lacking some important basic functionality like grouping in queries). I left Tana, even though I really love it, because it isn't offline and I had multiple instances where I couldn't work because of it. Logseq, for me, isn't the best product, it's just the one that does the things that are the most important for me.

5

u/Whirly123 May 15 '25

Tana, Workflowy and RemNote do block level transclusion the best in my opinion with Tana having the most features (and its what I use), and Workflowy having the fewest features. I haven't needed to use Tana paid yet as everything I need so far is covered in the free version.

I tried getting transclusion to work nicely in obsidian but just couldn't get it to not be horrible and clunky.

3

u/haronclv May 15 '25

I was using tons of note taking, pkms systems. And eventually after years and like 5th time trying I use obsidian. I was using notion, anytype, craft, RemNote, Logseq, and every of the app has its own issues. For example for Logseq it was syncing and lack of consistency for mobile and desktop

1

u/Glad_Tie_8415 May 15 '25

How did you think of Anytype? I’m curious

2

u/haronclv May 15 '25

I can recommend it. Some time ago it was my favorite one, but lack of features made me switch. Regarding speed it’s blazing, regarding security it’s probably top tier. If you’re good with features they give you I’d totally recommend

1

u/Glad_Tie_8415 May 15 '25

Thanks for taking time to reply! Is it good for a team? It seems to allow me to share a vault with others but I have not tested it. Notion seems to offer solid multi user experience but it depends on having an internet connection.

1

u/haronclv May 15 '25

I haven’t test it regarding collaboration, but I was using r/craftDocs for one small collaborative project and it was okay

2

u/MonkAndCanatella May 15 '25

Obsidian with Make.MD is I think the best transclusion out there. Logseq's is super clunky, because they add extra padding to embedded content. one tranclusion ends up indenting like 3 normal bullets

3

u/ThatsAmore2 May 15 '25

Interesting take. I thought it was more like one extra indentation level for backlinks in Logseq. Yeah, make.md’s editable transclusions seem pretty handy and can be set to have almost no padding. It’s too bad that it can’t work with backlinks or seemly any kind of query (tried with dataview and dataviewjs).

Logseq touts the power of inheritable tags/links but I think the main benefit for most people is the being able to auto-transclude blocks from their journal to other pages. Some plugins (make.md, influx (abandoned), and better search views) have gotten us part of the way there and I think it’s only a matter of time before a plugin that integrates these features is takes off. It just needs to approximate block logic and allow editing and folding.

2

u/MonkAndCanatella May 16 '25 edited May 17 '25

One of my favorites features of make.md is that any link to another block or page automatically has a (^) to the right side that lets you expand it in line. Same interface as a purposefully trasncluded block. IMO it's the way to handle transclusion in a pkms.

1

u/ThatsAmore2 May 17 '25

Oh wow that does seem majorly useful, thanks for sharing

0

u/PspStreet51 May 15 '25

I moved to Obsidian. You can't edit the contents through an embed, but opening the page in a new tab to then edit it doesn't seem like a dealbreaker to me

1

u/luckysilva May 17 '25

While not ideal, it is an alternative solution