# My expectations of "Unlinked References" must be off **URL:** \ **Category:** How To\ **Created:** [August 12, 2020, 3:20am UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/my-expectations-of-unlinked-references-must-be-off/626 "2020-08-12T03:20:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rsperko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce7236/32.png) [@rsperko](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/rsperko)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2020, 3:20am UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/my-expectations-of-unlinked-references-must-be-off/626/1 "2020-08-12T03:20:58Z")
I was really excited to read about “unlinked references”, but have unable to get it to work the way I thought it would. I have a roam note titled “Leadership”. I have another note titled “Ideal Department” which contains the word “Leadership” in text, but not as a link. When I am in the “Leadership” note if I run `org-roam-unlinked-references` I expected to see “Ideal Department”, but the list of unlinked references is empty. What exactly does unlinked references do if not that? I watched the video a while ago, thought that was what it was showing. I assumed there may have been a bug so I let some patches go out. Got caught up in life and tonight tried it again. I am still seeing the same thing. Thanks, -Rick ---
**Author:** ![jethro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5a626/32.png) [@jethro](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/jethro)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2020, 4:41am UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/my-expectations-of-unlinked-references-must-be-off/626/2 "2020-08-12T04:41:29Z")
It should work exactly the way you described it. Do you have ripgrep installed? That is what it uses under the hood. I’ll give it a try again and see if I can reproduce. ---
**Author:** ![rsperko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce7236/32.png) [@rsperko](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/rsperko)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2020, 2:28am UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/my-expectations-of-unlinked-references-must-be-off/626/3 "2020-08-16T02:28:08Z")
Yes, I have ripgrep installed. Using doom-emacs (updated yesterday) on Emacs v 27.1 with org-roam 1.2.1. This is what I am seeing: ![unlinked_ref](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/orgroam/original/1X/8761a9cca5c433b87df1fb6ba3071ee955d59c3e.gif) Thanks, -Rick ---
**Author:** ![jethro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5a626/32.png) [@jethro](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/jethro)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 7:34am UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/my-expectations-of-unlinked-references-must-be-off/626/4 "2020-08-20T07:34:02Z")
It’s working for me: ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/orgroam/original/1X/061b1afb4d96ba63f56d6c73aa5e2257dfe79f18.png) Is your ripgrep compiled with pcre2 support? one way to check if it’s working properly is by running the rg-command in the terminal. You can do `C-h org-roam-unlinked-references`, and navigate to the code. Then, instrument the function with `C-u M-x eval-defun`, and run `org-roam-unlinked-references`. After stepping through the process, you can find the value of `rg-command`, copy it and run it in any terminal. ---
**Author:** ![pereirfe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@pereirfe](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/pereirfe)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 12:05pm UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/my-expectations-of-unlinked-references-must-be-off/626/5 "2021-01-20T12:05:26Z")
I know it is an old topic, but I’ll let it here for future searches. org-roam-unlinked references uses ripgrep and maintainers of ripgrep explicitly don’t recommend installing it through packet manager in ubuntu. Their explanation: > (N.B. Various snaps for ripgrep on Ubuntu are also available, but none of them seem to work right and generate a number of very strange bug reports that I don’t know how to fix and don’t have the time to fix. Therefore, it is no longer a recommended installation option.) For me, although the version of ripgrep seemed correct on terminal, I was having the message about lack of support for ripgrep. It was solved for me when I removed the package through packet manager and reinstalled it through the binary file provided. Cheers!