# \`org-roam-node-insert\` sometiems creates unwanted PROPERTIES drawer

**URL:** <https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/org-roam-node-insert-sometiems-creates-unwanted-properties-drawer/3740>\
**Category:** Troubleshooting\
**Created:** [February 7, 2025, 9:41pm UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/org-roam-node-insert-sometiems-creates-unwanted-properties-drawer/3740 "2025-02-07T21:41:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![JeffBrown](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/org-roam.discourse.group/jeffbrown/32/254_2.png) [@JeffBrown](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/JeffBrown)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2025, 9:41pm UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/org-roam-node-insert-sometiems-creates-unwanted-properties-drawer/3740/1 "2025-02-07T21:41:36Z")

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Suppose I am a file called Original, and I highlight some text (the word “New”, let’s say) and run `org-roam-node-insert`. Sometimes it does what I want, sometimes not.

It behaves exactly as I would like if `New` already matches the title of a node.

But suppose the node New does not yet exist. In that case, org-roam creates a new file called [new.org](http://new.org), with a new ID, and the text I had highlighted becomes a link to the new file. So far so good. But org-roam also inserts an (almost always) useless PROPERTIES drawer in the Original file. The only data it contains is an ID that nothing links to. Every time it does that, I have to delete the PROPERTIES drawer.

Does it do that for everybody? How can I prevent it?

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**Author:** ![nobiot](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/org-roam.discourse.group/nobiot/32/159_2.png) [@nobiot](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/nobiot)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 3:30pm UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/org-roam-node-insert-sometiems-creates-unwanted-properties-drawer/3740/2 "2025-02-08T15:30:44Z")

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I suspect this is related to user option `org-id-link-to-org-use-id`.

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**Author:** ![nobiot](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/org-roam.discourse.group/nobiot/32/159_2.png) [@nobiot](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/nobiot)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 10:37pm UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/org-roam-node-insert-sometiems-creates-unwanted-properties-drawer/3740/3 "2025-02-08T22:37:28Z")

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And I cannot reproduce the issue … not sure what “useless drawer” looks like but I don’t see anything odd on my end.

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**Author:** ![agibragimov](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/org-roam.discourse.group/agibragimov/32/589_2.png) [@agibragimov](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/agibragimov)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2025, 4:52pm UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/org-roam-node-insert-sometiems-creates-unwanted-properties-drawer/3740/4 "2025-02-11T16:52:04Z")

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@JeffBrown you probably need to use the built-in Emacs Profiler. In case you’ve never done that - it’s not that difficult. You just need to start it, repeat actions you’re trying to investigate, stop it and check the report. If you use Doom, it adds a simple function to toggle it on and off, running it for both mem and cpu. I personally prefer the former - for some reason, it shows more data. If you don’t use Doom, you can add the command - it’s tiny, yet very useful.

```lisp
(defvar doom--profiler nil)

(defun doom/toggle-profiler ()
  "Toggle the Emacs profiler. Run it again to see the profiling report."
  (interactive)
  (if (not doom--profiler)
      (profiler-start 'cpu+mem)
    (profiler-report)
    (profiler-stop))
  (setq doom--profiler (not doom--profiler)))

```

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**Author:** ![akashp](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/org-roam.discourse.group/akashp/32/1383_2.png) [@akashp](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/akashp)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 10:07am UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/org-roam-node-insert-sometiems-creates-unwanted-properties-drawer/3740/5 "2025-02-12T10:07:57Z")

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Please show us what the drawer created is, without seeing it, it is not possible to suggest anything.

Thanks.

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**Author:** ![dustinfarris](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/org-roam.discourse.group/dustinfarris/32/1055_2.png) [@dustinfarris](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/dustinfarris)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 1:26am UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/org-roam-node-insert-sometiems-creates-unwanted-properties-drawer/3740/6 "2025-02-18T01:26:34Z")

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Are you in an org roam node when you highlight “New”?

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**Author:** ![JeffBrown](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/org-roam.discourse.group/jeffbrown/32/254_2.png) [@JeffBrown](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/JeffBrown)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 8:51pm UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/org-roam-node-insert-sometiems-creates-unwanted-properties-drawer/3740/7 "2025-02-18T20:51:32Z")

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Thanks, @nobiot! Indeed, I was setting `org-id-link-to-org-use-id` to `t`. Setting that to nil did the trick. (First I tried simply deleting any mention of it, but it respawned like a zombie in `custom-set-variables`.)

And thanks to everybody for responding so much faster than I was able to reply to …