# Referencing to an item in other org file

**URL:** <https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/referencing-to-an-item-in-other-org-file/3530>\
**Category:** How To\
**Created:** [July 20, 2024, 4:38am UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/referencing-to-an-item-in-other-org-file/3530 "2024-07-20T04:38:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8c91f0/32.png) [@ali](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/ali)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 4:38am UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/referencing-to-an-item-in-other-org-file/3530/1 "2024-07-20T04:38:31Z")

</div>

Hi all,

I have two Org mode files, and I want to create a link in file B that points to a specific item in file A. How can I achieve this?

```auto
# B.org

* Test
   - <link to item 1 in file A.org>

```

```auto
# A.org

* Intro
** Subsection 1
   - <<item1>> that I want to create a link to it

```

I can achieve this by using `C-c l` in file A on item 1 and `C-c C-l` in file B. However, the created link always uses the `file:` format, but I need it to use the `id:` format. When I use `id:<doc-uuid>::item1`, I get an error saying “Cannot find entry with ID …”.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [July 22, 2024, 12:58pm UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/referencing-to-an-item-in-other-org-file/3530/2 "2024-07-22T12:58:14Z")

</div>

`id:<doc-uuid>::item1`  
– Appending a `::SEARCH-WORD` to the ID is not supported in the biult-in Org-ID, which Org-roam leverages.

See [these lines of code](https://github.com/doomemacs/doomemacs/blob/master/modules/lang/org/config.el#L632-L633) from Doom Emacs. They add some custom way to achieve something like this – I am not sure if this is compatible with Org-roam’s database update.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dmg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5e9695/32.png) [@dmg](https://org-roam.discourse.group/u/dmg)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://org-roam.discourse.group/t/referencing-to-an-item-in-other-org-file/3530/3 "2024-07-23T20:13:15Z")

</div>

I would posit that if you need to link to an “item” in a list, you should give this item an ID. It is sufficiently important to be linked to.

The issue is that org-roam does not allow items to have ids, only headers.

So your only option is to turn this list into a sequence of subheaders (even if they have nothing inside each).