{{tag>howto}}

====== Custom word set for autocomplete in Geany  ======


This is a super simple guide to customizing the Geany. Here we go over adding your custom word set to a tags file so that they show up in the autocomplete. 

====Step 1====
First of all create a tags file as below and save it as <wrap hi>filetype.filetype.tags</wrap> - for eg: I saved mine as <wrap hi>txt.txt.tags</wrap> in <wrap em>~/.config/geany/tags/</wrap> directory. 
  * **Note:** For Windows: "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\geany\tags\txt.txt.tags"

Format for the tags file is as below.
<code>
# format=pipe 
alpha||| 
omega||| 
gamma||| 
delta||| 
</code> 

====Step 2====
Then modify the <wrap hi>~/.config/geany/filetype_extensions.conf</wrap> as below and add the new extension as needed to [Extensions] and if you wish add the type of file to [Groups]. 
That is where it will show in the menu.
  * **Note:** For Windows: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Geany\data\filetype_extensions.conf"

<code>
[Extensions]
...
txt=*.txt;

[Groups]
...
Misc=JSON;txt;
</code>


====Step 3====
Copy a system file from global directory: For eg:
<wrap hi>cp /usr/share/geany/filetypes.css ~/.config/geany/filedefs/filetypes.txt.conf</wrap>
  * **Note:** For Windows(within admin cmd): <code>copy "C:\Program Files (x86)\Geany\data\filedefs\filetypes.css" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Geany\data\filedefs\filetypes.txt.conf"</code>

Now we need to modify this to declare and setup new file type. In my case I created a simple <wrap hi>text/plain</wrap> type. But you can choose your custom type. 
<code>
[styling]
default=default
.....
[keywords]

[settings]
extension=txt
tag_parser=COBOL 

# MIME type
mime_type=text/plain
[indentation]
</code>


Did you notice that overall all we did was create a tags file with our custom words, then created a new file type and declared it's extension and tag_parser etc. 
Also note that I used tag_parser as COBOL even though my text has nothing to do with <wrap hi>COBOL</wrap>. 
It is because of a limitation in the tags parsing in Geany. 
I was stumped here but thanks to the open source culture, Colomban on the Geany mailing list suggested to use any unused tag_parser to the [settings].

Once all this is done, close the Geany and reopen.
  * **Note:** For Windows: After restarting Geany if any *.txt were auto loaded from a previous session, you will need to close and reopen these files in order for the autocomplete to work.

If you start Geany from command line as "geany -v", you should see the following or something similar.
<wrap em>Geany-INFO: Loaded /home/myuser/.config/geany/tags/txt.txt.tags (txt), 342 symbol(s).</wrap>

Have fun.
Sree