15.1 Completion

Emacs would not be Emacs without completion, and Org-mode uses it whenever it makes sense. If you prefer an iswitchb- or ido-like interface for some of the completion prompts, you can specify your preference by setting at most one of the variables org-completion-use-iswitchb org-completion-use-ido.

Org supports in-buffer completion. This type of completion does not make use of the minibuffer. You simply type a few letters into the buffer and use the key to complete text right there.

M-<TAB>

Complete word at point

• At the beginning of a headline, complete TODO keywords.
• After ‘\’, complete TeX symbols supported by the exporter.
• After ‘*’, complete headlines in the current buffer so that they can be used in search links like ‘[[*find this headline]]’.
• After ‘:’ in a headline, complete tags. The list of tags is taken from the variable org-tag-alist (possibly set through the ‘#+TAGS’ in-buffer option, see Setting tags), or it is created dynamically from all tags used in the current buffer.
• After ‘:’ and not in a headline, complete property keys. The list of keys is constructed dynamically from all keys used in the current buffer.
• After ‘[’, complete link abbreviations (see Link abbreviations).
• After ‘#+’, complete the special keywords like ‘TYP_TODO’ or ‘OPTIONS’ which set file-specific options for Org-mode. When the option keyword is already complete, pressing M-<TAB> again will insert example settings for this keyword.
• In the line after ‘#+STARTUP: ’, complete startup keywords, i.e. valid keys for this line.
• Elsewhere, complete dictionary words using Ispell.