alter_entity_autocomplete

Alter Entity Autocomplete enhances Drupal's entity reference autocomplete fields by allowing users to directly enter entity IDs, email addresses, URLs, or path aliases instead of searching through dropdown suggestions. This dramatically improves content editing efficiency, especially for users who know specific entity identifiers or want to reference entities by their URLs or custom pathauto aliases.

Features

What is the basic functionality?

This module extends Drupal's standard entity autocomplete behavior to support multiple input formats:

• Direct Entity ID Input: Type 123 or #123 to reference any entity by its ID
• Email Address Support: Type [email protected] to reference users by email (users only)
• Full URL Support: Paste complete URLs like https://example.com/node/123 or https://example.com/user/456
• Path Alias Support: Use pathauto-generated aliases like /my-article or /georgeswh instead of canonical paths
• User Path Support: Use /user/123 paths for user references

What unique features does enabling this project add?

• Per-Entity Configuration: Enable/disable enhanced autocomplete for specific entity types (Node, User, Taxonomy Term)
• Bundle Restriction Respect: Maintains field-level bundle restrictions and access controls
• Language-Safe: Works with multilingual sites and language prefixes
• Path Alias Support: Works with Drupal core path aliases. If the Pathauto module is installed, automatically generated aliases from its patterns are also supported.
• Immediate Resolution: Provides instant autocomplete suggestions without dropdown searching

When and why would someone use this module?

• Content Editors: Quickly reference existing content by ID or URL
• Site Administrators: Efficiently manage entity relationships
• Power Users: Leverage known entity identifiers for faster editing
• Multilingual Sites: Reference entities using localized URLs and aliases

What use cases are there?

• Efficient Content Management: Reference entities without searching through long lists
• External System Integration: Use URLs from external systems to reference Drupal entities
• Multilingual Content: Reference entities using localized URLs and aliases
• Power User Workflows: Leverage known entity IDs for faster editing

Post-Installation

⚠️ IMPORTANT: This module requires manual configuration before it will work. By default, no entity types are enabled.

Go to Administration → Configuration → Content authoring → Alter Entity Autocomplete settings to enable enhanced autocomplete for specific entity types (Node, User, Taxonomy Term).