Existing Values Autocomplete Widget

This module provides an autocomplete widget for text fields that suggests all existing (previously entered) values for that field. This provides more flexibility than “allowed values” for the content editor to add new values. At that same time, it is simpler in many cases than creating a taxonomy vocabulary (no hierarchies, no separate system, no permissions headaches, no rendered pages per term).

For an analysis of the different use cases for Taxonomy, Text Field with Allowed Values, and this module read this blog post.

Note: The autocomplete matching is NOT case-sensitive. This means that it will match any cased version of the same characters. The suggestion will be cased like the first value in the database. If anyone needs configuration on case sensitivity, feel free to open an issue with a MR or ask for sponsored development.

Furthermore this does *not* work on the title field (and other base fields): #3586007: Autocomplete widget does not support base fields, e.g. title field - Help fixing it, if you need it.

Requirements

This module requires no modules outside of Drupal core.

Installation

Install as you would normally install a contributed Drupal module. For further information, see Installing Drupal Modules.

Configuration

After installing the module you can configure a form field to use the autocomplete widget by following these steps:

1. Visit any content type's “Manage Form Display” page.
2. Change the “Textfield” widget of any form field that supports it to “Autocomplete: existing values”.
3. Configure how many suggestions to show in the widget configuration. (Default: 15)
4. Enter values in the field on the form, and they will become suggestions for the next time you use that field.

Alternatives

• https://www.drupal.org/project/issues/anti_duplicates works on the title field, for the case where you don't only want to show existing values, but maybe also prevent them