# User specified format for tags ==\> how about supporting :tag: **URL:** \ **Category:** Feature requests\ **Tags:** vim\ **Created:** [November 14, 2020, 11:07pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/user-specified-format-for-tags-how-about-supporting/8570 "2020-11-14T23:07:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![llinfeng](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/llinfeng/32/6149_2.png) [@llinfeng](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/llinfeng)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 11:07pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/user-specified-format-for-tags-how-about-supporting/8570/1 "2020-11-14T23:07:30Z")
I have been using `vimwiki` for a good number of years and find Obsidian very practical for navigating my 3K markdown files. Though, as a feature request, may I reuse `:tag:` as tags in Obsidian? A couple of notes for the `:tag:` syntax: - It may be specific to vimwiki, as per [this help doc entry](https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki/blob/619f04f89861c58e5a6415a4f83847752928252d/doc/vimwiki.txt#L1449) - It is good for chaining things up, as `:tag1:tag2:tag3:` - It does not introduce the `#` sign, which can confuse Vim when the tag is placed at the beginning of a new line. (By confusing Vim, at least two things can happen: syntax coloring will be off (not as a tag), and the TOC will have this intrusive “tag-entry”). ---
**Author:** ![AmberV](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/amberv/32/6658_2.png) [@AmberV](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/AmberV)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 4:17am UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/user-specified-format-for-tags-how-about-supporting/8570/2 "2020-11-15T04:17:59Z")
That would also be a practical use for those that have org-mode data, which uses the same syntax (maybe where vimwiki got it from!). To take this in a slightly different direction—tagging nomenclature seems to me a very personal thing, and one person’s approach may not make much sense to another. I don’t really understand the use of the hash mark for example, because to me I associate that with syntax used in links, which point to one very specific, unique element. A keyword, or tag, is a clustering mechanism and thus by definition points to any number of elements collectively. So personally I would find it very difficult to use Obsidian’s tagging features at a logical level, but furthermore I have decades of material using my own personal tagging system, hundreds of thousands of entries, there is no way I’m changing for one program! My approach is idiosyncratic and has a higher level of information density than typical linear-sequence keyword practices, but it has a pattern to it. If tagging were something the user could define a pattern for, in general, then both of our unique tagging approaches would be a possibility in the software. The customisation field could be something like the following: - Prefix - Delimiter - Suffix For you it would be a `:` in each field. For me it would be `{` and `}` with the delimiter blank. For a GTD veteran, they might fill in a `@` prefix and leave it at that. Someone else might integrate with CSV-based tool output, and want comma-delineated keywords with some kind of bracket to denote the lot. I could see a valid input being any one field, where if all three are left empty, it reverts to software defaults, and prints the hash mark into the _prefix_ field in ghosted-grey. ---
**Author:** ![malecjan](https://forum.obsidian.md/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@malecjan](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/malecjan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 1:33am UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/user-specified-format-for-tags-how-about-supporting/8570/3 "2020-12-13T01:33:08Z")
### Related feature requests: - (overlapping or more general): [Customizable interpretation of markdown syntax nuances, like CSS](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/customizable-interpretation-of-markdown-syntax-nuances-like-css/3254) - implementation via plugin: [Hooking into Markdown preview](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/hooking-into-markdown-preview/9974) - less general: [Allow using a custom tag prefix (instead of just #tag)](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/allow-using-a-custom-tag-prefix-instead-of-just-tag/10956) ---
**Author:** ![mountwebs](https://forum.obsidian.md/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mountwebs](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/mountwebs)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 9:23am UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/user-specified-format-for-tags-how-about-supporting/8570/4 "2021-01-04T09:23:09Z")
I would also love this feature! I have been using vimwiki for a while now, and it was great to see that it was so easy to transfer my vault to obsidian - except for the tags. It would be so nice to be able to use vimwiki and obsidian on the same vault! ---
**Author:** ![tonywatkins](https://forum.obsidian.md/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/54ee81/32.png) [@tonywatkins](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/tonywatkins)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2021, 9:20am UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/user-specified-format-for-tags-how-about-supporting/8570/5 "2021-02-12T09:20:48Z")
I’d also like to see some customisation of tags. The thing that would most help me would be to allow full stops/periods within tags. I use a number of Dewey Decimal-based tags, so #211.6\_secularism is not recognised by Obsidian though I need to continue using it in Devonthink etc.