Smart Tab Navigation

VMark's Tab and Shift+Tab keys are context-aware — they help you navigate efficiently through formatted text, brackets, and links without reaching for arrow keys.

Quick Overview

Context	Tab Action	Shift+Tab Action
Inside brackets () [] {}	Jump past closing bracket	Jump before opening bracket
Inside quotes "" ''	Jump past closing quote	Jump before opening quote
Inside CJK brackets 「」 『』	Jump past closing bracket	Jump before opening bracket
Inside bold, italic, code, strike	Jump after the formatting	Jump before the formatting
Inside a link	Jump after the link	Jump before the link
In a table cell	Move to next cell	Move to previous cell
In a list item	Indent the item	Outdent the item

Bracket & Quote Escape

When your cursor is right before a closing bracket or quote, pressing Tab jumps over it. When your cursor is right after an opening bracket or quote, pressing Shift+Tab jumps back before it.

Supported Characters

Standard brackets and quotes:

• Parentheses: ( )
• Square brackets: [ ]
• Curly braces: { }
• Double quotes: " "
• Single quotes: ' '
• Backticks: `

CJK brackets:

• Fullwidth parentheses: （ ）
• Lenticular brackets: 【 】
• Corner brackets: 「 」
• White corner brackets: 『 』
• Double angle brackets: 《 》
• Angle brackets: 〈 〉

Curly quotes:

• Double curly quotes: " "
• Single curly quotes: ' '

How It Works

function hello(world|)
                    ↑ cursor before )

Press Tab:

function hello(world)|
                     ↑ cursor after )

This works with nested brackets too — Tab jumps over the immediately adjacent closing character.

Press Shift+Tab reverses the action — if cursor is right after an opening character:

function hello(|world)
               ↑ cursor after (

Press Shift+Tab:

function hello|(world)
              ↑ cursor before (

CJK Example

这是「测试|」文字
         ↑ cursor before 」

Press Tab:

这是「测试」|文字
          ↑ cursor after 」

Formatting Escape (WYSIWYG Mode)

In WYSIWYG mode, Tab and Shift+Tab can escape from inline formatting marks.

Supported Formats

• Bold text
• Italic text
• Inline code
• Strikethrough
• Links

How It Works

When your cursor is anywhere inside formatted text:

This is **bold te|xt** here
                 ↑ cursor inside bold

Press Tab:

This is **bold text**| here
                     ↑ cursor after bold

Shift+Tab works in reverse — it jumps to the start of the formatting:

This is **bold te|xt** here
                 ↑ cursor inside bold

Press Shift+Tab:

This is |**bold text** here
        ↑ cursor before bold

Link Escape

Tab and Shift+Tab also escape from links:

Check out [VMark|](https://vmark.app)
               ↑ cursor inside link text

Press Tab:

Check out [VMark](https://vmark.app)| and...
                                    ↑ cursor after link

Press Shift+Tab inside a link moves to the start:

Check out |[VMark](https://vmark.app) and...
          ↑ cursor before link

Link Navigation (Source Mode)

In Source mode, Tab provides smart navigation within Markdown link syntax.

Nested and Escaped Brackets

VMark handles complex link syntax correctly:

[text [with nested] brackets](url)     ✓ Works
[text \[escaped\] brackets](url)       ✓ Works
[link](https://example.com/page(1))    ✓ Works

Tab navigation correctly identifies link boundaries even with nested or escaped brackets.

Standard Links

[link text|](url)
          ↑ cursor in text

Press Tab → cursor moves to URL:

[link text](|url)
            ↑ cursor in URL

Press Tab again → cursor exits the link:

[link text](url)|
                ↑ cursor after link

Wiki Links

[[page name|]]
           ↑ cursor in link

Press Tab:

[[page name]]|
             ↑ cursor after link

Source Mode: Markdown Character Escape

In Source mode, Tab also jumps over Markdown formatting characters:

Characters	Used For
*	Bold/italic
_	Bold/italic
^	Superscript
~~	Strikethrough (jumped as a unit)
==	Highlight (jumped as a unit)

Example

This is **bold|** text
              ↑ cursor before **

Press Tab:

This is **bold**| text
                ↑ cursor after **

INFO

Source mode does not have Shift+Tab escape for markdown characters — Shift+Tab only outdents (removes leading spaces).

Source Mode: Auto-Pair

In Source mode, typing a formatting character auto-inserts its closing pair:

Character	Pairing	Behavior
*	*|* or **|**	Delay-based — waits 150ms to detect single vs double
~	~|~ or ~~|~~	Delay-based
_	_|_ or __|__	Delay-based
=	==|==	Always pairs as double
`	`|`	Single backtick pairs after delay
```	Code fence	Triple backtick at line start creates a fenced code block

Auto-pairing is disabled inside fenced code blocks — typing * in a code block inserts a literal * without pairing.

Backspace between a pair deletes both halves: *\|* → Backspace → empty.

Table Navigation

When cursor is inside a table:

Action	Key
Next cell	Tab
Previous cell	Shift + Tab
Add row (at last cell)	Tab

Tab at the last cell of the last row automatically adds a new row.

List Indentation

When cursor is in a list item:

Action	Key
Indent item	Tab
Outdent item	Shift + Tab

Settings

Tab escape behavior can be customized in Settings → Editor:

Setting	Effect
Auto-pair Brackets	Enable/disable bracket pairing and Tab escape
CJK Brackets	Include CJK bracket pairs
Curly Quotes	Include curly quote pairs ("" '')

TIP

If Tab escape conflicts with your workflow, you can disable auto-pair brackets entirely. Tab will then insert spaces (or indent in lists/tables) as normal.

Comparison: WYSIWYG vs Source Mode

Feature	Tab (WYSIWYG)	Shift+Tab (WYSIWYG)	Tab (Source)	Shift+Tab (Source)
Bracket escape	✓	✓	✓	—
CJK bracket escape	✓	✓	✓	—
Curly quote escape	✓	✓	✓	—
Mark escape (bold, etc.)	✓	✓	N/A	N/A
Link escape	✓	✓	✓ (field navigation)	—
Markdown char escape (*, _, ~~, ==)	N/A	N/A	✓	—
Markdown auto-pair (*, ~, _, =)	N/A	N/A	✓ (delay-based)	N/A
Table navigation	Next cell	Previous cell	N/A	N/A
List indentation	Indent	Outdent	Indent	Outdent
Multi-cursor support	✓	✓	✓	—
Skipped inside code blocks	✓	✓	✓	N/A

Multi-Cursor Support

Tab escape works with multiple cursors — each cursor is processed independently.

How It Works

When you have multiple cursors and press Tab or Shift+Tab:

• Tab: Cursors inside formatting escape to the end; cursors before closing brackets jump over them
• Shift+Tab: Cursors inside formatting escape to the start; cursors after opening brackets jump before them
• Cursors in plain text stay in place

Example

**bold|** and [link|](url) and plain|
     ^1          ^2            ^3

Press Tab:

**bold**| and [link](url)| and plain|
        ^1               ^2         ^3

Each cursor escapes independently based on its context.

TIP

This is particularly powerful for bulk editing — select multiple occurrences with Mod + D, then use Tab to escape from all of them at once.

Priority & Code Block Behavior

Escape Priority

When multiple escape targets overlap, Tab processes them innermost-first:

**bold text(|)** here
               ↑ Tab jumps ) first (bracket is innermost)

Press Tab again:

**bold text()**| here
               ↑ Tab escapes bold mark

This means bracket jump always fires before mark escape — you can rely on Tab to exit brackets first, then formatting.

Code Block Guard

Tab and Shift+Tab bracket jumps are disabled inside code blocks — both code_block nodes and inline code spans. This prevents Tab from jumping over brackets in code, where brackets are literal syntax:

`array[index|]`
              ↑ Tab does NOT jump ] in inline code — inserts spaces instead

Auto-pair insertion is also disabled inside code blocks for both WYSIWYG and Source modes.

Tips

1. Muscle memory — Once you get used to Tab escape, you'll find yourself navigating much faster without arrow keys.

2. Works with auto-pair — When you type (, VMark auto-inserts ). After typing inside, just Tab to jump out.

3. Nested structures — Tab escapes one level at a time. For ((nested)), you need two Tabs to fully exit.

4. Shift + Tab — The mirror of Tab. Escapes backward from marks, links, and opening brackets. In tables, moves to the previous cell. In lists, outdents the item.

5. Multi-cursor — Tab escape works with all your cursors simultaneously, making bulk edits even faster.