diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/tweak_book/snippets.py b/src/calibre/gui2/tweak_book/snippets.py
index dbe2f08ed7..8c725d18d1 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/tweak_book/snippets.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/tweak_book/snippets.py
@@ -7,37 +7,46 @@ __license__ = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2014, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>'
 
 import re, copy
-from collections import OrderedDict
+from collections import OrderedDict, namedtuple
 from itertools import groupby
 from operator import attrgetter
 
-from PyQt5.Qt import QTextCursor
+from PyQt5.Qt import QTextCursor, Qt, QObject
 
+from calibre.gui2 import error_dialog
+from calibre.gui2.tweak_book.editor import all_text_syntaxes
+from calibre.gui2.tweak_book.editor.smarts.utils import get_text_before_cursor
 from calibre.utils.config import JSONConfig
 from calibre.utils.icu import string_length
 
+SnipKey = namedtuple('SnipKey', 'trigger syntaxes')
+def snip_key(trigger, *syntaxes):
+    if '*' in syntaxes:
+        syntaxes = all_text_syntaxes
+    return SnipKey(trigger, frozenset(*syntaxes))
+
 builtin_snippets = {  # {{{
-    '<<' : {
-        'description': _('Insert a HTML tag'),
+    snip_key('<<', 'html', 'xml'):  {
+        'description': _('Insert a tag'),
         'template': '<$1>${2*}</$1>',
     },
 
-    '<>' : {
-        'description': _('Insert a self closing HTML tag'),
+    snip_key('<>', 'html', 'xml'): {
+        'description': _('Insert a self closing tag'),
         'template': '<$1/>$2',
     },
 
-    '<a' : {
+    snip_key('<a', 'html'): {
         'description': _('Insert a HTML link'),
         'template': '<a href="$1">${2*}</a>',
     },
 
-    '<i' : {
+    snip_key('<i', 'html'): {
         'description': _('Insert a HTML image'),
         'template': '<img src="$1" alt="${2*}" />$3',
     },
 
-    '<c' : {
+    snip_key('<c', 'html'): {
         'description': _('Insert a HTML tag with a class'),
         'template': '<$1 class="$2">${3*}</$1>',
     },
@@ -65,6 +74,8 @@ class TabStop(unicode):
             num, default = raw[2:-1].partition(':')[0::2]
             # Look for tab stops defined in the default text
             uraw, child_stops = parse_template(unescape(default), start_offset=start_offset, is_toplevel=False, grouped=False)
+            for c in child_stops:
+                c.parent = self
             tab_stops.extend(child_stops)
             self = unicode.__new__(self, uraw)
             if num.endswith('*'):
@@ -80,6 +91,7 @@ class TabStop(unicode):
         self.start = start_offset
         self.is_toplevel = is_toplevel
         self.is_mirror = False
+        self.parent = None
         tab_stops.append(self)
         return self
 
@@ -117,68 +129,173 @@ def parse_template(template, start_offset=0, is_toplevel=True, grouped=True):
 _snippets = None
 user_snippets = JSONConfig('editor_snippets')
 
-def snippets():
+def snippets(refresh=False):
     global _snippets
-    if _snippets is None:
+    if _snippets is None or refresh:
         _snippets = copy.deepcopy(builtin_snippets)
-        us = copy.deepcopy(user_snippets.copy())
-        _snippets.update(us)
+        for snip in user_snippets.get('snippets', []):
+            if snip['trigger'] and isinstance(snip['trigger'], type('')):
+                key = snip_key(snip['trigger'], *snip['syntaxes'])
+                _snippets[key] = {'template':snip['template'], 'description':snip['description']}
     return _snippets
 
-class TabStopCursor(QTextCursor):
+class EditorTabStop(object):
 
     def __init__(self, other, tab_stops):
-        QTextCursor.__init__(self, other)
+        self.left = QTextCursor(other)
+        self.right = QTextCursor(other)
         tab_stop = tab_stops[0]
         self.num = tab_stop.num
         self.is_mirror = tab_stop.is_mirror
         self.is_toplevel = tab_stop.is_toplevel
         self.takes_selection = tab_stop.takes_selection
-        self.visited = False
-        self.setPosition(other.anchor() + tab_stop.start)
+        self.left.setPosition(other.anchor() + tab_stop.start)
         l = string_length(tab_stop)
-        if l > 0:
-            self.setPosition(self.position() + l, self.KeepAnchor)
-        self.mirrors = []
-        for ts in tab_stops[1:]:
-            m = QTextCursor(other)
-            m.setPosition(other.anchor() + ts.start)
-            l = string_length(ts)
-            if l > 0:
-                m.setPosition(m.position() + l, m.KeepAnchor)
-            self.mirrors.append(m)
+        self.right.setPosition(self.left.position() + l)
+        self.mirrors = tuple(EditorTabStop(other, [ts]) for ts in tab_stops[1:])
 
-class CursorCollection(list):
+    def apply_selected_text(self, text):
+        if self.takes_selection:
+            self.text = text
+            for m in self.mirrors:
+                m.text = text
 
-    def __new__(self, cursors):
-        self = list.__new__(self, cursors)
+    @dynamic_property
+    def text(self):
+        def fget(self):
+            from calibre.gui2.tweak_book.editor.text import selected_text_from_cursor
+            c = QTextCursor(self.left)
+            c.setPosition(self.right.position(), c.KeepAnchor)
+            return selected_text_from_cursor(c)
+        def fset(self, text):
+            c = QTextCursor(self.left)
+            c.setPosition(self.right.position(), c.KeepAnchor)
+            c.insertText(text)
+        return property(fget=fget, fset=fset)
+
+    def set_editor_cursor(self, editor):
+        c = editor.textCursor()
+        c.setPosition(self.left.position())
+        c.setPosition(self.right.position(), c.KeepAnchor)
+        editor.setTextCursor(c)
+
+class Template(list):
+
+    def __new__(self, tab_stops):
+        self = list.__new__(self, tab_stops)
         self.left_most_cursor = self.right_most_cursor = None
         for c in self:
-            if self.left_most_cursor is None or self.left_most_cursor.anchor() > c.anchor():
-                self.left_most_cursor = c
-            if self.right_most_cursor is None or self.right_most_cursor.position() <= c.position():
-                self.right_most_cursor = c
+            if self.left_most_cursor is None or self.left_most_cursor.position() > c.left.position():
+                self.left_most_cursor = c.left
+            if self.right_most_cursor is None or self.right_most_cursor.position() <= c.right.position():
+                self.right_most_cursor = c.right
+        self.has_tab_stops = self.left_most_cursor is not None
+        self.active_tab_stop = None
         return self
 
-def expand_template(editor, template_name, template, selected_text=''):
+    def contains_cursor(self, cursor):
+        if not self.has_tab_stops:
+            return False
+        pos = cursor.position()
+        if self.left_most_cursor.position() <= pos <= self.right_most_cursor.position():
+            return True
+        return False
+
+    def jump_to_next(self, editor):
+        if self.active_tab_stop is None:
+            self.active_tab_stop = ts = self.find_closest_tab_stop(editor.textCursor().position())
+            if ts is not None:
+                ts.set_editor_cursor(editor)
+            return ts
+        ts = self.active_tab_stop
+        for m in ts.mirrors:
+            m.text = ts.text
+        for x in self:
+            if x.num > ts.num:
+                self.active_tab_stop = x
+                x.set_editor_cursor(editor)
+                return x
+
+    def distance_to_position(self, cursor, position):
+        return min(abs(cursor.position() - position), abs(cursor.anchor() - position))
+
+    def find_closest_tab_stop(self, position):
+        ans = dist = None
+        for c in self:
+            x = min(self.distance_to_position(c.left, position), self.distance_to_position(c.right, position))
+            if ans is None or x < dist:
+                dist, ans = x, c
+        return ans
+
+def expand_template(editor, trigger, template, selected_text=''):
     c = editor.textCursor()
     c.setPosition(c.position())
     right = c.position()
-    left = right - string_length(template_name)
+    left = right - string_length(trigger)
     text, tab_stops = parse_template(template)
-    cursors = []
     c.setPosition(left), c.setPosition(right, c.KeepAnchor), c.insertText(text)
-    for i, ts in enumerate(tab_stops.itervalues()):
-        tsc = TabStopCursor(c, ts)
-        cursors.append(tsc)
+    editor_tab_stops = [EditorTabStop(c, ts) for ts in tab_stops]
 
     if selected_text:
-        for tsc in cursors:
-            pos = min(tsc.anchor(), tsc.position())
-            tsc.insertText(selected_text)
-            apos = tsc.position()
-            tsc.setPosition(pos), tsc.setPosition(apos, tsc.KeepAnchor)
-    active_cursor = (cursors or [c])[0]
-    active_cursor.visited = True
-    editor.setTextCursor(active_cursor)
-    return CursorCollection(cursors)
+        for ts in editor_tab_stops:
+            ts.apply_selected_text(selected_text)
+    tl = Template(editor_tab_stops)
+    if tl.has_tab_stops:
+        tl.active_tab_stop = ts = editor_tab_stops[0]
+        ts.set_editor_cursor(editor)
+    else:
+        editor.setTextCursor(c)
+    return tl
+
+def find_matching_snip(text, syntax):
+    for key, snip in snippets().iteritems():
+        if text.endswith(key.trigger) and syntax in key.syntaxes:
+            return snip, key.trigger
+    return None, None
+
+class SnippetManager(QObject):
+
+    def __init__(self, editor):
+        QObject.__init__(self, editor)
+        self.active_templates = []
+        self.last_selected_text = ''
+
+    def get_active_template(self, cursor):
+        remove = []
+        at = None
+        pos = cursor.position()
+        for template in self.active_templates:
+            if at is None and template.contains_cursor(cursor):
+                at = template
+            elif pos > template.right_most_cursor.position() or pos < template.left_most_cursor.position():
+                remove.append(template)
+        for template in remove:
+            self.active_templates.remove(template)
+        return at
+
+    def handle_keypress(self, ev):
+        editor = self.parent()
+        if ev.key() == Qt.Key_Tab and ev.modifiers() & Qt.CTRL:
+            at = self.get_active_template(editor.cursor())
+            if at is not None:
+                if at.jump_to_next(editor) is None:
+                    self.active_templates.remove(at)
+                ev.accept()
+                return True
+            self.last_selected_text = editor.selected_text
+            if self.last_selected_text:
+                editor.textCursor().insertText('')
+                ev.accept()
+                return True
+            c, text = get_text_before_cursor(editor)
+            snip, trigger = find_matching_snip(text, editor.syntax)
+            if snip is None:
+                error_dialog(self.parent(), _('No snippet found'), _(
+                    'No matching snippet was found'), show=True)
+                return False
+            template = expand_template(editor, trigger, snip['template'], self.last_selected_text)
+            if template.has_tab_stops:
+                self.active_templates.append(template)
+            ev.accept()
+            return True
+        return False