Configure a preset list of keys

Defining a preset list of keys is useful when you want to enforce consistency for the keywords or external links used in a documentation set.

Rather than each user creating their own keys, you can define a list of the commonly-used or company-approved keys that users can access in the DITA Map view and insert into their maps. Once inserted into a map, the keys can be used within topics attached to the map. This method is useful for keeping a single set of approved keys for use across your publications.

The list is defined in the keydefnames.xml configuration file in system/conf. The file contains two types of keys:

Keywords, which are listed in the following section:
```
<type label="Keyword" name="keyword">
```
External links, which are listed in the following section:
```
<type label="External links" name="xref">
```

Each key is defined as a <keydefname> element in the appropriate section. Each <keydefname> element contains attributes defining the name of the key and its default value. For example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE keydefnames PUBLIC "-//ixiasoft.com//cms//config//keydefnames" "keydefnames.dtd">
<keydefnames>
	<type label="Keyword" name="keyword">
		<keydefname name="company" default-value="IXIASOFT"/>						
	</type>
	<type label="External links" name="xref">
	<keydefname name="companyweb" default-value="www.ixiasoft.com"/>						
	</type>
</keydefnames>

Important: Make configuration changes in a test environment and confirm they work before copying them to a production environment. For dedicated SaaS deployments, test the changes and then ask IXIA CCMS Customer Support to copy the changes to your production environment.

In the TEXTML Administration perspective, connect to your server.
Locate the keydefnames.xml file in the repository's /system/conf/ collection.
Check out the file and open it for editing.
For each new keyword or external link that you want to specify, insert a new line in the appropriate section using the format <keydefname name="[key name]" default-value="[key value]"/>.
For example, if you wanted to create a key for the company's name, you would add the following in the section labeled keyword:
```
<keydefname name="company" default-value="IXIASOFT"/>
```
Save, close, and check in the file.
Inform users of the changes and request that they close and reopen their CCMS Desktop to apply the changes.