P: Warn if keyword exists

"I have 110,000 photos in  my database covering travels from living on the road for 11 years so far. They cover 2 different countries and it continues to grow. I have a vast keyword hirachy and spend a great amount of time keywording."

You might consider my Any Tag plugin. It's optimized for very fast entry of keywords using the keyboard, and it's auto-complete is faster and more robust than that built-in to LR.

Oh! You're talking about something entirely different from what I had thought. I don't use the Plus button Create Keyword Tag button to open the dialog. It's been so long since I've used it that I've forgotten it exists. 

My apology for not understanding what you were meaning. 

I'll occasionally invoke that dialog when I want to add a keyword, let's say petunia to the flowers > flower keyword. But I would invoke the dialog via right+clicking on the keyword flower after scrolling down the keyword list. 

Other than that, I'll just start typing into the field of my screen shot in my previous comment. 

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"Lightroom stops and messages that the keyword already exists"

To clarify, are you referring to the Create Keyword Tag dialog:

I have 110,000 photos in  my database covering travels from living on the road for 11 years so far. They cover 2 different countries and it continues to grow. I have a vast keyword hirachy and spend a great amount of time keywording.

If this screen just had a button on it - use existing name - it would save a lot of time backing out and starting again.

I  do try to reduce the number of times this "duplication" by filtering by keyword, and by typing in progressively to see if the keyword appears. Keywording for me is as big as if not bigger than the time I spend in Develop. I currently have a backlog of around 9000 uncatalogued photos. They get assigned the keyword Uncatalogued when imported so I can track what needs to be done. I added 1700 photos in 8 days at the begining of this month. I document Transport and Technology Museums.

I'm sure I'm not understanding, and I apologize. If I choose to use it I can scroll down to the proper choice or just click on the proper choice. The offer to use it is implied by the choices being present, as in my screen shot.

If I choose not to use any of the choices, I can continue typing and create a new keyword.

If I choose to avoid the whole thing I can press the Esc key. Pressing the Esc key will first undo my last typing. Pressing again will make all that I've typed disappear and the entry field inactive, as if I'd never invoked it.

Exactly - however when ever I have the firm conviction that I have never created a particular keyword and start from scratch, I can end up in having to back out and start again as it is there. All I am suggesting is that when it tells you it is already there it offers to allow you to use it rather than just quit.

When I begin typing a keyword into the entry field of the Keyword Tags panel in the right hand column of the Library module, possible choices of previously used keywords begin offering themselves as I continue typing. The more letters typed, the more refined the results. Often, after typing only a few letters, the previously used keyword I want is among the choices and I can scroll down or mouse click on the keyword.

Is this not what you experience?