diff --git a/server/web2py/applications/vidjil/controllers/tag.py b/server/web2py/applications/vidjil/controllers/tag.py
index 9b670bc12b3e87a72de5aae7e4c86b9fcc456a62..4bf8c60e55351db4739c6cc9f0f1774a0e51bdf1 100644
--- a/server/web2py/applications/vidjil/controllers/tag.py
+++ b/server/web2py/applications/vidjil/controllers/tag.py
@@ -14,4 +14,4 @@ def auto_complete():
     group_ids = json.loads(request.vars["group_ids"])
     tags = get_tags(db, group_ids)
 
-    return tags_to_json(tags)
+    return tags_to_json(tags, group_ids)
diff --git a/server/web2py/applications/vidjil/models/tag.py b/server/web2py/applications/vidjil/models/tag.py
index 14e29956d638b00934a73279ea0d38f4106d0cb7..bc68e2f0bc6624e999e08177890595d88eff20b5 100644
--- a/server/web2py/applications/vidjil/models/tag.py
+++ b/server/web2py/applications/vidjil/models/tag.py
@@ -93,11 +93,15 @@ def register_tags(db, table, record_id, text, group_id, reset=False):
     tags = tag_extractor.execute(table, record_id, text, group_id, reset)
 
 def get_tags(db, group_ids):
+    pgid = get_public_group_id()
+    if pgid > 0:
+        group_ids.append(pgid)
+
     return db((db.tag.id == db.group_tag.tag_id) &
               (db.group_tag.group_id.belongs(group_ids))
             ).select(db.group_tag.group_id, db.tag.ALL)
 
-def tags_to_json(tags):
+def tags_to_json(tags, group_ids):
     tag_map = {}
     prefix = get_tag_prefix()
     for row in tags:
@@ -109,6 +113,25 @@ def tags_to_json(tags):
         tag_dict['name'] = row.tag.name
         tag_map[group_id].append(tag_dict)
 
+    # Public group hackiness. Mainly to clean up some other hackier hackiness
+    pgid = get_public_group_id()
+    if pgid > 0 and pgid in tag_map:
+        for group_id in tag_map:
+            for tag in tag_map[pgid]:
+                if tag not in tag_map[group_id]:
+                    tag_map[group_id].append(tag)
+
+        # Public group hackiness. Mainly to clean up some other hackier hackiness
+        pgid = get_public_group_id()
+        if pgid > 0 and pgid in tag_map:
+            for group_id in group_ids:
+                if group_id not in tag_map:
+                    tag_map[group_id] = []
+                for tag in tag_map[pgid]:
+                    if tag not in tag_map[group_id]:
+                        tag_map[group_id].append(tag)
+
+
     return json.dumps(tag_map)
 
 def parse_search(search_string):
@@ -119,3 +142,10 @@ def parse_search(search_string):
     searches = [s for s in split if s[:plen] != tag_prefix]
     search_string = " ".join(searches)
     return search_string, tags
+
+def get_public_group_id():
+    public_group_name = defs.PUBLIC_GROUP_NAME if hasattr(defs, 'PUBLIC_GROUP_NAME') in defs else 'public'
+    public_group = db(db.auth_group.role == public_group_name).select()
+    if (len(public_group) > 0 and public_group.id not in group_ids):
+        return public_group.id
+    return -1