Read or find an article

The Readers' FAQ and our about page contain the most commonly sought information about
Wikipedia.
For simple searches, there is a search box at the top of every page. Type what you are looking for
in the box. Partial matches will appear in a dropdown list. Select any page in the list to go to that
page. Or, select the magnifying glass "Go" button, or press Enter , to go to a full search result.
For advanced searches, see Help:Searching.
There are other ways to browse and explore Wikipedia articles; many can be found at
Portal:Contents. Also see our disclaimer for cautions about Wikipedia's limitations.

Edit an article

Contributing is easy: see how to edit a page. For a quick summary on participating, see
contributing to Wikipedia. For a listing of introductions and tutorials by topic, see getting
started. Or play the Wikipedia Adventure to learn to edit in an hour. The Cheatsheet can
remind you of basic wiki markup.
Be bold in improving articles! When adding facts, please provide references so others may
verify them. If you are affiliated with the article subject, please see our conflict of interest
guideline.
If you feel someone is bullying you or if you don't understand why your edits are being reverted,
you can ask for help at the Help desk or at the Teahouse. Volunteers will respond as soon as
possible.
If you're looking for places you can help out, the community portal is the place to go. You can
practice editing and experiment in a sandbox.

Report a problem with an article

If there is a problem with an article about yourself, a family member, a friend or a

colleague, please read Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons/Help and, if necessary, add
a discussion to the biographies of living persons noticeboard.

If you spot a problem with an article, you can fix it directly, by clicking on the "Edit" link at the
beginning of that page. See the "edit an article" section of this page for more information.
If you don't feel ready to fix the article yourself, please post a message on the article's talk page.
This will bring the matter to the attention of others who work on that article. There is a "Talk"
link at the beginning of every article page.
Alternatively you can contact us. If it's an article about you or your organization, see Contact us
Subjects.

Create a new article or upload media

Check Your first article to see if your topic is appropriate, then the Article wizard will walk
you through creating the article.
Once you have created an article, see Writing better articles for guidance on how to improve it
and what to include (like reference citations).
For contributing images, audio or video files, see the Introduction to uploading images. Then
the Upload wizard will guide you through that process.

Factual questions

If searching Wikipedia has not answered your question (for example, questions like "Which
country has the world's largest fishing fleet?"), try the Reference Desk. Volunteers there will
attempt to answer your questions on any topic, or point you towards the information you need.

Stuck?

For your convenience, answers have been recorded for the most frequently asked questions.
You can find also where to ask questions or make comments.

You can ask questions about using Wikipedia at the Help desk or at the Teahouse. Volunteers
will respond as soon as possible.
Or ask for help on your talk page and a volunteer will visit you there!
You can get live help with editing in the help chatroom.
For help with technical issues, ask at Village pump (technical)

Directories

Directory: main list of directories and indexes.

Help related

Help directory: for informative, instructional and consultation pages.

Request directory: for services and assistance that can be requested on

Wikipedia.

Tips library: where you can digest how to use Wikipedia in bite-sized
morsels.

Protocols and conventions

Policy directory: official policies for "English Wikipedia"

Guideline directory: official guidelines for "English Wikipedia"

Manual of Style directory: pages related to the style manual of Wikipedia

articles.

Community related

Departments: for the different divisions of Wikipedia.

Editor's index: for everything an editor needs to know to work on Wikipedia.

Essay directory: for Wikipedia namespace essays.

Dashboard: for current discussions taking place throughout Wikipedia.

WikiProjects: for people who want to work together as a team to improve

Wikipedia.

MediaWiki software

Wiki markup: for the syntax used by Wikipedia to format a page.

HTML: for HTML5 elements, or tags and their attribute.

Templates: for templates used within Wikipedia.

Help by topic

Help Menu: for searching by subject matter.

Navigating Wikipedia: for searching and browsing the encyclopedia.

Joining Wikipedia: how to get involved.

Editing Wikipedia: has general help for editors.

Links and references: has help for creating links, or dealing with references

Images and media: how to use images, videos and sound files

Keeping track of changes: how to track the evolution of a page, or follow a

user.

Policies and guidelines: for community standards.

Asking questions: volunteers will attempt to answer.

The Wikipedia community: how to submit or debate a proposal.

Resources and lists: has resources for editors.

Account settings: has tips and tools for registered users.

Technical information: has tools for advanced users, and troubleshooting.

Site map: is the above twelve pages on a single page.

Tip of the day

Digital audio support

Wikipedia uses the Ogg Vorbis, FLAC and WAV formats for audio, as they are not encumbered
by patents (an issue that prompted the decision that MP3 files will not be hosted at Wikipedia).
Software supporting Vorbis exists for many platforms...
Mozilla Firefox 4, Opera 10.5 and Google Chrome 3 (and later versions) each include their own
support for Ogg Vorbis files.
As for multimedia players, Winamp can be used to play Ogg Vorbis files. Although iTunes does
not natively support Vorbis, Xiph.Org provides a QuickTime component which can be used in
players that rely on QuickTime, such as iTunes, on both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS.
DirectShow filters exist to decode Vorbis in multimedia players like Windows Media Player and
others which support DirectShow.
Prior tip Next tip

Read more:
Wikipedia:Creation and usage
of media files#Audio
Become a Wikipedia tipster Tips library, by subject
To add this auto-updating daily tip to your user page, use {{totd}}

Additional searches
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Search the help desk archives

The blue bars that follow are navigation boxes linking many help pages and useful policies
and guidelines. Click "show" on the right to expand them.

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Wikipedia help pages