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Help:Contents

This page provides help with the most common questions about Wikipedia.

You can also search all Wikipedia's help pages using the search box below, or browse the Help menu
or the Help directory.

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
Wikipedia:Contents. Also see our disclaimer for cautions about Wikipedia's limitations.

For mobile access, press the mobile view (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Content

s) link at the very bottom of every desktop view (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Conten
ts) page.

Edit an article

Contributing is easy: see how to edit a page. For a quick summary on participating, see
contributing to Wikipedia, and for a friendly tutorial, see our introduction. For a listing
of introductions and tutorials by topic, see getting started. The Simplified Manual of
Style and 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.

The simple guide to vandalism cleanup can help you undo malicious edits.

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If you're looking for places you can help out, the Task Center is the place to go, or check out
what else is happening at the community portal. 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 Biographies of living persons/Help.

If you spot a problem with an article, you can fix it directly, by clicking on the "Edit" link at the
top 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.

Stuck?

Answers to common problems can be found at frequently asked questions.

Or check out where to ask questions or make comments.

New users having problems editing Wikipedia should ask at the Teahouse. More complex
questions can be posed at the Help desk. Volunteers will respond as soon as they're able.

Or and a volunteer will visit you there!

You can get live help with editing in the help chatroom.

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For help with technical issues, ask at the Village pump.

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.

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.

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

Wikitext: 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.

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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 thirteen pages on one single page.

Tip of the day

Talking to Wikipedians
Besides the Village pump and article-related talk pages, there are other ways to talk to
Wikipedians. The English IRC channel is quite popular, regularly reaching up to 300 users. If
you care about our policies and general Wikimedia-related matters, you may also want to
consider subscribing to one of the mailing lists (high traffic!).

Prior tip  –  Tips library  –  Next tip

Read more:
Wikipedia:Contact us  
Become a Wikipedia tipster – Tips library, by subject
To add this auto-updating daily tip to your user page, use {{totd}}

Additional searches

Search Frequently Asked Questions

Search the help desk archives

 Basic information on Wikipedia

Help
(directory · menu) · Teahouse (interactive help for new editors)

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About Wikipedia Readers' index to Wikipedia · Statistics · Administration · FAQs

(Purpose ·
Who writes Wikipedia? · Organization) · Censorship · In brief ·
General disclaimer
Student help · Navigation · Searching · Viewing media
(Help) · Mobile access ·
Readers' FAQ Parental advice · Other languages · Researching with Wikipedia
(Citing Wikipedia) · Copyright
Main introduction · List of tutorials and introductions · The answer ·
Dos and don'ts · Learning the ropes · Common mistakes · Newcomer primer ·
Introductions
Simplified ruleset · The "Missing Manual" · Your first article
(Wizard) ·
to contributing Young Wikipedians
(The Adventure) · Accounts
(Why create an account? ·
Logging in · Email confirmation) · Editing
(Toolbar · Conflict) · VisualEditor
(User guide)
Five pillars · Manual of Style
(Simplified) · Etiquette
(Expectations · Oversight) ·
Policies

Principles · Ignore all rules

(The rules are principles) · Core content policies ·
and guidelines
Policies and guidelines · Vandalism · Appealing blocks · What Wikipedia is not
Help desk · Reference Desk · Category · Requests for help
Getting help
(Disputes resolution requests) · IRC live chat
(Tutorial) · Contact us
Departments · Meetups · WikiProjects
(Overview · FAQ) · Village pump
(policy ·
technical · proposals · idea lab · wikimedia · misc) · Newsletters:
(Signpost ·
Wikipedia community
Library Newsletter · GLAM Newsletter) · Informational: · Community portal ·
Dashboard
(Noticeboards) · Maintenance
(Task Center) · Essays
Research: · Research desk · Wikipedia Library
(Request Resources ·
Free resources ·
Sourcing
Request access to major databases (https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/)) ·
and referencing WikiProject Resource Exchange
(Shared resources) · Guidelines: ·
Finding sources · Combining sources · Referencing · Citations
(Citation Style 1
· Citation templates · Footnotes · Page numbers · Cite errors)
Category · Tools · Infoboxes · Writing articles
(Development · Better writing) ·
Images/media
(Images · Media files · Uploading · Deletion) ·
How-to guides User contribution pages · Editing pages
(Diffs · Namespaces · Deletion ·
Merging · Renaming · Requests · Redirecting · Reverting) · Vandalism cleanup
· Talk pages
(Archiving)
Wiki markup
(Cheatsheet) · Columns · HTML · Lists · Magic words
(For beginners) · Sections · Sounds · Special Characters · Tables · Templates
Wiki markup
(Documentation · Index) · Transclusion · Image and video markup
(Tutorial) ·
Linking
Category · Abbreviations · Contents · Edit summaries · Essays · Glossary ·
Directories and glossaries
Index · Shortcuts · Tips

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This page was last edited on 20 February 2022, at 16:27 (UTC).

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