Page semi-protected

Help:Contents

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Wikipedia help.png
This page provides assistance with the most common questions about Wikipedia.

To start, click on what you need assistance with below, or search all the help pages using the search box to the right. Or browse the Help menu or the Help directory.

HelpPage IconPack-06.png
HelpPage IconPack-03.png

Read or find an article

The Readers' FAQ and our about page contain the most commonly sought information about Wikipedia.

There is a search box in the upper-right corner of every page with the word "Search" in it. Just type what you are looking for in there and then press ↵ Enter. See Help:Searching for more details.

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.

HelpPage IconPack-01.png

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'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.

HelpPage IconPack-04.png

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 "I want to 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.

HelpPage IconPack-02.png

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.

HelpPage IconPack-05.png

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.

HelpPage IconPack-07.png

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.
  • Editor's index: for everything an editor needs to know to work on Wikipedia.
Protocols and conventions
Community related
Terms
  • Glossary: for Wikipedia jargon, with definitions.
  • Abbreviations: for various pages, processes, policies, and proposals.

Help by topic

Tip of the day

Custom signatures

Signatures in Wikipedia are identifying information that you put after writing a comment on a talk page. They tell other editors who wrote the comment and when. This can be done by writing ~~~~.

Signatures can optionally be spruced up with colors. To add color to your signature, go to the Preferences link at the top of the page. In the nickname box, enter [[User:MYUSERNAME|<font color="MYCOLOR">MYUSERNAME</font>]]. Replace "MYCOLOR" with a color you like, such as "red" or "green". Replace MYUSERNAME with your username. Finally, check the "raw signature" box, and save your preferences. Now, when you type four tildes ~~~~ in a talk page, your new signature will appear.

The color names that can be used in standard HTML are given in the standards document here. Using the hexadecimal RGB-style colors (such as #008000) you can choose any color you like from about sixteen million, not just the 140 colors that have names in standard HTML.

More complex signatures are possible; however, your signature as typed into the box above should not be unnecessarily long. Long signatures make pages larger and harder to edit, and are discouraged.

To add this auto-updating daily tip to your user page, use {{totd}}

Additional searches


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.
Shortcuts to this page: WP:HELPWP:HH:H