A proposed replacement layout for this page is being drafted at Wikipedia:Help portal. Your input is welcome.
Wikipedia is a free content encyclopedia that is being written collaboratively worldwide in over 200 languages. The following articles contain useful tips and information about reading, authoring, and participating in the Wikipedia community.
You can edit pages right now. See Introduction to Wikipedia. To ask questions about Wikipedia and get help editing articles, see The Wikipedia Help Desk. You can also ask the Helping Hand Group if you want a tutorial or help file to be improved or created.
Using Wikipedia
- All about Wikipedia
- How to explore Wikipedia
- How to download Wikipedia content
- How to search for an article
- How to use talk (discussion) pages
- How to create talk archive subpages
- How to use the Recent Changes page
- How to use the Related Changes page
- How to log in
- How to do research using Wikipedia
- How to customise your Wikipedia experience
- How to play media files in Wikipedia
- How to change your signature
Warning: Wikipedia may contain false information or offensive content. Read our disclaimer for more information.
Modifying a Wikipedia page
- Tutorial
- How to edit a page, including markup details. You can experiment with editing pages in the sandbox. (You can also carry out editing experiments "in situ" by editing the page itself and using the "Show Preview" button. Be careful not to accidentally save the page though! If you do, then revert your changes.)
- How to start a new page
- How to name a page
- How to use categories
- How to use images (and the image use policy)
- How to use redirect pages
- How to use tables
- How to use templates (and the available templates)
- How to upload files to Wikipedia
- How to add boilerplate text
- How to create pages for topics with several different definitions
- How to move and merge a page
- How to delete pages/images/categories
- How to link together Wikipedia articles in different languages
- How to link words in articles to articles on sister projects
- How to revert a page to an earlier version
- How to edit an article so long that you can't edit
- How to edit with an external editor
- How to edit mathematical formulae using TeX
- How to produce graphics for pages
- How to protect/unprotect pages (sysops only)
- How to do a purge
Information and resources for contributors
- Category:Wikipedia style guidelines
- Category:Wikipedia how-to for a full list of help topics
- Who writes Wikipedia, essential information to understand when reading articles (for new readers)
- Simplified ruleset, essential information to understand when editing articles (for new editors)
- Category:Wikipedia
- Frequently asked questions
- Policies and guidelines for contributors
- Glossary of common Wikipedia terms
- How to write a great article
- Manual of style
- Contributing to articles outside your native language
- WikiProjects, writing and style guidelines for specific disciplines
- Resolving disputes
- Wikipedia:Press Kit, resources for press enquiries
Sources
- Citing sources: How | Why | What is a reliable source
- Category:Wikipedia resources for researchers
- Public domain resources
Asking questions
- Requests for administrator attention, to get help from an administrator.
- Reference desk, request an article or information you can't find. See also Requested articles.
- Help desk for users with questions about Wikipedia or editing.
- Each article has a Talk page — click on the article's discussion link — to read or take part in discussions about the article.
- General Complaints, for discussing problems with the way Wikipedia is designed and making suggestions for improvement.
- Village pump is the place for technical and policy issues.
- The Helping Hand Group is the place for requests for improvement or creation of Wikipedia tutorials or help files.
Getting in touch
- Contact us
- Wikipedia mailing lists
- Chat with other users on IRC
- Bug reports and feature requests
- Wikipedians
- Meta Wikipedia, a site that works alongside the main Wikipedia project. Here you can post essays and discussions about topics related to Wikipedia.
- Contingency page for when the main Wikipedia server is down
MediaWiki
- MediaWiki User's Guide (links to another website) For those who have installed the MediaWiki software that runs this site, and need help using it.