Help:Contents

For other languages see the bottom of this page.

Introduction

MediaWiki is a free software wiki engine licensed under the GNU General Public License. It is used by many websites, including this one. On these help pages, you will find both a user and an administrator guide for using MediaWiki.

For readers

Reading

Go button
Searching
Words ignored when searching
Namespaces
Page names
Sections
What links here
Redirects
Categories
Image pages
Special pages
Printable version

Tracking changes

Recent changes (enhanced)
Related changes
Watching pages
Page history
Diff page
Edit summary
User contributions
Minor edit
Patrolled edit

Accounts

Logging in
Preferences
User style
Two-factor authentication

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For editors

Editing

Start new pages
Advanced editing
Editing FAQ
Edit toolbar
Renaming (moving) a page
Export
Import
Shortcuts
Edit conflict
Page size

Referencing

Links
URLs
Piped links
Interwiki linking
Footnotes (references, citations)

Formatting

Wikitext examples
Cascading style sheets (CSS)
Reference card
HTML in wikitext
Lists
Tables
Formula
Sorting
Colors
Images and file uploads

Fixing mistakes

Show preview
Testing
Reverting edits

Advanced functioning

Expansion
Templates
Advanced templates
Variables
Parser functions
Parameter defaults
System messages
Substitution
Arrays
Calculation
Transclusion

Other

Characters
Talk page
Signatures
Sandbox
Legal issues for editors (copyright)

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For administrators

Sysadmin's Guide
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MediaWiki architecture
Database layout
Job queue
Installation
Working with SVN
Installing the SVN tree
OS specific help
on Sourceforge.net
Timezone adjustments
Security `techy`
Security
Securing database passwords
User rights management
Resetting passwords
Configuration
Preventing Access
Configuration
Configuration settings
Apache config
Robots.txt
Shorter URLs
PHP config
MySQL config
PostgreSQL config
Tips and tricks
Customization
Skinning
Set Global Timezone
Localisation
Interwiki links
Custom navigation bar
Custom skins
Custom namespaces
MediaWiki extensions
Manage the database
Move a database
Reduce the size
Lock the database
Performance
PHP caching
File cache
Squid caching
Cache strategy
Wikimedia servers
As your site grows
Maintenance
Maintenance scripts
Upgrade MediaWiki
Math errors
LocalSettings.php

For moderators

Administration
Navigation bar
Special:CheckUser
View this alone

For MediaWiki hackers

Template:Hacker toc

Appendix

Miscellany

Contact

irc.freenode.net #mediawiki #wikipedia
Mailing lists
MediaWiki feature request

Links to other help pages

Help contents: Meta · Wikinews · Wikipedia · Wikiquote · Wiktionary · Commons: · Wikidata · MediaWiki · Wikibooks · Wikisource · MediaWiki: Manual · Google
Versions of this help page (for other languages see further): What links here on Meta or from Meta · Wikipedia · MediaWiki
Reading: Go · Search · Namespace · Page name · Section · Backlinks · Redirect · Category · Image page · Special pages · Printable version
Tracking changes: Recent changes (enhanced) | Related changes · Watching pages · Diff · Page history · Edit summary · User contributions · Minor edit · Patrolled edit
Logging in and preferences: Logging in · Preferences
Editing: Starting a new page · Advanced editing · Editing FAQ · Export · Import · Shortcuts · Edit conflict · Page size
Referencing: Links · URL · Interwiki linking · Footnotes
Style and formatting: Wikitext examples · CSS · Reference card · HTML in wikitext · Formula · Lists · Table · Sorting · Colors · Images and file uploads
Fixing mistakes: Show preview · Reverting edits
Advanced functioning: Expansion · Template · Advanced templates · Parser function · Parameter default · Magic words · System message · Substitution · Array · Calculation · Transclusion
Others: Special characters · Renaming (moving) a page · Preparing a page for translation · Talk page · Signatures · Sandbox · Legal issues for editors