Share Your Knowledge by Adding to the Wiki



By sharing your knowledge, you can help build the Wiki. For help in that process, follow the information below.

Before you begin editing

 * Make sure that you Sign In to your FamilySearch account. If you don't have an account already, you will be directed to the Create Account page. There is never a fee for FamilySearch accounts.


 * If you do not have editing rights, request them by clicking on the link in the red text line at the top of every page.


 * Go to an article that you would like to edit or to which you would like to add additional information. Choose articles that are of special interest to you or about which you have specific knowledge.


 * If you want to edit the entire page, click on the Edit Source button at the top right of the page. (There is also a "Edit Source" link for each section in an article.)


 * The Edit Window will now open. There are two ways to edit the page - with the Edit (Virtual Editor) of Edit Source (Wikitext). The following two sections will illustrate both ways.

Editing with Wikitext

 * Wikitext may seem a little scary at first because it looks unusual. If you are new to editing, just avoid the following characters [ { < and ] } > As you gain more experience, you will want to learn how to use these additional functions. But for now just stick with the text functions as given below and you will do fine.


 * You can add space by pushing the Enter key.
 * You can insert text by clicking within a paragraph and either typing or paste.
 * You can delete text by using the Backspace key or Delete key.
 * You can move text by highlighting it, click on the highlight and hold for a second, then move to the place desired.
 * You can Italicize text by typing two apostrophes in front of the text and two behind. For example Italics results in Italics.
 * You can Bold text by typing three apostrophes in front of the text and three behind. For example BOLD results in BOLD.

When you are ready, see Help:Wiki markup for more editing possibilities.


 * Additionally, you can learn how to Create an internal link or Create an external link.

Mistakes

 * If you make a mistake, don't worry. It's not permanent. Either you can fix it or someone else will. The Family Search Research Wiki is very forgiving of mistakes.


 * If there are too many mistakes, it is even possible to revert back to a previous version. But use this option only as a last resort.

Finishing Up

 * When you have finished editing, scroll down to the bottom and add a short Edit Summary. For example, you can type: "Added links to digital newspapers".


 * Then click the Save page button. The page will now officially contain your changes. Everyone who looks at your page, from all around the world, will see the changes that you made. It feels good to help others.
 * Remember to click on 'Save page' every 10 minutes or so. If you wait longer the system will drop you. You will lose all the changes that you have made. If that happens, simply begin again from the top and make the changes a second time. It will take longer than you had planned but no harm has been done.

Create a New Article
Before you add a new article to the wiki, search first for the subject and then search again for the exact Title of the page you want to create. If an appropriate article already exists, don't create a new one. Just add the information to that existing article. This prevents duplication and confusion.


 * For Example: Suppose you want to create a new article called Scotland Clan Tartans.
 * Search on the keywords Scotland Clan Tartans.
 * If there is no such subject or article, at the top of the results page will show: Create the page "Scotland Clan Tartans" on this wiki! This shows up as Red because the article doesn't yet exist.

The best way to create a new article is to navigate to an existing article that should have a link to the one you want to create.


 * For example go to the Scotland article where you might want to create a link to Scotland Clan Tartans.
 * Make sure you have logged into the Family Search Wiki.
 * Click on the Edit This Page button at the right top of the page. If the Edit This Page does not appear on your page or does not open for you, try another browser.
 * Click in the Edit Window where you want the link located.
 * Type the following to create a new link - Two opening square brackets, then the name of the article you want to create, followed by two closing square brackets. For example Scotland Clan Tartans
 * Add a note at the bottom of the page to the Edit Summary field explaining what you did.
 * Click on the Save Page button. The article will show with a new link  Scotland Clan Tartans.  The link shows up as Red because the article doesn't yet exist.

Now to create this new article, click on the red link you just made. This will take you to an Editing page, at the top it shows You are on a page that has not yet been developed. You will now develop this page by creating it.


 * Click in the Edit Window and type in the text for your new article and/or copy the text from somewhere else and paste into the Edit Window.
 * When you are finished, add a note at the bottom of the page to the Edit Summary
 * Click on the Save Page button.

Congratulations, your new article has been created and there is already a link from another article to it. You will want to make more links to this new article. An article with few links might be listed to be deleted.

NOTE: Use the "Save" function often as you are writing the article. There is no autosave in the wiki. You may lose all of your work though an inadvertent click.

Additional Information

 * For more in-depth information about creating and editing articles on the wiki, visit these articles:




 * Editing a Page
 * Video Tutorial
 * Wiki Editing Tutorials and Lessons
 * Wiki guiding principles
 * Understand Wiki publishing policies