Help:VeesualEediter/Uiser guide

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Apenin VeesualEediter

Tae eedit ae page uisin VeesualEediter, clap oan the "Eedit" tab at the tap o the page.

It can tak ae few seiconts fer the page tae apen fer eeditin, n langer gif the page is awfa lang.

Clapin oan the "Eedit soorce" tab will apen the classeec wikitex soorce eediter.


Foreby, ye can apen VeesualEediter bi clapin oan the "eedit" link oan ilka section.

Gettin stairtit: the VeesualEediter tuilbaur

Screenshot of the visual editor's toolbar
The VeesualEediter tuilbaur kiths at the tap o the screen whan ye begin eeditin throoch VeesualEediter. It incluids some fameeleear icons:

Undae n Redae the chynges that ye'v dun.

Headings pull-down menu: allows you to change how the paragraph is formatted. To change the style of a paragraph, put your cursor in the paragraph and select an item in this menu (you don't have to highlight any text). Section titles are formatted "Heidin", and subsections are "Sub-heidin 1", "Sub-heidin 2", and so on. The normal format for text is "Alinea".

Formatting: Pressing the "A" opens a menu.

  • The "Baud" icon (B) bauds the selectit tex.
  • The "Italeec" icon (I) italeecises the selectit tex.
  • The "Superscreept" icon (x2) causes the selectit tex tae kith smawer than the surroondin tex n slichtlie ablo the line.
  • The "Subscreept" icon (x2) causes the selectit tex tae kith smawer than the surroondin tex n slichtlie abuin the line.
  • The "Cross-oot" icon (S) eiks ae solid baur throoch the selectit tex.
  • The "Computer code" item (a set of curly brackets: {}) changes the font of the selected text to a monospaced font, which sets it apart from surrounding (proportionally spaced) text.
  • The "Unnerline" item (U) adds a solid line beneath the selected text.
  • The "Leid" item (文A) allows you to label the language (for example, Japanese) and direction (for example, right-to-left) of the selected text.
  • The final item (), called "Clear stylin", removes all character formatting from the selected text, including links.

If you have not selected any text, then when you press the "A" to open the menu, and then select an item, that formatting will apply to the text that you start typing, from wherever your cursor is located.


Linking tool: The chain icon is the linking tool. Pressing on it (usually after selecting some text) opens the link dialog.

Soorce menu: The "Soorce" menu is used to add inline citations (also called "footnotes" or "references"). All projects have access to basic reference formatting and the ability to reuse citations by using this menu.

Soorce button: If the Citoid service and/or citation tool is enabled on your wiki, you will see a Soorce button instead of a Soorce menu.

Instructions for adding local citation templates to the "Manual" tab at a specific wiki are available at VisualEditor/Citation tool .)

Instructions for enabling the Automatic tab are available at Enabling Citoid on your wiki

The citoid service tries to fill out citation templates automatically.


Leets & indentation: The first twa icons permit ye tae cræft nummert or bullet leets, respecteevelie. The laist twa permit ye tae mak muckler or smawer the indentation level o content.

Insert: The "Insert" puldoon oan the VeesualEediter tuilbaur leads til several addeetional optional actions, incluidin eikin referances n transcluidin templates. The "Insert" puldoon micht be differant oan some waurks. Ablo is ae leet o aw opties that micht kith.
  • The "Media" icon (ae pictur o moontains) apens the media dialog.
  • The "Template" icon (a puzzle piece) allows you to edit templates.
  • The "Table" item allows you to insert a table.
  • The "Mak jottin" item (a speech balloon) allows you to insert comments that are not visible to readers; these comments can be seen only when in edit mode, where they are indicated by an exclamation mark icon. In edit mode, pressing on the exclamation mark icon allows you to edit or delete the comment.
  • The "Hierigleephs" icon (an ankh symbol - ☥) allows you to enter the hieroglyphics inserter. (See below.)
  • The "Code block" item allows you to insert code.
  • The "Musical notation" item allows you to insert a musical notation.
  • The "Gallarie" icon (ae set o photæs) permits ye tae insert ae gallerie oantil the page.
  • The "Math formula" icon (Σ) opens the formula inserter dialog.
  • The "Graph" item allows you to insert a graph.
  • The "Your signature" item allows you to insert a signature that you use on the project. It will be greyed out (not selectable) when you are editing a type of page (a "namespace "), such as an article, where signatures should not be inserted.
  • The "Referances leet" icon (three buiks) apens ae dialog tae displey referances.

Special character insertion: The "Special character" icon permits yae tae summin ae subwindae wi ae nummer o byordinar chairachters that ye can steid intil the tex. Thir incluid some staundairt simbils, accents n mathemateecal simbils. (This list may be customized locally. See VisualEditor/Special characters for instructions.)

The Edit notices button displays any notices for the page.

The Page opties menu is to the left of the Furthset chynges button and the Switch editor menu. On this menu there is a button to open an Opties dialog with the following (left side) tabs:
  • Categeries allows you to add categories to this page and to adjust how the page is sorted, when displayed within a category by setting a different index to sort with.
  • Page settins allows you to make the page a redirect and adjust options of this redirect, to adjust settings regarding the displaying of the Table of Contents, to disable the edit links next to each heading, and to define the page as a disambiguation page.
  • Advanced settins allows you to adjust the settings regarding indexation of the page by search engines, showing a tab to add a new section, and the displayed title.
  • Languages shows a list of pages in other languages that are linked to that page.
  • Templates used shows a list of links to each template used on this page.

The tabs of the Opties dialog are also displayed in the Page opties menu and can be opened by clicking on it. Furthermore the Page opties menu contains the items View as left-tae-richt or View as right-to-left and the item Rake fer and chynge, which opens a bar, where you can insert words or regular expressions you are searching for and those to replace them with, together with several buttons for options.


The Switch editor button is next to the Furthset chynges button. It allows you to switch to the wikitext editor.

Hainin chynges

Whan ye'r dun eeditin clap the green "Furthset chynges" button in the tuilbaur. The green button canna be clapt gif nae chynges were dun. To cancel all your editing changes, close your browser window, or press the "Read" tab above the edit toolbar.

Pressin the green "⧼visualeditor-toolbar-savedialog⧽" button apens ae smaw dialog whaur in ye can enter ae brief ootline o yer actions, maurk yer eedit aes smaw, n chuise tae watch futur eedits oan the page.

The nummer indicates hou muckle space is left in yer eedit ootline. Forby, ye can luikower yer chynges tae be sair that thay wairk aes intended afore hainin yer chynges.

The "Conteena makin chynges" button returns you to the page you were editing. You can publish all of your changes later.

Eeditin airtins

Airtins can be eikit throoch the "Airtin" icon (airtins in ae chain) in the tuilbaur, or bi uisin the shortcut Ctrl+K (or ⌘ Command+K oan ae Mac).

If you select (highlight) text and then press the "Airtin" button, that text will be used in creating the link. For a link that involves only one word, you can either select that word or just put the cursor within that word.


Whather ye uise the button or the shortcut, ae dialog will apen, whaur in ye can type the airtin. VeesualEediter will ettle tae heelp wi internal airtins (airtins til ither pages o Wikipædia) bi seekin likelie matches aes ye begin tae type.

The link tool will try to help with internal links by searching for likely matches. Yince ye'v entered or selectit the airtin, ye can press ↵ Enter, clap ootside the kist, or press the claise icon (<). Yer airtin will kith oan the VeesualEediter page, bit it will na be hained ontil ye hain the page.


Tae airt til ae wab page ootside Wikipædia, the process is the same; jist enter the link in the field n it will be added aes "Ootby airtins".

External links without labels look like this: [1]. You can add these by placing your cursor away from any word (e.g., after a space). Open the link tool by pressing on the button or pressing the shortcut keys. Type the URL in the box, and press the "Duin" button to insert the link.

To change or remove an existing link, press within the text for that link, then press the "Airtin" icon that appears near it. The dialog will appear, for editing. You can also get to the dialog with the Ctrl+K keyboard shortcut. When a link is selected, it appears as blue framed.

Ye can than eedit the airtin's tairget, or remuiv it awthegather bi pressin the "Remove" icon (ridd bin) in the tap-richt corner o the dialog. You can also open the link's target in another window by pressing on the copy of the link in the dialog box. (You might want do this to check if an external link is valid.)

If you want to exit the link label (the text displayed as a link) or continue to write after this link, you can press :

  • Pressing it once will escape the link editing dialog and put your cursor at the end of the element linked (blue framed, to edit this element)
  • Pressing it twice will put the cursor after the element linked, ready to type the rest of your text.

To edit the link label of an existing link, press within the link label and type the new one. But if you want to replace the entire label, please note:

  • If you have selected (highlighted) the entire link label, the link will be deleted by typing any key.
  • To edit the link label directly without deleting it, put the cursor within that link label, use the backspace and delete keys (no more than necessary), and a narrow blue link area will remain there. Now you may type in the new label for the kept link.
  • You can also link to categories, files and more.

Eeditin referances

For further information, see Help using citation templates or Help using citoid's Automatic tab

Determining which system is in place

Your wiki may use one of three footnote systems. The one shown on the right is the simplest system, where the "Soorce" menu does not include any citation templates. If your wiki uses this system, then everything you need to know about footnotes is on this page.

In the second system, you again start by pressing the Soorce button. Then a dialog box opens, which includes several popular citation templates set up for quick access in the "Manual" tab. If your wiki uses this system, then you will find more details at Help:VisualEditor/User guide/Citations-Templates

In the third system, you again start by pressing the Soorce button. Then a dialog box opens, which includes an automatic citation process using the citoid service under the Automatic tab. If your wiki uses this system, you will find more details at Help:VisualEditor/User guide/Citations-Full

Eeditin aen exeestin referance

To edit an existing reference, press on it where it appears in the text (usually as a bracketed number). You will see either a "Reference" icon (bookmark) or an icon (and name) for the template that was used to create this reference. In either case, pressing on the "Chynge" button will open a dialog where you can edit the reference.

For the "Reference" icon, pressing "Chynge" opens the reference dialog. To start changing the reference information, press on it.

Monie wikis uise templates tae format referances accordin til ae speceefeec staundairt. Ye'll see this gif ye eedit aen exeestin referance whase content turns blue whan ye select it.

If a template was used and you press on the reference information, then the Template icon (puzzle piece) will appear with some information. Press on the "Chynge" button to edit the content of the template in the template editor dialog.


If what appears when you press on a reference is an icon for a standard template for citations (an example is at right), then pressing "Chynge" will open the template editor dialog.

Inside the template editor, you can add or remove types of information or change current content. Only fields (template parameters) that have content will show, initially. To add fields, press on "Add" at the bottom of the editor.

Clap oan "Applie chynges" whan ye'r dun.

Reuisin aen exeestin referance

If the page already contains a citation that applies to the text you want to source, then you can choose to re-use that existing citation.

Tae reuise aen exeestin referance, place yer curser whaur ye want tae add it in the tex, n clap on the "⧼visualeditor-dialogbutton-reference-tooltip⧽" icon (buikmaurk) fae the "Insert" menu.

(Note: If your wiki has the second or third footnote system described above, you'll see a "Re-uise" tab, in a dialog, instead of a "Re-uise" item on the "Soorce" menu.)


Gif thaurs monie referances, ye can uise the rake baur (labeled "Rak in current soorces") tae yinlie displey referances that match ae gien tex.

Adding ae new referance

Tae eik ae new referance, place yer curser whaur ye want tae add it in the tex, n clap oan the "⧼visualeditor-dialogbutton-reference-tooltip⧽" icon (buikmaurk) in the "Insert" puldoon oan the tuilbaur. Then click "Basic".

Using the "Basic" citation

Shown here is what you will see if you select the basic references item. In the referance eediter, ye can eik, eedit n format yer citation.

Ye can mak the referance belang til ae gien groop; this is uised tae displey groops o referances wi the "⧼visualeditor-dialog-referencelist-title⧽" tuil.


Gif ye'r eikin ae new referance n ye want tae include ae template in it, clap the Template icon (puzzle piece) in the puldoon "Insert" tuilbaur o the referance eediter.

Than, seek the template that ye want tae uise, eik it n eedit it aes ye wid aen exeestin template.

Clap oan "Apply changes" tae return til the refarence eediter, n "Apply changes" again tae return til the page.


Gif thaur's na awreadie ae leet o referances oan the page (fer example, gif ye'r addin the first referance o the page), ye need tae eik it in order fer the tex o yer referance tae be displeyed.

Place the curser whaur ye want tae displey referances (uissuallie at the bottom o the page), n clap the "⧼visualeditor-dialog-referencelist-title⧽" icon (three buiks) tae eik it.


Gif ye cræftit groops o referances, ye can speceefie ae groop in this dialog, tae selecteevelie displey referances that belang til it.

The final step in the References list dialog is to press "Insert".

Using standard cite templates

Your local wiki may have added extra citation templates to the "Soorce" menu. If so, you have quick access to the most-used citation templates for your wiki. (Instructions for adding extra citation templates to your local wiki are available at VisualEditor/Citation tool .)

Pressing on a template icon such as "Cite book" will take you into the template editor for that template. Important information fields may be marked with an asterisk. While the most common fields will be shown, not all of them are required.

To add more parameters, scroll down in the template editor and press on the "Add" option.

Press on "Insert" when you are done.

Editing images and other media files

Editing images

Tae eik ae new eemage (or anither type o media file) til the page, clap the "Media" icon (ae pictur o moontains) in the "Insert" puldoon menu. The eemage will be eikit whaurever yer cursor is.

Clapin oan the "Media" icon apens ae dialog that autæmateeclie rakes Wikimedia Commyns fer media files sib til the page that ye'r eeditin.

Ye can seek ither media files bi chyngin the tex in the dialog's rake kist.

Clap oan ae thummnail tae chuise ae file.

This places the image onto the page you are editing.


The media dialog permits ye tae eik (n eedit) ae caption, that can contain formattin n airtins.

The media dialog permits ye tae eik alternateeve tex captions aes weel, this heelps uisers that uise screen readers, or that hae disabled eemage displey.

Ye can set vareeis boondins fer the eemage in the "Advanced settins" windae aes weel. Thir incluid its alignment, its type, n its size.

Whan ye dun, clap "Applie chynges" tae claise the dialog n return til the page eediter.

For an existing image, you can add or edit a caption or other settings by pressing on the image, then pressing on the "Media" icon that appears below the picture.

You can resize an existing image by pressing on it, then moving the resize icon (the two-headed arrow on one or both bottom corners).

You can also drag and drop an image to a place higher or lower on the page.

Uploading images

You can upload images from a tab in the media dialog, or by dragging and dropping a file into the editor, or by pasting an image from your clipboard.

Press the "Upload" tab and select an image from your computer. You can type the file name, or drag an image into the box. If you dragged and dropped an image directly into the editor, or pasted one from your clipboard, this tab will open automatically.

You need to describe the image and add categories to it so that other people can find it.

The image will be inserted into the page when you are done.

Editing media galleries

Tae eik ae new gallerie, clap the "Gallarie" icon (ae set o photæs).

Tae eedit aen exeestin gallerie in VeesualEediter, clap oan the gallerie tae cause the icon tae kith in the upper richt corner. Clapin oan the icon will summin the gallerie inserter kist wi the ful leet o eemages incluidit in the gallerie. Ye can eedit this leet tae remui, eik or rearrange eemages or tae alter captions. Onfortunatelie, ye canna see the chynges that ye'v dun the nou ontil ye clap oan the cair triangle (<) tae exit the inserter. Yince ye'v finished modifiein the gallerie, be sair tae hain the entire page - exitin the gallerie inserter will na hain yer chynges.
This will apen the gallerie inserter, this is ae simple kist the nou that wairks siclyk til wikitex maurkup. Tae eik eemages til yerr gallerie, ye'll need tae incluid the file name, follaed bi ae baur (|) n the caption ye wid lik fer the eemage. Ilka eemage in the gallerie shid hae its ain line. Yince ye'v eikit aw o the eemages that ye'd lik in yer gallerie, clap the cair triangle (<) tae exit the inserter. Ye shid see yer gallerie aes it will kith. Please mynd that yer gallerie will na hain ontil ye hain the page. You can also edit this list to remove or rearrange images or to change captions.

When you press the "Duin" button, you will exit the gallery editor. You should then see your changes, with the gallery as it will now appear to readers.

Remember that exiting the gallery editor does not publish your changes. As with other changes made using the visual editor, you must publish the entire page in order to publish your work.

Editing templates

The powerful MediaWiki template system lets you insert dynamic content, text from other pages, and much more. For a detailed explanation and examples, see the Templates help page.

In the VisualEditor you can search for a relevant template, add an invocation or transclusion on the page you’re editing and, if needed, add custom content using parameters.

Insert new template

Tae eik ae new template til the page, steid yer curser whaur ye want the template tae be inserted, n clap oan the "$template" icon (puzzle piece) in the "$insert" puldoon menu oan the tuilbaur. Then open the Insert menu and select " Template". Alternatively, type two curly brackets {{ to open the same dialog.
Find the template you want to insert by typing either its name or a relevant keyword. Results containing the search term in either the name or description will display in a dropdown. This should help you find a relevant template, even if you don’t know its exact name.

If you’re having trouble finding the kind of template you want by using keywords, you can look on other wiki pages with similar content and view or edit the page source to see which templates are in use. When you find the desired template’s name, you can type it into this field to insert it here.

Screenshot of the template search field in the Visual Editor

You can also edit a template that’s already on a page. When you select the template you want to edit, it turns blue, and a box appears displaying " Template". Then select the "Eedit" link or double click on the template itself to open the template.
Screenshot of the VisualEditor interface with a template selected

Some templates are not visible to someone reading a page. In the visual editor, such hidden templates are still shown so that you can click and edit or delete them. The name of the template will be shown next to the puzzle icon and both will be grayed out.
Screenshot of hidden templates in the Visual Editor interface

Template parameters

You’ll see this dialog box when you’re adding a new template or editing one already in place. What you see in the box depends on whether the template in question contains TemplateData , helpful metadata added by other editors to make it easier to edit templates in the Visual Editor.

When a template contains TemplateData, the VisualEditor can use it to present annotated fields for you to fill in.


For templates that have some community-provided TemplateData, the VisualEditor displays a list of the named parameters and, often, descriptions and instructions explaining the meaning and required format for each parameter’s values.

Screenshot of template parameters in the Visual Editor interface
Template parameters in the Visual Editor interface

You can disable any optional parameter (which have blue checkboxes on the left side). If a parameter’s checkbox is grayed out and not clickable, the template requires that parameter, so it can’t be disabled.

When you insert a new template, you may find that some optional parameters are pre-selected. That means the author(s) of the template recommends the use of those parameters. It’s best to review all parameters that will be used in a template to ensure you understand their use.

Clicking an unchecked parameter adds it to the template. Clicking a parameter that’s already been added takes you to the parameter’s input field.

Some template parameters will show as “deprecated”. Don’t use deprecated parameters when inserting a template; they’re only visible to you because those parameters are in use on older pages where this template was included.

Screenshot of template parameters in the Visual Editor interface
Interface for adding more parameters to a template in the VisualEditor

Adding undocumented parameters

If you’re inserting or editing a template whose author hasn’t laid out its parameters in TemplateData, it has what we call “undocumented” or “unnamed parameters”. In these cases, you should consult the page for the template itself. There you can learn how to correctly employ and work with all of the template’s parameters. This includes learning the exact names of the parameters as written by the template author.

If you find in the documentation that the template expects parameters without names, fill in numbers as placeholders for the parameter names using the undocumented parameter input, then add text to the values you want to provide as you normally would.

Example:

  • first unnamed parameter: “1”
  • first unnamed parameter’s value: “en_US”
  • second unnamed parameter: “2”
  • second unnamed parameter’s value: “yes”

If you accidentally include nonexistent, misspelled or erroneous parameters, the values you enter for those parameters won’t show up on the page you’re editing.

Screenshot of a template missing TemplateData
Template without TemplateData in the Visual Editor

Autogenerated parameters

In this example, the template in question lacks TemplateData but it was possible to autogenerate the parameters. This means that the undocumented parameters have already been added for you, but the names may not be easily understandable and the dialog cannot display any directions or descriptions. As a result the dialog box provides a link to the template’s documentation, which should help you deduce and fill in the template’s various parameters.

Editing multi-part template content

During editing, you may open template content consisting of multiple templates or a single template linked to some wikitext. This differs from the nested templates described below. In this case, the templates are better visualized as being stacked or connected.

This content often contains “unbalanced templates,” templates which are incomplete on their own and need to be paired with some wikitext or another template in order to function.

These related pieces of template content must be created in wikitext, but can be edited in the VisualEditor. In these cases you will see a notice at the top of the dialog to signal the situation and a specialized toolbar will be visible at the bottom of the sidebar. There you can use the icon buttons to add additional templates, additional wikitext, delete elements or change their order.

Screenshot of the interface to edit multi-part template content in the VisualEditor
Editing multi-part template content in the VisualEditor

Nested templates

Templates can include other templates as the value for parameters. You’ll recognize it when you see a parameter whose value contains the double curly braces ( {{ }} ) denoting a template.

The VisualEditor can’t present this template within a template (a nested template) using the editor’s easy-to-use interface, so if you want to nest a template yourself, you’ll need to understand how to add the template by hand in wikitext into the appropriate parameter field.

Screenshot of the VisualEditor template interface showing an embedded template
Embedded template in the VisualEditor

Completing your edit

When you have finished editing a template, you can click "Applie chynges". Then you can preview your edit and make sure it looks the way you want and expect.

You may also see an error message, which (like the other TemplateData mentioned above) is community-provided content and may vary in usefulness. You may need to consult the template’s own documentation to get to the bottom of some errors. If you’re still having trouble, consider posting about your problem on the template’s talk page.


Removing a template

To remove a template in the VisualEditor, click the template box. Press the "Delete" or "Backspace" key on your keyboard. The template will disappear from the page.
Screenshot of the button to remove a template
Removing a template in the VisualEditor

Editing on mobile

When editing a template on a page using the VisualEditor on a mobile device, you’ll see that the sidebar starts out hidden. You can make it visible by pressing the “Show/hide options” button.
Screenshot of editing a template on a mobile device
Editing a template on mobile in the VisualEditor

Substitutin templates

When you insert a template in a wiki page, its content and appearance are reevaluated every time the page loads, based on the template code and the values of its parameters. This means if someone updates the code of a template, then every page which uses that template will also get updated when they publish.

There’s another, much less common way to use templates, though, and that’s to substitute a template. Doing this permanently includes the template content just as it appears at the moment you insert it. It will not update if the template code is later changed.

Most users won’t ever need to resort to substitution. Substitution is typically only useful when you need to capture the exact appearance of one version of a template, such as when content is under development and needs evaluation.

To substitute a template in the VisualEditor, insert a template using the name syntax subst:<template name>. Then press the blue “Add” button.

When you’re finished, press “Insert”, which will insert the template content as you see it.

Screenshot of editor using SUBST to add a template
Adding a template using SUBST in the VisualEditor

Editing lists

You can use the visual editor to create lists, or to change the format of an existing list. There are two types of lists: unordered (bullet) and ordered (numbered).

To start a new list, just press on one of the two menu items shown here. Or, if you already have typed the list (on separate lines), select (highlight) the list you have typed, then press on one of the menu items.


Shown here are examples of the two types of lists: unordered (bullet) and ordered (numbered).

If you want to change the indentation level of part of an existing list, select the part of the list that you want to change.

Then use the menu, or press the Tab key. (The Tab key increases indentation; use the shift key plus the Tab key to decrease indentation)

Here is the result of increased indentation.

You can even mix ordered (numbered) and unordered (bullet) lists, if the list items have different indentations.

Editing tables

You can use the visual editor to insert and change tables.

You can even import a table by dragging a comma-separated value (.csv) file from your computer into the main editing window.


When you press on "Table", in the "Insert" menu, the visual editor inserts a blank four-by-four table.

Now the "Table" menu is available. From that menu, you can add a caption to the top of the table.


To select a cell, press it once.

To edit the contents of the cell (for example, to add content or to correct a spelling error), double press in the cell. Or you can select the cell and then press Return.

To end your editing of a cell, just press elsewhere.


You can add, move or delete a column or a row.

You can merge cells: Select them, then from the Table menu, press on "Merge cells".

If you merge cells, only the text in one cell is kept; any text in the other cells is deleted when you merge the cells. If you decide that you wanted some or all of the text that was deleted, use the Undo button, move or copy the text you want, then merge the cells again.

You can also split cells that were previously merged. All the content that was in the merged cell will remain in the first cell when you do the split. You can then cut and paste text to other cells, if you want.

Eeditin categeries

The "Page opties" puldoon menu apens access til the "Categeries" button.

The "Categeries" button apens ae dialog that leets exeestin categeries n permits ye tae eik new catergeries.

You also have the option of setting or changing the general (default) sorting key, which determines where the page appears when listed with other pages in the same category.

For example, the default sorting key for the article "George Washington" is "Washington, George". In the category "Presidents of the United States", the article is listed under the letter "W", not the letter "G".


To add a category for a page, type the name of the category into the field "Eik ae categerie". As you type, the visual editor will search for possible matching, existing categories. You can either select an existing category, or you can add a category that doesn't yet have its own category page. (Until that category page is created, your new category will show as a red link after you publish all your editing changes.)

Tae remuiv aen exeestin categerie, clap oan it n clap oan the "Remuiv" icon (ridd bin) in the dialog that apens.

Pressing on a category also allows you to specify a sorting key for that specific category. Such a sorting key overrides the default sorting key.


Clap "Applie chynges" whan ye'r dun eeditin categeries tae return til the page eediter.

Eeditin page settins

Tae eedit ae page's settins, clap tae apen the "Page opties" puldoon menu in the tuilbaur n select the "Page settins" button.

The "Page settins" button apens ae pane that shaws vareeis opties sib til the page.

Ye can mak ae page ae reguidal til anither page bi checkin the "Reguid this page ti" checkkist, n than selectin in the kist ablo the page that ye want this page tae point til.

At the bottom is the optie tae hinder page renames updatin this reguidal, this is uised awfa rarelie.


Ye can chynge whather the page shaws ae Buird o Contents bi selectin yin o thir three buttons. Bi defaut, pages will shaw ae Buird o Contents gif thaur's three or mair heidin, this is whit "Gif needit" will dae.

Ye can mak ae page na shaw eedit kists nex til ilka section heider bi checkin this checkkist.

Clap "Applie chynges" whan ye'r dun eeditin page opties tae return til the page eediter.

Editing maps

You can add and change maps. See Help:VisualEditor/Maps .

Eeditin mathemateecal formulae

Tae eik ae new mathemateecal formula til the page, steid yer curser whaur ye want it tae be inserted, n clap oan the "Math formula" icon ("Σ") in the "Insert" puldoon menu oan the tuilbar.

A window will open in which you can type the formula, using LaTeX syntax. the visual editor will update the formula as you type it, so you can see how it will look as you make changes. Once you are happy with the formula, press the "Insert" button.

Tae eedit aen exestin mathematecal formula oan the page, clap oan it n than clap oan the "Σ" icon in the menu that kiths. This will apen the windae, n lat ye mak some chynges.

Mathematical formulae can be placed inline or centered as a block.

Editing musical scores

To add a new musical notation to a page, place your cursor where you want the musical notation to be inserted. Then, from the "Insert" menu on the toolbar, press the "Musical notation" option.

To edit an existing musical notation on the page, double press on it.


This will open the "Musical notation" dialog. Here the notation can be edited by scale, either in ABC or in Lilypond format. You can also link the notation to an audio or MIDI file. Once you are finished, press the "Done" button to close the dialog and publish your changes.

Eeditin poems n ither biordinair eetems

Some eetems, like poems n museec scores ar na yet supportit bi VeesualEediter. Ontil thay ar, ye'll need tae eedit the soorce wikitex directlie gif ye want tae alter or eik thir.

In most cases, the existing items can be edited, but new ones cannot be inserted in the visual editor.

Until they are fully supported, you can copy an existing one from another page, or edit the source wikitext directly.


Switching between the visual and wikitext editors

To switch from the visual editor to the wikitext editor, press the [[ ]] button on the far right of the toolbar.


You'll see a diff. (If you pressed on "Discard edits", you'll just see wikitext, ready to edit with the wikitext editor.)

Scroll down, and you'll see the wikitext editing area.


You can also switch from the wikitext editor to the visual editor. To do that, press the pencil icon on the far right of the toolbar.

Keybuird shortcuts

Monie eediters ar uissed tae enterin wikitex directlie, especiallie baud, italeecs n wikilinks. Keybuird shortcuts permit ye tae quicklie insert siclike formattin wioot haeing tae clap the tuilbaur buttons. Commyn general shortcuts, n some uised bi ither eediters, function in VeesualEediter:

PC shortcut Action Mac shortcut

Ctrl+B Baud ⌘ Cmd+B

Ctrl+I Italeecs ⌘ Cmd+I

Ctrl+K Insert airtin ⌘ Cmd+K

Ctrl+X Cut ⌘ Cmd+X

Ctrl+C Copie ⌘ Cmd+C

Ctrl+V Paste ⌘ Cmd+V

Ctrl+Z Ondae ⌘ Cmd+Z

Also see the full list of all keyboard shortcuts .