Help:New filters for edit review/Quick tour

This page introduces the main elements of the new recent changes filtering system controlled by the beta feature “New features for edit review.” The new tools, which appear initially on Special:RecentChanges and Special:RelatedChanges, will roll out to a widening circle of wikipedias starting in March 2017. [LINK HERE TO PAGE WITH RELEASE SCHEDULE]

= Parts of the new filtering interface = The discussion below introduces the four main elements of the new filtering interface, explains how each works, and offers advice for getting the most out of the new system.

Filter search bar
Click in the filter search bar to open the Dropdown Filter Panel (see below), which provides a menu of filter options. If you know the name of the filter you want to use, start typing the name; the dropdown panel will open and scroll directly to that filter.

Dropdown filter panel
The filter panel displays a list of filtering options. When you check the box next to a filter, that filter becomes active. Unlike previous RC Page filters, which were designed to exclude edits with certain properties, the new filters include  the property the filter names (e.g., the Registered filter searches for edits by registered users).

The filters are divided into groups. When no filters are selected in a group, all filters in that group are active; the effect is the same if  all filters in a group are checked.

To exclude edits with a particular property, leave the filter for that property unchecked and check all the other filters in its group. You’ll notice that the unchecked filters turn gray, to indicate they are inactive.

At the top of the dropdown panel is the Highlight results button. Click this button to display the Highlight menus (see below).

Highlight menus and highlighted results
Highlighting enables you to apply color to emphasize desired edit properties. Used correctly, this can help you more quickly identify the edits that are most important for your work.

To use highlighting, click the Highlight Results button at the top of the ; highlight menus will appear next to every filter option. Open the menu for the property you want to emphasize and select a color; the system will shade all edit results with that property.

You can apply as many colors as you like, though it’s best to be selective. If an edit possesses more than one highlighted property, the system shades that edit with a blend of the relevant highlight colors (e.g., combining yellow and blue to make green). Colored dots in the left margin next to the edit tell you what colors make up the blend.

Tip: You can use highlighting with filtering or independently of the associated filter. The latter can be very useful. For example, Juliet, a new page patroller, may be interested in knowing whether pages were created by registered or unregistered users. She could filter for New Pages and Unregistered, but then she’d see only that subset. Alternatively, she could filter for New Pages but simply color Unregistered, allowing her to easily spot the pages by unregistered users but to review more broadly as well.

Active filter display area
The Active Filter Display Area is designed to give you a quick read of your current filter and highlighting settings. When a filter is active or when that edit property is highlighted, a tag with the name of that filter appears in the display area. Highlighted filters show a dot indicating the highlight color.

On page load, the Active Filter Display Area shows a set of (universal) default filters along with any filters you’ve chosen as defaults in your Preferences. To remove all the active filters, click the Trashcan icon at the right side of the filter display area; a “Restore default filters” icon will take the Trashcan’s place. Click that link to restore the defaults along with your preferences.

You can deactivate an individual filter by clicking the X in its tag. If you click on the body of the tag, the dropdown filter panel opens and scrolls to where that filter is in the menu.

Tip: If you see filter tags that are grayed out, it means those filters have no effect. There are three possible reasons: If you don’t know why a filter tag is grayed, try hovering over it with your mouse to get an explanatory tooltip.
 * 1) Two selected filters in the same group are canceling each other out (e.g., both the Unregistered and Registered filters are selected). This setting causes no problems: the system will return edits with the selected criteria (just as it would if they were all unchecked.)
 * 2) One filter you’ve selected is a subset of the other (e.g., “Very likely have problems” is a subset of “May have problems”). In this case, the more selective filter has no effect, but again, it causes no problem. (Tip: you can differentiate the more selective group from the broader one by using   Highlighting.)
 * 3) The filter may be  Highlighted only, in which case you’ll also see a colored dot.

= Page elements not included in the beta = The New Filters for Edit Review beta changes much, but not all, of the Recent Changes filtering system. In Phase I of the project, the following functions will work much as they always have: For information about using any of these, go to meta:Help:Recent changes.
 * Results area: the design of the results area has changed only in very small ways.
 * Namespace filter and associated options
 * Tag filter
 * Show last 50 | 100 | 250 | 500 changes in last 1 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 30 days
 * Show new changes starting from... a certain date and time