Help:VisualEditor/FAQ

General

 * What's VisualEditor?
 * VisualEditor is a software development initiative by the Wikimedia Foundation that will allow people to edit pages in MediaWiki without needing to learn wikitext syntax. With VisualEditor, formatting pages will work very similarly to a word processor, in that the text will look while editing as it will after it is saved.


 * Why is this change being made?
 * The survey>strategy:Former Contributors Survey Results#Key findings|biggest barrier to making the first edit, and therefore the biggest barrier to beginning the path that could lead to someone becoming a valuable, experienced member of the community, is the complex wikimarkup used by the old editing window. To increase the number of successful first attempts at editing, we need a better editing system. For more details, please read our longer explanation here.


 * When will VisualEditor be enabled on my wiki?
 * This is the current schedule (it may change):
 * 24 June: A/B test on the English Wikipedia. VisualEditor is released by default to 50% of newly registered accounts.
 * 1 July: Deployment of the VisualEditor to the English Wikipedia, as the default, for all logged-in users.
 * 8 July: Deployment of the VisualEditor to the English Wikipedia, as the default, for anonymous and logged-in users.
 * 18 July: Deployment of the VisualEditor to first-tier Wikipedia wikis. The list is still to be determined, but will definitely include Wikipedia in German, French and Italian, for all users.
 * 29 July: Deployment of the VisualEditor to all other Wikipedia wikis, as the default, for all users, minus a few wikis (such as the Chinese Wikipedia) where the VisualEditor does not work.
 * Currently, the plan is to deploy to Wikipedia sites first, and to deploy it to sister projects by end of December 2013, due to the complexity of some of the changes necessary.


 * I found an issue with the VisualEditor. How can I tell you to fix it?
 * If you're willing and able, please bugreport>mw:Special:MyLanguage/How to report a bug|report the issue in bugzilla in the [https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=VisualEditor "VisualEditor" product]. Many wikis also have a wiki page dedicated to feedback about VisualEditor; see the list on Wikidata. There is also a central feedback page on mediawiki.org.


 * How do I disable VisualEditor?
 * To continue to edit the wikitext directly, simply click the "Edit source" button instead of "Edit". If you want section edit links to open the classic wikitext editor as well, open prefs>Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-editing|your preferences and enable the option called "Use the wikitext editor for editing sections while VisualEditor is in beta".


 * A feature is missing in VisualEditor. How do I ask you to add it?
 * Some features are currently being developed or planned (like editing around images and templates). The roadmap>mw:Roadmap#VisualEditor|Roadmap and the goals>mw:Wikimedia Engineering/2013-14 Goals#VisualEditor|Wikimedia engineering draft goals for 2013–2014 provide some additional information as well. If you can't find any reference to the new feature you'd like to suggest, you can submit it using the same process used to report an issue.


 * Will it still be possible to edit using wikitext after VisualEditor becomes the primary editing interface?
 * While the VisualEditor will become the default editing environment, a method for editing the underlying “source” text will continue to exist. There are no plans to remove the “Edit source” option.


 * Aren’t you worried by the potential for a large increase in vandalism?
 * One of the goals of the randomly selected testing done in June is to find that out. Realistically speaking, we think that those who come with the intent to vandalize are probably doing it now. It’s just as fast (if not faster) to hit the “Edit” button and blank a page than to do the same thing using VisualEditor.


 * Does VisualEditor work with Wikisource's ProofreadPage, or Wiktionary's templates, and other features that Wikipedia doesn't have?
 * VisualEditor is currently only enabled on Wikipedia sites, but it was designed to be flexible enough to be used on most Wikimedia sites. In the six months between the deployment to Wikipedia and the deployment to its sister sites, developers will work to make sure VisualEditor works well with features specific to sister sites.


 * Can I install VisualEditor on my personal wiki outside Wikimedia?
 * Yes, at your own risk. The VisualEditor and Parsoid extensions are available for download but they're still experimental. If you do install and use them, please let us know what worked and what didn't [https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=VisualEditor in bugzilla].


 * Where do I go to learn more about using VisualEditor?
 * Please see the userguide>mw:Special:MyLanguage/Help:VisualEditor/User guide|VisualEditor User guide.


 * Does VisualEditor make automatic fixes to pages?
 * In general, VisualEditor should never make changes to formatting on lines that are not being directly edited.


 * My question isn't here. Where do I ask?
 * You can ask on the VisualEditor feedback page on your wiki (see the list on Wikidata) or on the central feedback page on mediawiki.org.