Help:Edit toolbar

The toolbar will help you add features such as headings, links, images, references, and much more.

Opening the visual editor

To edit a page using the visual editor, press on the "Edit" tab at the top of the page. Pressing the "Edit source" tab will open the classic wikitext source editor which is for users who are familiar with wikitext coding.

Editor toolbar

You can also select the "edit" link within the wiki article.

Edit link within the article

Icons

Undo/redo:

To undo a change or redo a change you can utilize the arrows on the editor tool

Undo and redo buttons

Formatting paragraphs and headings:

A drop-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 (it is not necessary to highlight any text). Section titles are formatted "Heading", and subsections are "Sub-heading 1", "Sub-heading 2", and so on. The normal format for text is "Paragraph".

Paragraph formatting dropdown menu

Text formatting:

Pressing the "A" opens the text editor menu.

• The "Bold" item (B) bolds the selected text.
• The "Italic" item (I) italicizes the selected text.
• The "Superscript" item (x²) causes the selected text to appear smaller than surrounding text and to be slightly higher than the surrounding text.
• The "Subscript" item (x₂) causes the selected text to appear smaller than surrounding text and to be slightly lower than the surrounding text.
• The "Strikethrough" item (S) adds a solid bar through the selected text.
• 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 "Underline" item (U) adds a solid line beneath the selected text.
• The "Language" 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 "Remove", 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.

Text editor menu

Linking tool:

The chain icon is the linking tool.

Link tool

Pressing on it after selecting text opens the link dialogue. You can then paste your link into the box and save. This can link other wiki pages or an external link which you can select within the pop up.

Pop up window after selecting the link tool

Cite menu:

The "Cite" menu is used to add inline citations (also called "footnotes" or "references"). Instructions for adding a citation are located on the Help:References page.

Cite menu

Insert menu:

This is a list of all options that appear after selecting the "Insert" drop down menu on the toolbar.

• The "Media" icon (a picture of mountains) opens the media dialog.
• The "Template" icon (a puzzle piece) allows you to edit templates.
• The "Table" item allows you to insert a table.
• The "Comment" 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 "Gallery" icon (a set of photos) allows you to insert a gallery to the page.
• The "Chemical formula" allows you to insert a chemical formula to the page.
• The "Math formula" icon (Σ) opens the formula inserter dialog.
• 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 "References list" icon (three books) opens a dialog in which you can specify where references will be displayed to the reader. Usually this needs to be done only once on a page.

Insert menu

Special character insertion:

The "Special character" (Ω) icon is next to the "Insert" menu. When pressed, it displays a dialog showing many special characters. By pressing on a specific character, you place it into the text. These special characters include some standard symbols, diacritics, and mathematical symbols.

Special character insert

Save changes:

When you are finished editing, press the blue "Save changes" button in the toolbar. If you have made no changes, the button will be disabled (grayed out). To cancel all your editing changes, close your browser window, or press the "Read" tab above the edit toolbar.

Save changes button

Pressing the blue "Save changes" button opens a dialog. You can then enter a brief summary of your actions, mark your edit as minor, and/or add the page to your watchlist. You can also review your changes using the "Review your changes" button to confirm that they will function as intended before saving your changes.

Save changes pop up