Tutorial:editing
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Welcome to the Wikipedia Tutorial. This is intended for users who have already learned about Wikipedia through the Introduction and are ready to get started. After reading this series of pages you will gain the basic skills and knowledge you'll need as you become a Wikipedian. For a hands-on tutorial, you can also attend one of our Wikipedia Bootcamps.
Each page will discuss a useful feature of the wiki software, a piece of style and content guidance, information about the Wikipedia community, or important Wikipedia policies and conventions.
Keep in mind that this is a tutorial, not a definitive policy page or an extensive manual. If you want more details, throughout the tutorial there are wiki links to other Wikipedia pages. Those pages have more information on the topics here. If you want to read them as you go along, you might want to open them in a separate window.
There will be links to "sandbox" pages where you can practice what you're learning. Try things out and play around. Nobody will get upset if you mess up an experiment in these practice areas, so play around and see what you can do.
Note: This Tutorial assumes you are using the default page layout. If you are logged in and have changed your preferences, the location of links on the screen may be different.
Ready? OK, let's begin!
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This is the most basic wiki feature of all: Edit this page! With the exception of a few protected pages, every wiki page has a link that says "edit this page". This link lets you do exactly what it says: edit the page you're looking at. Sites like these, where anyone can edit anything, are known as wikis. Try it in the /sandbox/, and then click on the "edit this page" link. You'll see the wiki code for that page. Add something fun or interesting like "Greg Graffin is the greatest singer ever!!!", then save it and see what you have done! There is more detail at Wikipedia:How to edit a page.
Show preview
An important feature to start using now is Show preview. Try making an edit in the /sandbox/, then clicking the Show preview button instead of Save Changes. This lets you see what the page will look like after your edit, before you actually save. We all make mistakes. This feature lets you catch them immediately. Using Show Preview before saving also lets you try format changes and other edits without cluttering up the page history, and has a number of other advantages. Don't forget to save your edits after previewing, though!
Edit summary
Before you hit Save, it's considered good practice to enter a very brief summary of your changes in the "Edit summary" box between the edit window and the Save and Preview buttons. It can be quite terse; for example if you just enter "typo," people will know you made a minor spelling or punctuation correction, or some other small change.
Play around in the /sandbox/ if you'd like, and then continue with the tutorial.
Continue with the tutorial.
