Wikipedia:VisualEditor/FAQ

MainFAQUser GuideNamed refsUpdatesNewsletter MediaWiki

If you would like to try VisualEditor without editing an article, here is a page where you can freely do so. You don't need an account to use it.

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• Main page
• Feedback at MediaWiki
• Sandbox (no account required)

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About

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• Documentation:
  • Introductory tutorial
  • User guide
  • Keyboard shortcuts
  • Frequently Asked Questions (or at MediaWiki)
• Development:
  • Roadmap up to 2017
  • Updates (2013-2023)
  • Weekly status reports (2015-2016)

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Help out

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• Update the help pages
• Add template data (Tutorial)
• Translate and localize documentation

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Research

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• Main research page

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Other

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• Why are the developers building this? (2013)
  • User Test Data (2013)
• Customization
• Known problems
• Requests for Comments (RfCs): Jul 2013 a, Jul 2013 b, Jul 2015, Sep 2015

What is VisualEditor?

VisualEditor is a way to edit pages that looks more like a word processor. It was first offered here in 2013.

How do I enable VisualEditor?

VisualEditor is available alongside the original wikitext editor if you opt-in, by changing your preferences. It is currently not available to unregistered users at the English Wikipedia, unless they switch modes while editing.

Why is this change being made?

Some people who could become productive, experienced members of the community are turned off upon attempting their first edit in wikitext "source" mode. Some edits, such as adding or rearranging columns to a table in wikitext, are difficult even for experienced editors.

Where do I go to learn more about how to use VisualEditor?

Please see the VisualEditor User guide.

Does VisualEditor make automatic fixes to pages?

In most cases, VisualEditor will not change or reformat lines that are not being directly edited. If markup already on the page is handled incorrectly (for example, with tables that are not closed), then it may attempt to correct these.

Will it still be possible to edit articles using wikitext after the visual editor becomes available?

Yes. While the visual editor will become available to all users as an editing environment, a method for editing the underlying wikitext "source" will continue to exist. There are no plans to remove the "Edit source" option.

Won't this slow down reading and editing for people who have slow connections or computers?

VisualEditor loads the bulk of its code only when you edit a page in the visual editing mode. So if you keep using "Edit source" or are a reader, the effect on your user experience should be negligible (~4KB of additional JavaScript payload before you click "Edit", or about 0.5% of one typical page). Your web browser will typically cache the JavaScript, speeding up future uses even if you are on a slow connection. However, using the visual editor for editing may cause problems for those on slow computers or connections, especially on very large pages. For these users, opting-out for now may be the best option.

I've found an issue with VisualEditor or a feature that is missing. How can I tell you to fix it?

Please report the issue in Phabricator, after first searching exiting tickets to make sure it hasn't been reported already. Additional bug reporting instructions can be found here. There are four main kinds of issues that the developers especially need to hear about:

1. Something breaks: The failure may only affect a particular type of browser or computer, on a particular page, or after doing something else. Please post your problem at Wikipedia:VisualEditor/Feedback. In your description, it is helpful to include information about what you were trying to do, your web browser, computer operating system, and a link to the article or a diff of the edit if it was possible for you to save the change.
2. Performance problems: If all pages seem unexpectedly slow on loading or on performing a particular task, or if it used to be faster and has recently gotten worse, then please report this.
3. User experience issues: If it didn't make sense, or if it was awkward, or if you couldn't figure out what you needed to do (Wikipedia:VisualEditor/User guide covers the basics), please speak up, and feel free to offer your suggestions for improving the design.
4. Missing functionality: Is there something you need to do, but it currently can't be done in VisualEditor, like editing mathematics equations or seeing hidden comments that contain instructions to other editors? Make sure that it's on the developers' list of needed features. If you'd like to know which missing features have been reported before, you can search the talk page archives and feedback archives. If you can't find any reference to the new feature you'd like to suggest, please report it at mw:VisualEditor/Feedback.

Can visual editor be customized ?

Yes, see Wikipedia:VisualEditor/Customization, and mw:VisualEditor gadgets for more advanced customization.

How do I disable VisualEditor?

To continue to edit the wikitext directly, simply click the "Edit source" button instead of "Edit". On section edit links, you can open the wikitext editor selected in your preferences for that section by clicking "edit source" instead of the regular "edit" link.

• If you would like to remove VisualEditor from the user interface, then you can do so.
  • If it is a beta feature: go to the Beta tab of your preferences page, untick the checkbox "Visual Editor", and click the Save button near the bottom of the page. (As of 2021, this is how you do it on Meta-Wiki and the Chinese Wikipedia.)
  • If the visual editor is already out of beta:
    • go to the Editing tab of your Preferences page, untick the checkbox "⧼visualeditor-preference-betatempdisable⧽", and click the Save button near the bottom of the page. (This is how you do it on some sister Wikipedias, for instance, Russian Wikipedia, as of 2021.)
    • on English Wikipedia, go to the Editing tab of your Preferences page and change the "Editing mode" to "Always give me the source editor"

See Wikipedia:VisualEditor/Opt-out for other options.

Can I install VisualEditor on my personal wiki outside Wikimedia?

Yes. The VisualEditor extension is available for download.

Can I use named references like the basic wikicode editor does, so I can choose my own reference names?

This has been requested via Community feedback, and is on the list of things to do. There are some links and more information about this on the Wikipedia:VisualEditor/Named references page.

The FAQ didn't answer my question. Where may I ask it?

You can ask on the central feedback page on mediawiki.org.