Help:VisualEditor

What is VisualEditor?
Visual Editor is a editing software used in the March 2016 upgrade of the FamilySearch Research Wiki. This editor replaces the Rich Text Editor used in the previous version of the Wiki. This new way of editing allows all users to edit pages without learning wikitext. In additional, VisualEditor works in most commonly-used browsers such as Chorme, Fireforx, Internet Explorer 10 or higher, and Safari.

When to Use Visual Editor
Use VisualEditor when you want to use the following:
 * Edit text on a page
 * Edit text on a table
 * Add or fix a URL
 * Edit text on a table

Visual Editor should not be used:
 * Editing in wikitext - you must use the Edit Source Tab to edit in Wikitext
 * Create tables

How to Edit in VisualEditor

 * Note: You must be logged into the FamilySearch website to edit in the Wiki and to see all options for editing.

Edit tab
To edit a page using Visual Editor, click on the Edit tab located in the top right hand corner of the screen. This will open a text page with a tool bar with icons to help with additional editing features.

IMAGE of Tool Bar

Icons on the tool bar
Heading:

Style text: Link: Numbered list: Bullet list: Decreased indentation: This is only available when highlighting or editing a number or bullet list. This will move the list to the right and does add an additional bullet that cannot be removed.

Increased indentation: This is only available when highlighting or editing a number or bullet list. This will move the list to the left, if

Save the page
Once you have completed editing the wiki page, you will need to save your changes. Save the page by clicking the green "Save page" button. A dialogue box appears to add a brief explanation of the changes you made to the article. You can review your changes in wikitext you made compared to the previous page by clicking on Review your changes. When you are ready to save the page, click on the green, Save button.

Pages that cannot be edited with VisualEditor
Some articles in specific namespaces do not have the option to edit in VisualEditor:
 * Template pages/namespace
 * Help pages/namespace
 * Talk pages/namespace
 * FamilySearch Wiki pages/namespace

For more help on VisualEditor
For additional help on VisualEditor, go to the MediaWiki article.