Share Your Knowledge by Adding to the Wiki

How Do I Get Started as a Wiki Contributor?

 * Sign In


 * Sign in to your FamilySearch account. If you don't have one already, you will be directed to the Create Account page. There is no cost for FamilySearch accounts.

Add information to an existing article

 * If you are already on a page that you'd like to edit or to add additional information, click on the Edit This Page button



Search for Topics of Interest

 * Go to the article that you want to edit or to add additional information. Clicking on the Edit This Page button opens the full page for editing. You will see all of the existing text in wikitext format.




 * Use the WYSIWYG editor to edit the page. Editing the wiki using the editor is similar to word processing software.  WYSIWYG = What You See Is What You Get  (whizzywig)


 * Find the location on the page that you want to edit or where you want to add additional information and start typing. Click on the icons on the tool bar to select editing commands.
 * When you have finished, enter a short statement in the Summary field at the bottom of the page that tells the wiki community why you edited or added to the article.  Example: "Added links to digital newspapers".
 * Then click on the Save Page button.

Edit a Section of an Existing Article

 * To edit just a section of an existing article, click on the Edit Icon on the right side of the page by the section header.




 * Edit that section of the article using the same WYSIWYG tool.
 * Add a comment to the Summary field at the bottom of the page.
 * Click on the Save Page button and you are done.

Create a New Article

 * To add a new article to the wiki, firstsearch for the subject to see if an article or articles already exists that covers the subject. If they already exist, don't create a new article. Add information to the existing article.


 * If there wasn't an article that covers the subject, search again for the title of the page you want to create. Example:  Scotland Clan Tartans    That article doesn't currently exist.  The search results shows this statement:  "Create the page "Scotland Clan Tartans" on this wiki!
 * Click on the name in  red  and start typing on the new article page you just created!
 * Use WYSIWYG editing tool bar to add links, bold, etc.
 * Remember to add a note to the Summary field at the bottom of the page stating that the new article about "xxxx" subject was created.
 * Click on the Summary button to save the article. NOTE:  Save the article fairly often while you are writing it.  There isn't an autosave in the wiki.  You could loose all of your work though an inadvertant click if you haven't saved it earlier.

Additional Information

 * For more in-depth information about creating and editing articles on the wiki, visit these articles:




 * Editing a Page
 * Video Tutorial
 * Wiki guiding principles
 * Understand Wiki publishing policies