Help:Create an external link

Wiki Help Links and citations  Create an external link


 * Watch a video demonstration of how to create links.

Types of links
A link is a hyperlink or method for navigating to another page in the wiki or on the internet. There are two kinds of links that you can use in the FamilySearch wiki:


 * 1) An external link provides a link to pages that are not part of the FamilySearch wiki.
 * 2) An internal link provides a link to other pages in the FamilySearch wiki only.

Benefit of using internal links for pages within the Wiki
"As long as the page exists, following an external link to a page within the wiki will not seem any different. However some pages will be listed as orphaned pages if all links to it are only coded as external. Another benefit of using internal links is that pages will be listed under the What links here menu item of the target page. If a page is being moved/deleted, then pages linking to it will be missed if they are linking via an external link."

How to create an external link
To create external links using the "Standard Editor", see How to create an external link using Wikitext.


 * 1) Log in to the FamilySearch Research Wiki.
 * 2) Navigate to the page where you want to add the external link. Click Edit in the navigation bar page options. This will open the editing window.
 * 3) In the editing window, type the text you want to create the link with. Remember, this should help the users understand what they will find by clicking on the link.
 * 4) Using your mouse, position your cursor in front of the text you just typed. While holding down the left mouse button, drag the cursor across the text until it is highlighted. [[Image:HighlightTextEditor.png|border|center|350px|HighlightTextEditor.png]]
 * 5) On the editing toolbar, click the hyperlink icon. It looks like a tiny globe/earth with two chain links in front of it.[[Image:HighlightTextEditorhyperlink.png|border|center|350px|HighlightTextEditorhyperlink.png]]
 * 6) After clicking the hyperlink icon, the "Link" window will open.[[Image:LinkLinkWindow.png|border|center|300px|LinkLinkWindow.png]]
 * 7) At the top of the "Link" window, locate the "Link" box. Here you will type or paste the url or website to which you want to link. The website must begin with "http://" or "https://" for the link to work correctly.
 * 8) Once the correct url or website appears in the "Link" box, click OK to save the link in the editing window.
 * 9) The text that you highlighted in step 4 will now appear blue in the editing window.
 * 10) Save your changes by scrolling down using the outside scroll-bar until you locate the Save page button located below the editing window.
 * 11) After clicking Save page, you will be able to click on the newly created link to another website.



Creating links using templates

 * 1) Open the editor and place your cursor where you want to add the template link.
 * 2) Click on the  {T}  icon in the editor's toolbar. This will open the Template editor window. [[Image:RichEditorTemplateText.jpg]]
 * 3) Type two left curly braces  .
 * 4) Click OK to finish setting up the template. [[Image:Template Properties Text.png]]


 * This example uses the Wikipedia Template Wpd and adds optional link text parameter. The result for this template entry is "See also " In the rich editor, templates appear as [[Image:TemplateSymbolInRichEditor.png]].

For a list of some external link templates see Advanced Linking.