Help:How to Split Articles

Occasionally Wiki articles grow beyond a reasonable size for a one-page article. When this happens, it is often best to split the large article into two or more articles, and then link the articles or pages together. This can also be helpful when trying to create an alphabetical index for localities or other space-intensive material. This article will discuss best practices for several similar cases.

What you need to know before you start
Before splitting and article, you should be familiar with how to Copy and Paste information in the Wiki. If you are new to the FamilySearch Wiki, you may not be familiar with the best methods to Copy and Paste information into the Wiki, or between Wiki articles. When copying and pasting into the Wiki while using the Wiki editor tool, you may lose some of the formatting, depending on which editing mode you are in. Tables, bold headings, or columns may be lost by copying and pasting when the editor tool is active. To determine if the editor tool is active, look at the icons at the top of the editing window while in the editing mode. Learn more about Editing Articles.

If you see the following icons at the top of the page, the editor tool is active. This is the mode in which you will NOT be able to copy and paste tables or formatted text:



You can "de-activate" the editor tool temporarily by clicking on the Wikitext button located in the upper-left-hand corner of the editor toolbar. If you see the same toolbar with most of the icons grayed out, you are using the editor tool in Wikitext mode, or inactive. Copying and pasting in the Wikitext mode will keep formatting and table layout:



If you see the following icons at the top of the page, you have the editor toolbar turned off. Learn how to turn the editor tool off. Copying and pasting with the editor toolbar turned off will keep formatting and table layout:



Deciding how to split the article
Take the time to carefully consider the information located in the Wiki article you want to split. You may need to divide the information to create a logical break if one isn't already available. For example, if you want to split an article that contains several steps in a research process, you may consider which steps are "Beginning" steps, and which steps are "Advanced" steps in the process.

For example:

1. Locate the