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 addition, VisualEditor works in most commonly-used browsers, such as, Chorme, Firefox, Internet Explorer 10 or higher, and Safari.

When to Use VisualEditor
Use VisualEditor when you want to do the following:
 * Edit text on a page
 * Edit text on a table
 * Add or fix a URL
 * Edit text on a table
 * Add references, templates, and images
 * Indent bullet and numbered lists
 * Add special characters, including diacritics, such as, ö.

Visual Editor should not be used:
 * Edit in wikitext - you must use the Edit Source Tab to edit in Wikitext
 * Create tables
 * Add rows or columns to a table
 * NOTE: The wikitext editor, Edit source must be used to accomplish all the tasks the VisualEditor cannot do. You can find instructions and lessons on how to edit in wikitext,  here.

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 edit page with a tool bar with icons to help with additional editing features.

Icons on the tool bar - left to right
'''NOTE: some icons on the VisualEditor tool bar have shortcuts to completing an action. Hover over the icon to learn the shortcut available.

Page Options
The page options drop down list - the icon with 3 lines beside the cancel button - includes other functions you can perform in VisualEditor including: Options, Page settings, Advanced Settings, Categories, Languages, Switch to source editing, and Keyboard shortcuts.

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. Please note that some icons in the user guide are different from our version of VisualEditor.