Wikibooks help

Welcome to Wikibooks! This page is your first step in getting help to use Wikibooks, whether you want to read books or contribute in some way.

See also Shelf:Help for books on Wikibooks and other MediaWiki help.

Wikibooks overview

Welcome gives a general Wikibooks overview. What is Wikibooks? explains the scope of content, but essentially Wikibooks is a collection of free content textbooks hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. What is Wikijunior? is an overview of the Wikijunior subproject, of non-fiction books for children; for the Cookbook subproject see Cookbook FAQ.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) may help with queries about Wikibooks, and includes overview FAQ. Glossary should be consulted for Wikibooks terminology. The book Using Wikibooks is a general guide to using Wikibooks.

If you are familiar with other Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia, Wikibooks for Wikimedians is a helpful page; the experience will be similar as they all use the same Mediawiki software. Also see Wikimedia for the differences between the various Wikimedia projects, which are mostly available in multiple languages.

This project is in the English language, but see Wikibooks portal for Wikibooks projects in other languages. Also see general disclaimer and Wikibooks category.

Readers' help

For general help see readers' FAQ, and navigating to learn how to navigate Wikibooks. You can search for books using the box below, or the box in the top right corner of every page; click on to enter a search dialog.

Content is first of all divided into departments, which are broad subject areas that are further subdivided into shelves. Shelves are narrow subject areas containing books; click on a shelf to list its books. Shelves may contain subsection shelves. Books usually consist of multiple chapters on pages that can be edited.

A full breakdown of departments into top-level shelves can be found at can be found at Card Catalog Office. The books believed to be the best can also be found at featured books. The Cookbook subproject is sorted separately.

For printing books and offline use, see print versions, PDF versions, and collections. For mobile access, press the mobile view link at the very bottom of every desktop view page.

Editing Wikibooks

If you want to contribute, be bold and go for it! Essentially, editing Wikibooks is as easy as clicking the "Edit" link at the top a pages, altering its Wikitext, and saving. But please edit constructively; if you want to practise editing, try the Sandbox.

Contributing help, contributing FAQ, and editing FAQ contain basic information on contributing, and please be aware of the copyrights, media, and neutral point of view policies. If you are wondering how to help out, maintenance has many suggestions.

The books Using Wikibooks and Editing Wikitext are highly recommended for contributors. Pages explains creating, archiving, moving, merging, and deleting pages, as well as namespaces and page discussions. Other help pages for editing include:

Editing, the basics of Wikitext editing
Categories, the use of categories for sorting pages
Files, using media files, such as images, audio, or video
Tables, how to construct a table
Templates, the use of templates in pages, which are listed at the index
Variables, the advanced use of system variables
Formulas, how to include mathematical formulae
Quizzes, how to include book quizzes
Styling, how to style books
Importing, how to copy works from one wiki to another

For substantial editing it is recommended that you create and manage an account. Tracking changes has information on monitoring changes to pages. Also see help category.

Policies and guidelines

Wikibooks is governed by a series of rules, called policies and guidelines which apply to all contributors. They include the following:

What is Wikibooks? What content is allowed
What is Wikijunior? The policy for Wikijunior books

Copyrights, the policy on copyright rights and obligations
Administration, the policy on administrators
Naming, the policy on naming of pages
Neutral point of view, all books must adhere to this
Annotated texts, the policy on inclusion of these
Featured books, the process for nominating featured books
Be civil, no personal attacks, and profanity policies
Using bots, the policy on using bots for editing
Protecting pages, the policy on protecting pages
Deletion, the policy on page deletions
Media, the policy on media file usage
Global rights policy, the policy for global groups
Strategy guides, the policy for video game strategy guides
Be bold ...but please don't be reckless
Making decisions, how to achieve community consensus
Please do not bite the newcomers, please be kind

Pages in Wikibooks draft policies and guidelines category, and useful Wikibooks pages category, may also be helpful.

Starting a new book

If you are starting a new book, check it will be within scope and policy, as otherwise it could be deleted. To determine whether a book is within Wikibooks' scope for content, see what is Wikibooks? for the general policy, what is Wikijunior? for Wikijunior books, and Cookbook FAQ for the Cookbook. If you are still unsure, ask at projects reading room.

Special consideration should be given to adhering to the copyrights, media, and neutral point of view policies, and new pages should adhere to the naming policy.

Also see the "Editing Wikibooks" section above, especially contributing help, contributing FAQ, and the book Using Wikibooks. Also of interest is Wikibooks as an aid to teaching, and requested books for new book suggestions.

When starting a new book, consideration should be given as to whether it is better to expand or update an existing book, to avoid redundancy; check the relevant shelves for existing books on the subject.

Newly created books are automatically sorted by the Wikibooks Stacks mechanism, provided the book is added by completing the CCO Resources. Newly created pages, and page edits, can be subject to pending changes review.

Queries and assistance

Queries are answered, and assistance is given, at the various reading room forums. But first check whether your query is answered in FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions), such as problems FAQ and administration FAQ. Also see contact us.