GIST Support Wikivizelerricer All editable pages on this wiki have an associated page history, which lists all changes made to the page in reverse-chronological order (i.e., with the most recent at the top). This may also be referred to as the revision history or edit history.
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[edit] Quick Tutorial
- To view a specific version, click the date.
- To compare an old version with the current version, click cur next to the old version.
- To compare a version with its predecessor, click last.
- To compare two specific versions, tick the right-column radio button of the newer version and the left-column radio button of the older version, and then click the "Compare selected versions" button.
- Minor edits are denoted as m.
- To see the user page of the contributor, click on their username (or IP address). To see a list of all of their changes click on the (contrib) link, which will take you to their User contributions page.
- The final comment in parentheses at the right is what was entered into the edit summary when the edit was made. It may also provide information about what section was edited.
[edit] Detailed tutorial
The page history consists of the old versions of the wikitext, as well as a record of the date and time of every edit, the username or IP address of the user who wrote it, and their edit summary. Access the page history by clicking the "history" tab at the top of the page.
[edit] Using page history
Edits are shown so that the most recent is at the top of the list. Each edit takes up one line which shows; time & date, the contributor's name or IP and the edit summary, as well as other diagnostic information. Below is a description of the different elements of the page.
- The page name stays the same, but a "Help" tab is available that links to this page.
- The top line of text lets you select how many edits of the page to view below. The (Latest), oldest edits (Earliest) or the next or previous page of edits (Next n / Previous n). Note that the black text in brackets will become links, when applicable.
- The blue numbers list the number of edits displayed on a page - 20, 50, 100, 250 or 500. A higher number increases the length of a page but reduces the number of pages. The number you select replaces n in the links to the previous or next pages e.g. (Next 100 / Previous 100).
- (cur) takes you to a diff page, showing the difference between that edit and the current version. The current version appears below the changes, so you can see how it looks.
- (last) takes you to a diff page showing the changes between that edit and the previous version. The most recent version (the one on the same line as the "last" you clicked on) appears below the changes, so you can see how the page looks.
- The two columns of radio buttons can be used to select any two versions on the page. Lets say you want to compare the versions corresponding to numbers 10 & 11 on the image. First, click the left radio button next to number 11. The right column of buttons will then fill as far as number 11. Then click the right button next to number 10. Finally click Compare selected versions. This takes you to a diff page showing the changes between the two versions. The most recent version (in this case number 10) appears below the changes, so you can see how the page looked then.
- For each version, the time and date of the edit, expressed in local time according to the preference setting is shown. Clicking on it takes you to that version of the page.
- Next, the username or IP address of the contributor appears along with a link to their User contribution page (contrib), and if you are an administrator a (block) link shows up as well to allow you to block the user if necessary.
- Next, if a user entered an edit summary it will be shown at the end of each line. It is the text the user wrote in the edit summary box (below the edit box). The edit summary begins with an arrow link and grey text. If the edit summary includes a blue arrow, it means the user has only edited a section of the page (named in the grey text). This text is automatically added when you edit a section. A standard edit summary can be added by the user. This appears in black text. The blue arrow link will take you to the specific section that was edited.
- m stands for minor edit (small corrections to a page). These help you understand the type of changes that have been made.
If the "rename page" feature has been used in the past to change a page's name, all edits (including those made to the old page name) are shown. The old title becomes a redirect and loses its edit history.
Edits made to deleted pages are not kept in contributor's User Contributions pages. However, the revision history is kept and can be retrieved by an administrator, who can also undelete the page.
[edit] Reverting a page
If you make a change that you did not want to, it is possible to revert the page back to an earlier version. See Help:Reverting a page to an earlier version.
[edit] Image history
An "image" (in the broad sense of an uploaded file) can be edited, or, more generally, be replaced by a different image, by uploading a new image file with the same name. Again all versions are kept. The image history listing forms part of the image description page, which appears when clicking on the image. The image history consists of this and the old versions themselves.
Images that have been deleted (not to be confused with images that are no longer used in articles) are not kept on the image page. For these you can visit the upload log or deletion log (accessible at Special:Log).
[edit] Linking to a specific version of a page
It is occasionally useful to link to a specific version of an article (a snapshot of it). For example, one might have written an email about a specific version of a page and want to indicate which particular version was reviewed.
If the version is not the current version, you can use the page history to view the old version of the page. The URL of this old version can be used as a permanent reference to the old version, and can be obtained from the browser's location bar.