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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. Make sure to check out the general disclaimer.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) may help with queries about Wikibooks. The glossary should be consulted for Wikibooks terminology. The book Using Wikibooks is a general guide to using Wikibooks. For an index of all project pages, see the Wikibooks category.

If you are familiar with other Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia, Wikibooks for Wikimedians is a helpful page; the experience will be similar as all projects use the same Mediawiki software. See Wikimedia for the differences between the various Wikimedia projects. This project is in the English language, but see the Wikibooks portal for Wikibooks projects in other languages.

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 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 the 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 using the "Edit" link at the top of a page. Make sure to include an edit summary, and please edit constructively—if you want to practise editing, try the sandbox. For substantial editing, it is recommended that you create and manage an account. If you are wondering how to help out, maintenance has many suggestions.

Contributing help, contributing FAQ, and editing FAQ contain basic information on contributing. Before doing so, please be aware of the policies on copyrights, media, and neutral point of view.

The books Using Wikibooks and Editing Wikitext are highly recommended for contributors. Other help pages for editing include the following:

  • Editing: the basics of Wikitext editing
  • Pages: creating, archiving, moving, merging, and deleting pages, as well as namespaces and page discussions.
  • Importing: how to copy works from one wiki to another
  • Styling: how to style books
  • 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
  • Tracking changes: information on monitoring changes to pages

For additional help pages, see the 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:

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.

Search Wikibooks

To search for help and project pages, use this box:

To search for books, use this box:


You can browse for books by shelves, categories, alphabetical listings, completion status, or reading level:



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