Help:Managing files

Content for this help page is provided by the MediaWiki wiki's Public Domain Help Pages project, which provides help page content that can be freely copied into fresh wiki installations and/or distributed with MediaWiki software; see Help:Contents for an overview of all pages. We encourage you to also edit this page on the MediaWiki wiki with any updates. This helps contribute to other wiki projects.

If file uploads are enabled, you can upload certain types of files to the wiki. This is particularly useful for uploading images, which you want to place on an article, but you can also upload other types of files.

Upload a file

1. Prepare the file for upload. Make sure the file is exactly as you want it.
2. In the sidebar, under “toolbox”, click “Upload file.”
3. Click “Browse” next to the “Source filename:” to locate the file on your computer (the name of the “browse” button depends on your web browser).
4. Change the “Destination filename:” to something descriptive, if necessary.
5. Fill in the “Summary,” if necessary.
6. Click the “Upload file” button.

If it is a large file, you may need to wait several seconds for the upload to complete.

Using images and file description pages

After you've uploaded a file, you can use it in an article, with some special wiki syntax to create the link. See Help:Images.

Your file gets its very own “file description page” within the File namespace of the wiki. You should edit this page to provide more information about the file. For example, many public wiki projects are quite sensitive to copyright issues, and so you should explain where you got the file from, and what its copyright status is, on the description page. Any other useful descriptive notes could also be added there.

List of files in the wiki

There are a number of special pages to help you view and manage files which have been uploaded. Go to “Special pages” (in the toolbox on the left) and then see...

• Gallery of new files - If you just uploaded one, you will see it here.
• File list - Shows all of the files.
• Unused files - Helps you track down files which might not be needed.

See Help:Special pages for details of the other information available here.