Help:Page history

All editable pages on Wikia have an associated page history, which 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. You can access the page history by clicking the "history" tab or link at the top of the article. This may also be referred to as the revision history or edit history.

Quick summary:
 * The newest changes are shown at the top.
 * To view a specific version, click a date.
 * To compare an old version with the current version, click cur.
 * To compare a version with its predecessor, click last.
 * To compare to specific versions, tick the left-column radio button of the older version and the right-column radio button of the newer version, and then click the "Compare selected versions" button.
 * Minor edits are denoted as m.

How do I use the page history?
Below is an example of a page history using the Monobook skin:



Edits are shown from newest to oldest. 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.

Let's look at some of the functions of this page:
 * 1) The page name stays the same, but the "history" tab is highlighted.
 * 2) These links take you to the most recent edits (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.
 * 3) 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).
 * 4) (cur) takes you to a diff page, showing the difference between that edit and the current version. The current revision appears below the changes, so you can see how the page is now rendered.
 * 5) (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 was rendered.
 * 6) 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 was rendered.
 * 7) This gives the time and date of the edit, expressed in local time according to the preference setting. The date and time link to the version of that day and time. Thus the  first line links to the version that was current at the time of loading this revision history, and therefore the result may differ from that of following the link on the page margin to the current version. Even if the page has not changed in the meantime, the MediaWiki:Revision-info message appears.
 * 8) The username or IP  of the contributor appears here.
 * 9) This is the edit summary. It is the text the user wrote in the edit summary box (below the edit box).
 * 10) This edit summary begins with an arrow link and grey text. This 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.
 * 11) m stands for minor edits (small corrections to a page). These help you understand the type of changes that have been made.

If the "move page" feature has been used in the past to change a page's name, the entire edit history of the article, before and after the move, is shown. The old title becomes a redirect and loses its edit history. After merging two pages, typically one becomes a redirect. In this case the revision history of the redirect is kept.

Edits made to deleted pages are not kept in contributor's User contribution pages. However, the revision history is kept and can be retrieved by an administrator, who can also undelete the page.

Why is there sometimes an "updated" marker on the page?
If one views the history of a watched page directly, without first viewing the page, the edit at the top (the most recent one) may be marked with update marker "updated (since my last visit)" (or the content of MediaWiki:Updatedmarker); this applies if the edit was made by someone else and you have not viewed the page (while logged in) since it was made. The positioning of the message, suggesting that it is a property of an edit rather than a property of the page, is somewhat misleading, because not all edits which have not been viewed yet are marked.

Can I use web feeds to monitor changes to pages?
Feeds (RSS and Atom) for the history of a page are obtained by clicking the "RSS" or "Atom" links in the toolbox in the sidebar. You may then use a feed aggregator or other tool to monitor changes to the page.

The RSS2Wiki extension will allow you to include the RSS feed into another wiki page.

What is an image history?
An image or other media file can be replaced by a different image, by uploading a new image file with the same name. All versions are kept. The image history listing forms part of the image description page, which appears when you click on the image. The image history of the current and previous versions. Older versions of the image can be restored.

Can I link to a specific version of a page?
Yes. If you want the current version, click "Permanent link" in the toolbox in the sidebar. If you want to link to an older revision, click on the correct date for the version on the page history to view the old version of the page.

In both cases the URL of the version in the browser's location/address bar is suitable for use to permanently reference this version.

Note:
 * If a page contains a time-based variable, its rendered content will use the current date/time, not the time as it was when the revision was saved.
 * Templates and images will vary if they are referred to with an expression containing a variable depending on time
 * The current versions of templates and images are used; if they have been revised, the page may look different than it was at the time the version was saved.

Can I export the full history of a page?
Special:Export produces an XML-file, without the MediaWiki user interface, with the wikitext of the current and optionally all old versions of one or more specified pages, with date, time, user name, and edit summary. How it is displayed, e.g. with or without XML tags, and with or without applying new lines, depends on the browser. Some browsers show "+" and "-" links to view or hide selected parts. Alternatively the XML-source can be viewed using the "view source" feature of the browser, or after saving the XML file locally, with a program of choice.

The feature also allows searching for a text in all versions of one or more specified pages. See also Help:Export.

Can I rely on page histories to keep archives?
Archiving texts in separate pages is superior to using the page history as archive:
 * "What links here" works for archive pages, but not for old revisions.
 * Texts in archive pages can be found by search engines. For content which is only in a revision history the possibilities are limited. Page histories can only be searched after applying Special:Export.
 * Archive pages can be organized and titled afterwards in a suitable way, while e.g. edit summaries can not be supplied afterwards. However, an index of old versions of a page, with links to them, could be prepared.