Help:Tracking changes

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Recent changes shows the latest changes to pages, file uploads, deletions and page moves

MediaWiki offers a collection of special pages and tools to keep track of what is going on in the wiki. So you can watch for example:

  • recent changes to all pages
  • the revision history: all changes made to one page
  • the contributions of one specific user
  • newly created pages

The most interesting special page is Special:RecentChanges. It displays all edits, file uploads, page moves, deletions and other actions done in the wiki. In the menu on top it offers a collection of links to customize your display: limit the number of changes shown, the number of days or restrict it to edits to a certain namespace. You can also hide edits marked as minor (don't forget that major changes can be flagged by a user as minor anyway).

One line in recent changes consists of several links:

  • “diff” displays the difference to the previous revision of the page,
  • “hist” links to the revision history of the page,
  • the link with the full title of the page brings you to the current version. If the title is in bold, it indicates that it is on your watchlist.

Next is a flag describing the page modification type:

  • “N” denotes a new page,
  • “m” a minor edit,
  • “b” an edit made by a bot.

Following the timestamp, it shows the page size difference to the previous revision, then the user is mentioned, with a link to their user page and their talk page and contributions, or to their talk page only in the case of anonymous users.

Last but not least, there is an edit summary, appearing in italics, if the user submitted one when they made the edit.

Enhanced view

If you are logged in and have JavaScript enabled, you can also try the "enhanced" view. Simply go to your Preferences and enable "Group changes by page in recent changes and watchlist"; this will make recent changes show edits divided by page rather than being listed individually. You will now see entries like the following:

15:17 Main Page (4 changes | hist) .. (+236) .. [Some User‎ (2×); Some Other User (2×)]

Simply click the blue arrow to the left of the page name and timestamp to expand that page's recent edits just as they were on the normal style. You can turn this enhancement on and off at will, so feel free to try both to see which one you prefer.

See also

Language: English
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