View source for Help:Books

{{Short description|Wikipedia help page}}
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{{for|the Wikimedia sister project|Wikibooks}}{{for|notable books with articles about them on Wikipedia|Lists of books}}{{for|books in general|Book}}
{{Warning|{{large|'''The Wikimedia Foundation's  [[Wikipedia:Books|book rendering service has been withdrawn]]'''. Please upload your Wikipedia book to [[Wikipedia:Books#What alternatives are there?|one of the external rendering services]].}}}}
{{Historical|date=May 2021|H:BK}}
{{Book namespace deletion}}
This page contains helpful information about '''[[Wikipedia:Books|Wikipedia Books]]''' created using the Book Creator tool.

==Alternative  rendering services==
For details of how to upload a Wikipedia book to one of the external rendering services, see: [[Wikipedia:Books#What alternatives are there?]].
==Restore a deleted book ==
For details of how to restore a book after deletion, see: [[Wikipedia:Books/archive]]

==Historical page content ==
===What is a Wikipedia Book?===
A '''Wikipedia Book''' created using the Book Creator tool is a collection of articles or other pages from Wikipedia. It is stored as a single page which specifies the book title, the articles to be included and some other information. It has three uses:
*As a saved reading list, simply by clicking through to the listed articles.
*To create a softcopy of the entire collection, for reading offline. A new edition is created from the current articles every time you download a softcopy.
*To send to a print-on-demand publisher where you can order printed copies of the collected book. The print edition will not usually be updated unless you send it to the publisher again.

===Tips for creating great books===

====Topic and title====
There are hardly any rules when creating a book from Wikipedia content. A good book focuses on a particular topic and covers it as well as possible. A meaningful title helps to give other users a realistic expectation as to the content of a book.

====Length====
Books should have a reasonable number of articles. One article is not enough, but books that result in PDFs with more than 800 pages are probably too big and may cause problems on older computers.

====Be bold====
If your book has a clear focus, sensible title and is a reasonable size, consider adding it to the list of community books. You can either [[Special:Book|save it]] directly to ''Book:Title'', or move it there from your userspace.

===Step-by-step guide===
This page shows you how to create a book from Wikipedia articles in four easy steps.  Books can be created in [[PDF]] or [[OpenDocument]] formats, or ordered for printing on the [[PediaPress]] website. It is possible to create books through editing as well.

====Step 1: Enable the "Book Creator" tool====
<!-- The sidebar link has been disabled. These instructions are preserved in case it gets restored.
[[File:01 margin.png|frame|center|Fig. 1: First click on the "Create a book" link in the left margin. (Maybe you have to open the "Print/export" box first.)]]

[[File:02 start book creator.png|thumb|760px|center|Fig. 2: Click on the blue button to start the book creator.]]
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There is a link to the Book creator in the navbar near the top of this page.

Or you can click this link to open the '''[{{fullurl:Special:Book|bookcmd=book_creator}} Book creator]'''

If you have hidden the book creator then see [[Help:Books/for experts#Hide and unhide book creator]].

====Step 2: Collect articles====
[[File:03 toolbar.png|frame|center|Fig. 3: From now on, this toolbar will appear on top of every Wikipedia article. To add the currently viewed page to your book, just click on "Add this page to your book".]]
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If you open a category page, the "Add this page to your book" will change to "Add this category to your book". Clicking on "Add this category to your book" will add all articles in that category.

After selecting a few articles, you can click on "Suggest pages" and you will be presented with a list of articles related to your selection. This helps you to create a more complete book if you run out of ideas, or just want to make sure you haven't forgotten anything.

[[File:04 add link.png|frame|center|Fig. 4: You don't even have to open every page, you want to add to your book. Just hover over a link for a few seconds and click on "Add linked wiki page to your book" in the yellow box that appears.]]
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====Step 3: Review Your Book====
[[File:05 manage book.png|frame|center|Fig. 5: Once you are happy with the articles you collected, click on "Show book" to manage your book. You can give your book a title and subtitle, change the order of articles, remove articles, or add chapters to distinguish certain sections of your book.]]
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====Step 4: Preview a printed book====
<!-- [[File:06 download.png|frame|center|Fig. 6: As of late 2017 you cannot download a softcopy. This screenshot is obsolete.]] -->
[[File:07 order printed.png|frame|center|Fig. 7: To preview a printed book, click on the "PediaPress" link. Further information about printed books can be found in the [[Help:Books/FAQ|FAQ]].]]
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===Saving and sharing your book with others===
To save your book, you must be a registered Wikipedia user (see [[Wikipedia:Why create an account?|Why create an account?]] for a detailed explanation).

You can save your book on the "Book" page, which can be reached by clicking the "Show book" link in the menu on the left hand side or in the toolbar.

The second option is only available if your user account is [[WP:AUTOCONFIRM|autoconfirmed]] (usually meaning at least four days old and 10 edits).

Finally, you have to provide a title for your book collection and click the "Save book" button.

====Linking to a book====
You can simply link to the book's Wikipedia page in the usual way.

===Revising your book===
If you visit a previously saved book, the banner at the top of the page includes an option to re-open the book in the "Book Creator".

Books you have worked on will be listed in [[Special:Contributions|your contributions list]], which you can access through the "Contributions" link at the top right of every page whenever you are logged in.

===Printed books from PediaPress===
[[File:Pedia-still-7.jpg|thumb|left|Printed Wikipedia Books]]

By clicking the "PediaPress" link, your collection of wiki articles will be uploaded to [[PediaPress]], a service that prints books based on wiki content.  Further information about printed books can be found on the [[Help:Books/FAQ|FAQ]] page, and at the [[Help:Books/Printed books|Printed books]] help page, including cost and format details.{{clear}}

===Softcopy books from MediaWiki2LaTeX===
MediaWiki2LaTeX is an external pull service which can convert a Wikipedia book to a range of softcopy formats including PDF, LaTeX, ePub (x/html) and ODT (Open Document Foundation Text). You can also choose from a range of page sizes.

Two complementary services are available:
* For books up to about 200 pages, https://mediawiki2latex.wmflabs.org/ is recommended.
* For books up to about 800 pages, use https://mediawiki2latex-large.wmflabs.org/ but be prepared to wait quite a long time.
Note that the software is still under active development and the two services may give different results.

To convert a book, go to the chosen service above and enter the full web url of your Wikipedia book. This is most easily copied from your url bar while on your book page, and then pasted into the service request URL field. If you are not sure what options you want, the defaults are a good choice.

===Further information===
* [[Help:Books/FAQ|FAQ]] – help with the Book tool
* [[Help:Books/Feedback|Feedback]] – for reporting and tracking of bugs
* [[Help:Books/for experts|Help for experts]] – details about the advanced functions of the Book tool
* [[mw:Extension:Collection|Extension:Collection]] – how to organize personal selections of pages in a collection
* [[Commons:Category:PediaPress|PediaPress]] – media on [[commons:Main Page|Wikimedia Commons]]
* [[Wikipedia:Merchandise|Wikimedia/Wikipedia Merchandise]] – the Wikimedia/Wikipedia online "[[gift shop]]"
* [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikislice|WikiProject Wikislice]] – aims to help produce useful offline readers, wikibooks, and specialized pocket references
* [[wmf:Press releases/Wikis Go Printable|''Wikis Go Printable'']] – [[Wikimedia Foundation]] press release, 13 December 2007
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