The version history contains all saved revisions of a wiki page. Revisions can be compared, restored, or reverted. The version history is also known as the revision history or edit history. To open the version history, select the Past revisions of this page icon () in the page toolbar.
Version history information
The version history is displayed in a column layout. The following information is available:
- Revision: Timestamp of the saved revision.
- Changed by: Username of the user who made the change, with a link to the user profile.
- Difference: Size difference between the revision and the previous revision. The size of embedded resources is not included.
- Summary: Edit summary entered when the page was saved. Automatic comments can also be displayed, for example for page creation or programmatic changes such as workflows, imports, or reverts.
- Version: Version information provided by the PageVersions feature when it is activated for the namespace. PageVersions can be activated by administrators.
If the approval function is activated, the approval state and the name of the approver are also displayed.
The version history provides actions for comparing, restoring, undoing, and, for administrators, hiding revisions.
Compare versions
To compare two revisions:
- Select the checkboxes of the two revisions to compare.
- Select Compare versions.
Wikitext
The Wikitext comparison displays changed paragraphs in two columns. The older revision is shown on the left and the newer revision on the right.
Deleted or replaced content is highlighted in red and marked with a minus sign. Content added in the newer revision is highlighted in green and marked with a plus sign.
The Wikitext comparison can reveal changes that are not visible in the visual comparison, including changes to categories and page settings such as behavior switches and display titles.
Visual
Select Visual to compare revisions in a visual representation. This view provides an overview of text changes, but some changes may be displayed incompletely, for example changes to tables or other special content.
Removed content is highlighted in red and added content is highlighted in green.
Revision slider
The interactive revision slider allows different revisions and revision comparisons to be selected quickly.
Restore a version
To restore a specific revision:
- Select the revision's timestamp.
- Open the page in edit mode.
- Review or edit the content.
- Save the page.
A notice indicates that an outdated revision is being edited. The revision can be saved without further changes or edited before saving.
Saving an older revision creates a new current revision. The newer revision remains in the version history and is moved down in the list.
Manually restoring an older revision by opening it and saving it does not automatically create an undo summary. To document which revision was restored, enter the revision ID in the Summary field when saving.
Track restored and reverted versions
Revision tags indicate how a revision was restored or reverted. The Tags column can be displayed in the version history column settings.
The tags can also be viewed on Special:Tags. Select a tag to view the corresponding tagged changes.
| Tag | Appearance on change lists | Description |
|---|---|---|
| mw-reverted | Reverted | Identifies revisions that were later reverted using mw-manual-revert or mw-undo. |
| mw-manual-revert | Manual revert | Identifies an exact older revision that was opened from the version history and saved again. The tag is not assigned if manual changes are made during the restoration. If the restored revision cannot be identified automatically, enter its revision ID in the Summary field when saving. |
| mw-undo | Undo | Identifies an edit that undoes the changes of one specific previous revision using the Undo action. The tag is not assigned if manual changes are made during the undo action. The revision ID of the undone revision is included in the Summary. |
Customize the version-history columns
The version-history column settings allow additional information to be displayed or columns to be hidden.
Select the gear icon at the end of the version history to open the column settings.
The available columns include:
- Revision
- Changed by
- Difference
- Size
- Summary
- Tags
- Is major edit
- Version
- Version comment
The Version column is provided by the PageVersions feature when it is activated for the namespace.
Changes to embedded resources
Changes to embedded resources, such as newer versions of images or templates, are not displayed in the page's version comparison. Embedded resources have their own version histories.
Pages with the approval feature
If the approval feature is activated for a namespace, an approved page can indicate that an embedded resource has a newer version. Whether this information is displayed depends on the configuration for changes to embedded resources.
Hide version information
Administrators can hide information from individual revisions. A trash can icon is available at the end of each revision row.
The following information can be hidden:
- Revision text: When the revision timestamp is opened, a message indicates that the revision text has been deleted.
- Edit summary: Hides the edit summary.
- Editor's username/IP address: Hides the username or IP address of the editor.
When hiding revision information, select a reason from the Reason dropdown. The available reasons include:
- Other reason
- Copyright violation
- Inappropriate comment
- Inappropriate username
- Potentially libelous information
Administrators can restore hidden revision information through the deletion log or the deleted versions link.
