Help:Undo

Help:Undo is here to explain how to revert mistakes, disasters, and “bold edits” that turned into flaming garbage. Whether you typo’d a word or detonated the entire layout, MediaWiki has your back. Sort of.

The Undo Link

• Every edit in a page’s history has a handy undo link next to it.
• Clicking it will open the edit window with the offending changes automatically reversed.
• At this point you should either:
  • hit Save page immediately and hope nobody notices, or
  • write an edit summary admitting nothing and blaming “formatting issues.”

Syntax

There is no fancy markup for undoing, because undoing is the markup. The process looks like this:

1. Go to the page history.
2. Find the mistake (usually yours).
3. Click undo.
4. Save the page.
5. Pretend you were never there.

When Undo Fails

Undo will not work if:

• The edit conflicts with subsequent edits, especially when the same line has been touched.
• The wiki gods decide you deserve to suffer.
• You are trying to erase evidence of your own incompetence, which always leaves a digital trail.

In these cases you will have to use the nuclear option: a full revert to a previous revision. This is done by opening an old version, hitting edit, and saving it as the new one. It is messy, but so are you.

Etiquette

• Avoid undo wars. Nothing looks dumber than two people repeatedly slapping the undo button on each other’s work.
• Leave an edit summary explaining why you undid something. Even “lol no” is better than nothing.
• If someone undoes your undo, maybe take a hint.

See also

• Help:Editing
• This is fine