Help:Books/FAQ

What is a Wikipedia book?
A Wikipedia book is a collection of articles linked from a special Book page comprising brief details and a table of contents.

As time goes by and the articles get edited, the contents of the book will change to match.

Wikipedia books are available for rendering as PDF files or printing off as paper books by third party providers.

Where can I find existing books?
All books are listed in Category:User namespace book pages.

The Book: namespace containing community books was deleted in July 2021. More information can be found at Books/archive.

The bookshelf dialog also provides a dedicated search tool.

How do I obtain a copy of a book?
You can use the book's title page as a home page and browse the book by clicking the links in the table of contents.

When you visit the book's page you are also offered the option to send it to PediaPress, where you can order printed and bound copies.

The external service MediaWiki2LaTeX also offers an independent pull service to create a PDF softcopy.

How do I create a new book?
In short, use the Book Creator tool.

How do I update my book?
In short, use the Book Creator tool.

How do I delete my book?

 * If you saved your book in your userspace (e.g. User:USERNAME/Books/My book), you can simply request deletion by placing db-u1 on top of the page.
 * If you saved your book in the book namespace (e.g. Book:Foobar), several options are possible.
 * If you created the book by mistake or as a test, place db-test at the top of the page
 * If you created a book, and no one else edited the book, place db-author at the top of the page
 * If someone else (other than bots) edited the page, then you need to follow the steps listed at Miscellany for Discussion (MFD). If you think the deletion would be non-controversial, you can follow the steps at Proposed Deletion (for books) (BPROD).

How do I create a book for printing?
You create the book in the same way as any other Wikibook, using the Book Creator.

How do I print it and how much will it cost?
You click the Book Creator option to upload the book to PediaPress, where you can specify print options, find out how much your chosen option will cost, and order copies.

PDF e-books
E-books are available from the independent rendering service MediaWiki2LaTeX.

How do the books comply with license requirements?
You will need to ask the rendering service how they comply.

Can I use the book tool with my MediaWiki installation?
Yes, the book tool is based on the open source project mwlib. The MediaWiki component Collection extension works out of the box with most MediaWikis and the PediaPress service.

Skin support
The tool may not reflect you choice of skin.

Limitation of the book size
You will need to check this with your chosen external rendering service.

Please keep in mind, generation of very large PDFs can take a long time and result in high server load. Dividing a large article collection into multiple volumes might make it more practical for you.

Where has [feature X] gone?
The early ambitions of the book project have been substantially cut back over the years, due to the withdrawal of resources. Many features previously offered or proposed have disappeared.

Where has the on-Wiki PDF rendering and download gone?
The book PDF rendering service was turned off in 2017. Simply put, it was ancient, broke down all the time, had evolving security issues and was unfixable.

Why are links to books hidden in articles?
As the Book Creator no longer generates downloadable copies of Wikipedia books, its primary working feature directs users to order a printed copy of a Wikipedia book from PediaPress a third-party company. Editors in the discussion about suppressing book templates valued the user experience of Wikipedia readers over the business prospects of PediaPress. The namespace and its transclusions are still retained in the hope that the WMF will come up with a solution. As a result of anticipated future solutions template transclusions should not be removed from articles. See Suppress rendering of Template:Wikipedia books for more information.

Bugs and general feedback
Bugs, feature requests and questions are best reported at the Feedback page.