MediaWiki:UploadFormHelpTexts

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Quick help
  • Click on the Click here to get help buttons (or the [?] links) to pop-up a help text for the corresponding input field.
  • If you need multi-line input fields for the source and author information, click the button to the right of the fields.
  • To add more descriptions in other languages, click the button below the last description field. Select the language in the drop-down menu to the left.
  • If you select a license in the drop-down menu, a button (normally Preview the chosen license) appears to preview the chosen license.
  • Pop-ups can be closed by clicking their close button , by clicking again the button that opened them, or by hitting the Esc-key.
  • To see how the description of the file will look after the upload, click the "Preview" button. This will not upload the image yet.
  • You do not need to add an {{Information}} template; the form will construct one for you.
  • If you already have an {{Information}} template or similar template ready to copy/paste, use the basic upload form. To always use the old basic form layout uncheck "ImprovedUploadForm" on the "Gadgets" tab of your preferences.

Local file: Select a file on your local computer that you want to upload.

If you want to upload a file from some other website, you must first download it to your local computer before you can upload it here. Please take note that most images out there are copyrighted and not freely licensed. See also our image casebook for explanations about which kinds of images are fine to upload, and which pose problems or should not be uploaded at all.

External URL: Select a externally hosted file that you want to upload.

Please note: You can only transfer images from allowlisted websites.

Please take note that most images out there are copyrighted and not freely licensed. See also our image casebook for explanations about which kinds of images are fine to upload, and which pose problems or should not be uploaded at all.

Destination filename: Write the name the file should have after uploading. Please choose a descriptive name to avoid name clashes.
Destination filename: This is the name of the file you will be overwriting. You cannot modify this.

Source: Where did this file originally come from? Give as much information as you can. If you need more than one line, click the button to the right of the field.

Source information is mandatory for all uploads to the Commons. Please do not upload files taken from known bad sources, and be careful with uploads from problematic sources.

If you give a URL as the immediate image source, make sure it's a URL to an image description, or to a web page where the image is used. A link to the plain image file is of no use.

Indicate where this image comes from. If it's from some other web site, include the URL to the description at that site. If it's a scan of a book, give the book's author, its title, and the page number.
Indicate where this recording comes from. If it's from some other web site, include the URL to the description at that site.
Indicate where this document comes from. If it's from some other web site, include the URL.

Author: You must indicate the author(s) of this work. Give as much information as you can. If you need more than one line, click the button to the right of the field.

If there is a {{Creator}} template for a famous author, use it. (See the list.) For instance, if Creator:Charles Roscoe Savage exists, entering "{{Creator:Charles Roscoe Savage}}" in the field will add a box giving relevant information about that person, and also automatically add the file uploaded to a category containing works by this author.

For photos, give the photographer's name. If the image shows some artwork, such as a photo of a painting, also give the painter's name. If you think the image (or the artwork shown) was in the public domain, also indicate when these authors lived.
Who made this recording? Who published it, who was the composer, who were the performers, and who was the director? When did the composer live? If it's a movie, also indicate when the director lived.


Date: Give the year this work was created and/or first published. If you don't know when the first publication was, give the year the work was created, and the year of the publication you got it from.
If the file is a photo of some artwork, please also give the year this artwork was created and/or published.
For compositions, also give the year the composition was first published.


File changes: Describe the changes you made to the file you will overwrite. This will appear as the edit summary in the file history. A description is mandatory.

For instance, if you've cropped away a border, say so. Or if you're uploading a larger, but otherwise identical, version of the already existing file, write "Larger version from ", followed by the source of the new version.

Your description will appear as an edit summary; it will not appear on the file description page itself! If the new version comes from a different source, or has a different author or license, please also update the file description page after the upload.

If the new version you want to upload differs substantially from the already existing file, it is almost always better to upload the file under a new name instead of overwriting the existing file. 

{{Information
|Description=
|Source=
|Date=
|Author=
|Permission=
|other_versions=
}}
  • Description: Describe the contents of the file you want to upload. A description is mandatory.
  • Source: Indicate where the item originally comes from. If you don't know, indicate where you got the item from. Please note that most works found on other webpages are copyrighted and are not freely licensed. Please do not upload files taken from known bad sources, and be careful with uploads from problematic sources.
  • Date: Give the year this work was originally published. If you don't know when that was, give the year the work was created, and the year of the publication you got it from.
  • Author: Who were the author(s) of this work? If it's a photo of some artwork (such as a painting), give both the photographer's name and the original artist's name. For films and audio recordings, also give the director and the performers.
  • Permission: If the work you upload is copyrighted, but you have an explicit permission to license it under a free license, forward any such permission to permissions-commons@wikimedia.org, and place {{Permission pending|month=December|day=22|year=2024}} in this field. Otherwise, leave this field empty. (Or use the field to place a specialized copyright tag if none of the choices in the licensing menu is applicable.)
  • Other versions: If you know that there are other versions of this file available at the Commons, link them here, otherwise, leave this field blank.




Description: describe the contents of the file you want to upload. A description is mandatory.

Choose the language of the description in the drop-down menu on the left. If you want to add more descriptions in other languages, click the button below the last description field: this will add a new field for another description.




Other versions: If you know that there are other versions of this file available at the Commons, link them here, otherwise, leave this field blank.

Permission: If the work you want to upload is copyrighted, but you have an explicit permission to license it under a free license, forward any such permission to permissions-commons@wikimedia.org, and place {{subst:PP}} in this field. Otherwise, leave this field blank.

If you know that your file falls under a specialized copyright rule not covered by the licenses mentioned in the "License" drop-down menu below, you may also write a copyright tag directly in this field instead of choosing a license below. If you use a "user license" defined in a subpage of your user page, you must "subst" it. A transclusion of a user license will not be accepted as a license.

Additional info: This is a general purpose field for any further information you might want to add to the file description. Place geocoding templates here, or if you upload a retouched image, add {{retouched|description of your modifications here}}.

Patent permissions: If this file is your own work, the WMF Patent License ({{3dpatent}}) is required. Additionally, 3D files depicting weapons are not allowed. Click here for more information.

License: The Commons accepts only media that either The most common license and copyright status descriptions are listed in this drop-down menu. Choose the one that applies to your file, if you haven't already placed a copyright tag in the "Permission" field above. See also Commons:Licensing.
Watch this: Select this checkbox if you want to add the newly uploaded file to your watchlist.
Ignore warnings: Select this checkbox if you want to upload right away, skipping any warnings about overwriting an existing file or about uploading a very large file. (Note, however, that PNG files larger than 12.5 million pixels currently cannot be rendered as thumbnails.)
Categories: Add categories to your file to make it easier to find it. Click on the "(+)" link to add a new category; if you have Ajax enabled, you will even get suggestions for existing categories as you type. If you want to change a category you have added, click the "(±)" link, and to remove an already added category, click on "(-)".
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