Determining which system is in place

Your wiki may use one of three footnote systems. The one shown on the right is the simplest system, where the "Cite" menu does not include any citation templates. If your wiki uses this system, then everything you need to know about footnotes is on this page.

The second system has the same type of "Cite" menu, but with several popular citation templates set up for quick access. If your wiki uses this system, then you will find more details at Help:VisualEditor/User guide/Citations-Templates

In the third system, you again start by pressing the Cite button. Then a dialog box opens, which includes an automatic citation process using the citoid service. If your wiki uses this system, you will find more details at Help:VisualEditor/User guide/Citations-Full

Editing an existing reference

To edit an existing reference, press on it where it appears in the text (usually as a bracketed number). You will see either a "Reference" icon (bookmark) or an icon (and name) for the template that was used to create this reference. In either case, pressing on the "Edit" button will open a dialog where you can edit the reference.

For the "Reference" icon, pressing "Edit" opens the Reference dialog. To start changing the reference information, press on it. Many wikis use templates to format references. If a template is used in your reference, then when you move your pointer over the reference information, all the information in that field will be highlighted . If a template was used and you press on the reference information, then the Template icon (puzzle piece) will appear with some information. Press on the "edit" button to edit the content of the template in the template mini-editor dialog.

If what appears when you press on a reference is an icon for a standard template for citations (an example is at right), then pressing "Edit" will open the template mini-editor dialog.

Inside the template mini-editor, you can add or remove types of information or change current content. Only fields (template parameters) that have content will show, initially. To add fields, press on "Add more information" at the bottom of the mini-editor.

Press on "Apply changes" when you are done.

Re-using an existing reference

If the page already contains a citation that applies to the text you want to source, then you can choose to re-use that existing citation. To re-use an existing reference, place your cursor in the body of the text where you want to add a new reference (number) for that citation. Then press on the "Re-use reference" item from the "Cite" menu. (Note: If your wiki has the third footnote system described above, you'll see a "Re-use" tab, in a dialog, instead of a "Re-use" item on the "Cite" menu.)

In the Reference dialog, look at the list for the reference you want to reuse, and select it. If there are many references, you can use the search box (labeled "Search within current citations") to list only those references that include certain text.

Adding a new reference

To add a citation using the "Cite" menu, place your cursor where you want to add it in the text. Then select the appropriate citation type in the menu.

Using the "Basic" citation

Shown here is what you will see if you select the basic references item. In the Reference editor, you can add your citation, including formatting. You can make the reference belong to a given group, although normally this is left blank. (This option is used to display groups of references with the "References list" tool.)

In the Reference dialog, if you want to include a citation template, or any other template, in your new reference, press the Template icon (puzzle piece) in the "Insert" toolbar menu within the Reference editor.

Then, look for the template you want to use, add it and edit it as you would any other template. (See the Editing templates section, below, if you need more information about templates.) After you are done editing your new template, press on "Apply changes" to return to the Reference editor, and "Apply changes" again to return to the page you are editing.

If there isn't already a list of references on the page (for example, if you are adding the first reference for the page), you need to specify where the list of references, and their text, will be displayed to the reader. Place the cursor where you want to display the references list (usually at the bottom of the page), open the "Insert" menu and press the "References list" icon (three books).

If you are using several groups of references, which is relatively rare, you can specify the group in this dialog. Only the references that belong to that group will be displayed on the page at the location where you are placing the group. The final step in the References list dialog is to press "Insert".

Using standard cite templates

Your local wiki may have added extra citation templates to the "Cite" menu. If so, you have quick access to the most-used citation templates for your wiki. (Instructions for adding extra citation templates to your local wiki are available at VisualEditor/Citation tool

Pressing on a template icon such as "Cite book" will take you into the template mini-editor for that template. Important information fields may be marked with an asterisk. While the most common fields will be shown, not all of them are required.