# Main Page

From XOWA: the free, open-source, offline wiki application

| The XOWA Android apk is available for download Please help test! See: https://github.com/gnosygnu/xowa/wiki/Android

## Disclaimer

Please note that this program is beta software. Although it is my best hope that you find this program functional and useful, I make no assurances regarding stability or fitness of purpose. For more details, see Help/License/Code.

## Release notes

v3.4.2.1 features the following:

- (Desktop) Faster search database build
- (Desktop) New English Wikipedia images update (2016-03)
- (Desktop) Minor Wikia parser tags
- (Android) New pages for "Import new wiki" and "XOWA Wikis"
- (Android) Minor fixes for crashes / obsoleted items

For more details about this release, please see the blog and the change log.

For more details about the release schedule, please see the release schedule.

## New users

If this is the first time you've run XOWA, then please choose either the online or offline setup:

##### Online setup

- Import Simple Wikipedia

  Simple Wikipedia is a small wiki that fits in about 200 MB and sets up in about 3 minutes.
  When you are ready to start, click this link:
    Set up Simple Wikipedia ⊗
  Feel free to look around during the import process. You can start at Help/Contents. When the process completes, it will open Simple Wikipedia.

  After the setup completes, you can visit these pages:
    Gothic architecture
    Saturn (planet)
    Chess
    World History

- Import other wikis

  After exploring Simple Wikipedia, you may want to import another wiki such as English Wikipedia, French Wiktionary, German Wikisource, Wikidata, Commons, etc.
  To import another wiki, please visit import online.

##### Offline setup

- Import from a dump file: See import offline.

## Upgrade users

If you are upgrading from any version before v3.4.1, you should download a xowa_app_v3.4.1+ file.

- v3.3.4 has a new auto-complete address bar. It also has a faster Search system. See App/Search/Overview

  v3.3.4 also uses sqlite 3.8.2

- v3.1.3 has a new XOWA Android application
- v2.8.1 has a language converter dropdown for the Chinese wikis.
- v2.7.3 introduces a new Bookmarks page. See Special:XowaBookmarks
- v2.6.5 uses SWT v4.5 and XULRunner v24. See Dev/SWT and HTML Browser
- v2.6.3 uses WebKit for MacOSX. For more info, see Blog

  v2.6.3 also fully supports multiple-word-highlight when using find. Press Ctrl+F and try it out.

- v2.5.4 has changed online file downloads. Among other things, ImageMagick and Inkscape are no longer required. For more info, see Files
- v2.4.2 has improved Search performance and v2.4.4 has added multi-wiki Search. For more info, see App/Search/Overview
- v2.4.1 has introduced major database layout changes. For more info, see Database

## Tips

- Autocomplete address bar: The address bar supports autocomplete. Type something like "search" and see the results.
- Navigation buttons: The arrow icons in the upper left-hand corner represent the back and forward button. Click on them just like you would in a web browser. You can also use Alt+Left and Alt+Right.
- Font size:
  - If the font size is too small, right-click and choose Font Increase
  - If you need more control over the font, customize it on the Options/Window and Options/HTML
- Find box: Press Ctrl+F on your keyboard. This will show the Find box (in the lower left-hand corner). Type "tips". Notice that the word "Tips" is highlighted above. Note that Alt+P (Previous) and Alt+N (Next) will change search direction. See Find Box for more info.
- Address bar: Press Alt+D or Ctrl+L on your keyboard. This will take you to the Address bar at the top of the screen. Type "s.w:Earth" (no quotes) and press Enter. This will open the Simple Wikipedia page for Earth. See Address bar/Shortcuts for more shortcuts.
- Middle-click in address bar: Copy and paste urls directly into the address bar with the middle mouse button to open the page. For example:
  - Right-click the following url: `http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_history`
  - Select "Copy"
  - Click the middle mouse button in the address bar above. The "World history" page in "Simple Wikipedia" will open.

    Now you can copy and paste any Wikipedia url directly into XOWA and its page will open (and all its images will download.) See Address_bar/URLs for more info

- Middle-click on link: Open a tab in a new link by middle-clicking on it. Try middle-clicking the following: Options
- Right-click: Right click on an image and click save as file

## Notes

- Wikidata: If you're seeing {{#property}} in your wikis you should also set up Wikidata. See App/Wiki_types/Wikidata

## Links

Import Online | Import a wiki from a list of 827 known Wikimedia Foundation wikis
Import Offline | Import a wiki through a dump; import also through script; also upgrade category to version 2
Image databases | Download image databases for your wiki
Wiki Maintenance | Update your wikis if they are outdated
FAQs | View questions asked by other users
Contents | View all help topics
Options | Configure XOWA options
Change log | View changes for each XOWA release
Diagnostics | Run test pages to make sure that XOWA works on your system.
Report issues | Report bugs / issues on Github

### XOWA

- Main page
- Screenshots
- Download XOWA
- Download wikis

### Getting started

- Requirements
- Installation
- Simple Wikipedia
- English Wikipedia
- Other Wikipedias

### Android

- Setup

### Help

- About
- Contents
- Media
- Feedback

### Blog

- Current

### Links

- Wikimedia dumps
- XOWA @ archive.org
- English Wikipedia

### Donate

- archive.org
- Wikipedia