Main Page

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

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

v4.5.7.1706 features the following

  • (Wiki) Publish 2017-05 English, German, and French wikis with full-text search. Also, 2017-06 English Wikipedia
  • (PC) Fix parser issues including "mwInit.lua:24 bad argument" in English Wikipedia, broken navboxes in French Wikivoyage, "=Module:Header template:93" in French Wikisource, "gplx.Err: bad argument" in French Wikiversity, and missing Table of Contents on some German Wikipedia pages.

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 from the following:

  • Build a wiki while online
  • Build a wiki while offline
  • Download pre-built wikis within XOWA
  • Download pre-built wikis within a browser

In addition, XOWA now supports creation of your own personal wiki.

Build a wiki while online
  • 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:
Simple.wikipedia.org:Gothic architecture
Simple.wikipedia.org:Saturn (planet)
Simple.wikipedia.org:Chess
Simple.wikipedia.org: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.
Build a wiki while offline
Download pre-built wikis within XOWA
Download pre-built wikis within a browser
  • Go to Wiki_setup/Listing
  • Navigate to your wiki page from the list
  • Download the listed urls
Creating a personal wiki
  • From the main menu, choose Personal wikis -> New personal wiki
  • Fill in domain, name, and folder
  • Press the Save icon

Upgrade users

v3.3.4 uses sqlite 3.8.2
  • v3.1.3 features the 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
  • 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:
  • 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:
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

Download Central Download an Android-ready wiki with images from archive.org
Import Online Import a wiki from a list of 829 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

Namespaces

XOWA

Getting started

Android

Help

Blog

Donate