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This is the discussion page for the AWB project. It is also the place to discuss using the AWB program itself (if you need help, or have a question about AWB, etc.). Before asking questions, please read the Frequently asked questions below. Where to make specific types of reports or requests is explained in the Before you post section below...

Before you post

Do you want to ...	Please use
Report a bug in AWB?	Wikipedia talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Bugs
Report an incorrectly fixed typo?	Wikipedia talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Typos
Request a feature for a future version of AWB?	Wikipedia talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Feature requests
Request approval to use AWB?	Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/AutoWikiBrowser
Ask a question about AWB or ask for help?	This page

Frequently asked questions

When I start it up I get one of the following errors:
"The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000135). Click on OK to terminate the application.", or

"To run this application, you must first install one of the following versions of the .NET Framework..."

This error means your computer does not have the .NET framework version 2 installed properly. You can choose from various versions for download here, or you can run Windows Update and select version 2 of the .Net framework from the "Optional Updates" section, if you want the choice made for you.
Does AWB run on Linux or Mac?
- AWB runs reasonably under Wine. See details here
  AWB might also run under Mono.
- AWB (Windows) with Unix scripts can be done with Cygwin or Virtualbox
- On the Mac, AWB is not natively available, but an option is to use virtualisation with Parallels Desktop for Mac (subject to meeting supported operating systems requirements) and then run Microsoft Windows virtually with AWB as the Windows instructions above. Note this option is not free, as a license is required for both Parallels Desktop for Mac and Microsoft Windows. An alternative visualization method is to use the free VirtualBox, see also Comparison of platform virtual machines.
Does AWB work on other projects/languages?
Many Wikimedia projects and languages are supported, see the "User and project preferences" option in the general menu. Other languages will be added on request, though at the moment the interface is always in English. You are also able to use AWB with third-party wikis: Options > Preferences > Site, you can change the wiki there. The wiki must support the Bot API required by AWB. This means that it should have latest HEAD version of MediaWiki or something close to that. The wmf-deployment branch is also recommended, as this is what is currently live on WMF sites.
Under Windows 7 (and newer?), AWB is using wrong font size, which results in clipped text and lost buttons and options, (see example here). How to fix it?
Tracked in Phabricator
Task T103506

Solution #1: Go to "Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Display" and switch resizing of the fonts to 100%

Solution #2: Right click on AutoWikiBrowser.exe --> Properties -> Compatibility (tab) --> enable the "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings" option
What interwiki link order does AWB use?
The software reads the interwiki sort order from Wikipedia:AutoWikiBrowser/IW, which is generally mirrored to reflect the order at m:Interwiki sorting order.
AWB puts stubs after categories, though categories are always rendered the last by MediaWiki?
According to WP:STUB#Categorizing stubs, By convention they are placed at the end of the article, after the External links section, any navigation templates, and the category tags, so that the stub category will appear last. If your wiki uses another order, please let us know here.
I don't like or use Internet Explorer; please use Firefox instead.
AWB does not use Internet Explorer per se. It does, however, use the same web browser control (MSHTML) as Internet Explorer; the equivalent Firefox component does not provide the needed functionality.
How do I open the page in another browser if I can't use the one in AWB?
Right click on the edit box in the bottom right side of your screen. Select "Open page in browser".
How do I edit a page that doesn't exist?
Uncheck "Ignore non existing pages" in the "Skip articles" box.
How do I skip certain articles?
Use the "Skip if contains" and "Skip if doesn't contain" on the "Skip" tab
Can't you leave up a "stable" version, so I don't have to download new versions?
It is important to keep people up to date with the latest versions, because their use of the software doesn't just affect them, but the whole of Wikipedia. As any bugs that remain will be trivial, hopefully releases won't be too frequent.
How can I stop AWB clicking when it changes pages?
This is a Windows sound theme setting. This page explains how to turn off the clicking sound.

Alternatively, delete the following key from the Windows registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\Explorer\Navigating\.Current
AWB randomly crashes upon page load on my system, and I always use a browser other than Internet Explorer when using Wikipedia.
You may have installed custom scripts incompatible with IE. Wrap the contents of your monobook.js into conditional:

               //Detect IE5.5+
               if (navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE")==-1)
               {
                   // Previous contents go here
                   ....
               }

I get Just In Time Debugger Messages when loading AWB/loading pages.
In Internet Explorer, go to Tools → Options → Advanced. Make sure 'Disable Script Debugging (Internet Explorer)' and 'Disable Script Debugging (Other)' Are both checked. Press apply and close.
Why does AWB run very, very slowly if I try to make changes in the edit window on larger pages, especially pages with long lists or tables?
If running on Windows, exit the Speech Recognition software that is built into some versions of Windows; don't just turn it 'Off', you must 'Exit' the software if you have started up Speech Recognition.
When I do a clean install of AutoWikiBrowser the application seems to find old setting data somewhere. I'd like to do a really clean install. Any ideas?
Clean up your registry and remove the folder "C:\Documents and Settings\user name\Local Settings\Application Data\AutoWikiBrowser" (Windows XP) or "C:\Users\user name\AppData\Local\AutoWikiBrowser\" (Windows 7). Note that the application data folder may be hidden.
AWB prompts that there is a newer version but won't update
Check the version number of your AWBUpdater.exe. The current version is 2.0.2.1. If you have an older version, you have to download the latest AWB version and make a clean install.
Which .NET Framework version do I have?
You can find your .NET Framework version in Help → About box.
Where are the default settings stored?
- Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\Application Data\AutoWikiBrowser
- Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\AutoWikiBrowser\Default.xml
I cannot copy text from the diff window using the Control+C keyboard shortcut.
You must have Microsoft.mshtml.dll available for AWB to use for this functionality to work. You can try downloading the file (there are a number of third-party websites offering DLL file downloads) and putting it in the same folder as AutoWikiBrowser.exe. This is reported not to work for all users, presumably due to .NET Framework problems.
Is there any way to set AWB to not use https? (GFW blocks 443 port)
In preferences, set project to "custom". Set the left box to http. In the webpage box, type en.wikipedia.org/w/ (English Wikipedia) or zh.wikipedia.org/w/ (Chinese Wikipedia). Note that leaving off the /w/ will result in a "root element missing" error.

Discussion

Please click here to start a new discussion.

This talk page is automatically archived by MiszaBot I. Any sections older than 7 days are automatically archived to Wikipedia talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Archive 28. Sections without timestamps are not archived.

template flags "not a spelling error"

Sorry, I know there's a template that makes AWB not to "correct" an odd spelling (in this case, outcastes for outcasts), but I can't remember what it is. Any sort of "sic" template would not be sending the right message to manual editors. I need a template that means, "this may look like a spelling error, but it isn't". TKS Lingzhi ♦ (talk) 13:43, 23 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Lingzhi: Try {{Not a typo}} or one of its synonyms. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:52, 23 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

{{duh}}. Tks! Lingzhi ♦ (talk) 13:55, 23 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Consensus to halt AWB ref reordering

I have closed the RFC regarding AWB reordering refs.[1] There was roughly two to one opposition to these edits, with the additional factor that automated (or semi-automated) edits are expected to be either uncontroversial or supported by consensus. I believe this constitutes a clear consensus to halt these AWB edits.

Pinging Rjwilmsi, per comment I will ensure AWB is updated if required to support the consensus reached.[2] However any available AWB maintainer should of course make the update at as convenient. Thanx. Alsee (talk) 18:40, 24 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I realize there's nothing that can be done to stop this, but I do want to record my objection for posterity on the basis that this form of edit served to make the Wikipedia appear more professional to the reader, and removing this form of edit from AWB's repertoire is therefore a step backward for this publication. Further, those very few who objected to any particular change in this form had a slap-easy method for avoiding it. Stevie is the man! ^{Talk • Work} 18:59, 24 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Rjwilmsi asked that a phabricator ticket be opened once the RfC had closed. I have no idea why it had to be done that way, but I've opened one anyway: T154089. Don't know whether I did it correctly. For the future we need to sort out this issue of features being added to AWB without consensus, but very clear consensus and phabricator tickets being needed to remove them. SarahSV ^(talk) 19:05, 24 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Forgot to ping Reedy. SarahSV ^(talk) 19:07, 24 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

This is a software change request, and since this application is on Phabricator, opening a ticket only stands to reason. If you (or even "the community") want software changed, it has to go through the software development change process. As for adding forms of edits to the app without a consensus or guideline behind it, there is obvious merit to that concern in general. Stevie is the man! ^{Talk • Work} 19:11, 24 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I agree it's a step backwards, but consensus is against it by default. The feature shouldn't be removed, but be made optional. Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 19:12, 24 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hmmm, that's an interesting idea, as other wikipedias and wiki projects might not have a problem with this. Stevie is the man! ^{Talk • Work} 19:14, 24 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

There's no consensus to make it optional. Anything optional on AWB tends to be the default in my experience. SarahSV ^(talk) 19:16, 24 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

There's every consensus to make anything you can do manually optional. I can reorder refs manually if I want, there's no rhyme or reason to make me jump through hoops to do this. Bots shouldn't do this, fine, but you have zero consensus to remove my ability to make editorial decisions.Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 19:23, 24 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Optional is good. Mr Stephen (talk) 20:05, 24 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Optional is good. --Gronk Oz (talk) 21:06, 24 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Consensus

I would like to ask if there is a central place where the community discussions leading to additions to genfixes is logged. If not, do the AWB developers think that there should be? What about template redirects? I understand that there is some overlap in developer effort with CHECKWIKI. Would it be possible to answer the same question for CHECKWIKI here? SpinningSpark 12:16, 1 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@@ Line 130: / Line 130: @@
 :::::::Optional is good.  [[User:Mr Stephen|Mr Stephen]] ([[User talk:Mr Stephen|talk]]) 20:05, 24 December 2016 (UTC)
 ::::::::Optional is good. --[[User:Gronk Oz|Gronk Oz]] ([[User talk:Gronk Oz|talk]]) 21:06, 24 December 2016 (UTC)
+== Consensus ==
+I would like to ask if there is a central place where the community discussions leading to additions to genfixes is logged.  If not, do the AWB developers think that there should be?  What about template redirects?  I understand that there is some overlap in developer effort with CHECKWIKI.  Would it be possible to answer the same question for CHECKWIKI here? [[User:Spinningspark|<b style="background:#FAFAD2;color:#C08000">Spinning</b>]][[User talk:Spinningspark|<b style="color:#4840A0">Spark</b>]] 12:16, 1 January 2017 (UTC)