Template:Archives/doc

This is a documentation subpage for Template:Archives.
It may contain usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page.

This template is used on approximately 51,000 pages and changes may be widely noticed. Test changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

The {{Archives}} template may be used to add a box containing page links to archived discussions. It will automatically detect archived pages by default if they follow the format {{PAGENAME}}/Archive #, eliminating the need to manually update the box each time a new archive page is created. If a list of archives is given manually through the first unnamed parameter it does not check for archives automatically, instead auto=long or auto=short has to be added if both manual and automatic lists are used.

This page is intended to explain the details of template usage. For a general guide to archiving see Help:Archiving a talk page which includes a simpler explanation of this template.

Usage

{{archives
| archivelist = <!-- /archivelist -->
| auto        = <!-- short/long/no -->
| index       = <!-- /Archive index -->
| list        = 
| search      = <!-- yes/no -->
| root        =
| prefix      =
| collapsible = <!-- yes/no -->
| collapsed   = <!-- yes/no -->
| editbox     = <!-- yes/no -->
| box-width   = <!-- Box-width is deprecated and won't work -->
| style       = 
| title       = 
| image       = 
| image-size  =
| alt         = 
| link        = 
| target      = 
| bot         = 
| age         = 
| units       = <!-- time units (defaults to days) -->
|
<!-- optional additional text or list items -->
}}

Archive list

archivelist: Specifies a link to a subpage, such as "/archivelist", that contains the archive list.
auto= <short|long|no>: Specifies the format of the auto-generated archive list. If left unspecified, the default is "long"; any other word (except "no") will result in "short" and "no" disables auto-detection. Auto-detection is also disabled if a manual list is given in the first unnamed parameter.
index: Links the "Archives" title to a specified subpage, such as "/Archive index", that should be the subject index page for all archived discussions. Legobot may be used to create and maintain such an index.
list: Inline list of archives. The list parameter overrides automatic archive detection of pages named "Archive 1", "Archive 2" and so on. It cannot be used together with an automatically generated list.
(1st unnamed parameter): Same as list parameter, but can be used together with an automatic list if auto=long or auto=short is used. This is usually done when other related archives are linked such as when using centralized talk pages or adding links to archives of alternative accounts.

With no explicit parameters, the archive list presented in the box is determined automatically. If a subpage called "{{PAGENAME}}/archivelist" exists, it will be used as the central content of the box. For an example, see ~~Talk:Evolution~~, which [not currently] draws from Talk:Evolution/archivelist. The archivelist parameter changes the name of this subpage.

If no archive list subpage is detected, numbered archive subpages will be listed in long format. Such pages must be named as "/Archive #" because other naming styles will not be detected. The "long" auto format (the default) indicates "Archive 1", "Archive 2", and so on. The "short" auto format indicates only the archive number. See more examples below.

An additional list of archives can be passed in the first unnamed parameter, avoiding the need for a subpage.

Using "auto=no" will disable archive auto-detection. Manually specified archives will still be shown. [The archive box will also contain an "Edit" link, targeted at the archive list subpage, which can then be used to begin manually populating the list, if desired. This seems broken.] This may be desirable if the archive list is given in the title parameter.

Additional notes

The "auto" and "archivelist" parameters are not intended to be used together. (Doing so does not use the specified archive list page.)

The auto-generated archive list requires subpages to use the common naming convention. That is, "{{PAGENAME}}/Archive 1", "{{PAGENAME}}/Archive 2", and so on. The letter "A" must be capitalized, there must be a single space between the word "Archive" and the number, and there must be no leading zeros. If archive subpages do not conform to this convention, they can be renamed to conform, or a manual list can be maintained.

Specifying "auto" with any value other than "long" or "no" results in the short-format list; the use of "short" as the value just makes things more obvious to others.

Icon image

image: An alternate image to be used, defaults to "Replacement filing cabinet.svg". May also use image-size. none results in no image.
alt: Alt text for the image, for visually impaired readers. See WP:ALT. This defaults to empty. If a nonempty value is specified for link, alt should be nonempty too, and should indicate what will happen if the user clicks on the image.
link: Link for the image. This normally defaults to empty, which means no link. However, if alt is nonempty, it defaults to the image's file page.

The link and alt parameters only take effect if the image is changed from the default.

Search

search: If yes, adds a search box to the template.
root: Specify a different base than {{FULLPAGENAME}}/. Use prefix if the addition of a trailing slash is not desired.
search-break: Default:no
search-width: Default:22
search-button-label: Default: Search

Archival method

target: The title of the page (just the name, no link syntax) that threads are currently being archived to, for manual archiving.
bot: If specified, a note about automatic archiving will be shown.
age: If specified, this will be displayed as the archiving delay.
units: If specified, this will be displayed units for the archiving delay. The default is "days".

Other parameters

collapsible: If yes, makes the list collapsible.
collapsed: If yes, makes the list collapsed.
style: An arbitrary string of CSS can be applied to the box (use with care).
title: An alternative title, defaults to "Archives". The title is automatically linked to the /archivelist subpage if it exist. If another link is desired a wiki link may be inserted here.
editbox: If yes or omitted, includes a button to edit the archive box's sub-page /archivelist.

Examples

Default

{{archives}}