Using Wikipedia's AutoWikiBrowser for Basic Typo Cleanup of Random Pages

So you’ve recently received the privilege to use Wikipedia’s AutoWikiBrowser (AWB) and you’re eager to dive in. Congratulations — AWB is one of the most powerful semi-automated editing tools available to experienced Wikipedians, and once you get the hang of it, you’ll find yourself cleaning up articles at a pace that would be impossible manually. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the basic usage of AWB, focusing on how to find random pages that need cleanup and apply predefined regular expressions to fix typos.

The regular expressions (regex) used for typo fixing are already documented in detail at Wikipedia:AutoWikiBrowser/Typos, so I won’t reinvent the wheel here. Instead, I’ll show you how to put them into practice inside AWB.

Before You Begin

I’m not covering how to download, install, or run AWB — those steps are explained thoroughly at Wikipedia:AutoWikiBrowser. Since you’ve already gotten access, I’ll assume you’re familiar with Wikipedia editing basics and understand the site’s formatting rules and conventions. AWB is not a beginner’s tool; it’s meant for editors who already know their way around wikitext.

Step 1: Launch AWB

1. Fire up AWB from wherever you installed it
2. On the bottom-right corner of the window, you’ll see the User section in the status bar. Click on it to open the Profiles window. If you’ve logged in before, simply select your profile and click Login. If this is your first time, you’ll need to add a profile by entering your Wikipedia username and password. AWB will then remember your credentials for future sessions.

Step 2: Generate a List of Articles

1. Once logged in, the next step is to create a list of random articles to work on.
1. In the Source dropdown, select Random pages
2. Click the Make list button, and AWB will generate a batch of articles for you

Step 3: Configure Options

1. In the Options tab, check the box for Regex typo fixing and Skip if no typo fixed
2. Leave the More tab untouched for now
3. Leave the Disambig tab untouched for now
4. Leave the Skip tab untouched for now

Step 4: Set Up the Start Tab

1. In the Start tab, make sure that the Default Summary is set to clean up. Then click Start to start scanning the pages for typos

Step 5: Review and Save Changes

When AWB finds a match, the Diff for the page will appear in the display pane at the top. The page’s wikitext will be shown in the Edit box tab below.

1. If you don't want to include a particular recommendation, double-click the line in the Diff display pane to exclude it
2. On occasions when AWB's suggestion doesn't look right, you can manually tweak the wikitext in the Edit box panel at the bottom before saving
3. Once you are satisfied. click Save to commit your changes to Wikipedia

Final Thoughts

That’s it — you’ve just completed your first round of typo cleanup using AWB. The tool may feel overwhelming at first, but once you get comfortable with the workflow, it becomes second nature. AWB is designed to speed up repetitive tasks, but it still relies on your judgment as an editor. Always review changes carefully before saving — automation is powerful, but accuracy is what keeps Wikipedia reliable.