This extension adds a button called Save draft below the editing options. It allows an user to save a draft copy of a page while they are editing. Users must be logged in to save drafts, as they are tied to their user account.
Saving Drafts
Drafts are always saved when the user clicks preview or show changes, however the following behavior is dependent on whether the client's browser has JavaScript enabled or disabled.
Behavior | JavaScript Enabled | JavaScript Disabled |
Save Draft Button |
|
Always enabled |
Automatic Saving |
|
None |
Accessing Drafts
If a draft has been saved the user can access them by
- Returning to the edit screen for article they saved the draft of, where a list of existing drafts for that user and article will appear at the top of the edit page.
- Visiting the drafts special page (Special:Drafts) where there is a list of all drafts for that user.
Edge Cases
- When a page is moved, the drafts which refer to that page are moved with it
- When a draft is created for a new page but the page is never saved, the draft will still be available for creating the page and will retain the title and namespace
- When a draft is created for a page and the page is then deleted, the draft will remain, and the behavior will then be just as for drafts of uncreated pages
Draft Expiration
Drafts automatically expire if not modified for longer specific length of time (configurable). To prevent excessively frequent modifications to the database, these drafts are only actually pruned from the database a fraction of the times (configurable) which a request for a list of drafts is made. Even if pruning never takes place, expired drafts will not be accessible to users.