---
title: "Deleting and restoring pages in MediaWiki"
description: "Pages can be deleted or removed from MediaWiki when spammers, abusers, and vandals deface pages or create unwanted pages on your site. When \"deleting\" a page, the page is actually not deleted...."
url: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/mediawiki/deleting-restoring-pages-mediawiki/
date: 2013-01-21
modified: 2021-08-16
author: "InMotion Hosting Contributor"
categories: ["MediaWiki"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Deleting and restoring pages in MediaWiki

Pages can be deleted or removed from MediaWiki when spammers, abusers, and vandals deface pages or create unwanted pages on your site. When “*deleting*” a page, the page is actually not deleted. MediaWiki will remove the page from the site In the event a page was deleted by accident, you can restore the page from the deleted pages list.

To prevent users from defacing your MediWiki site, you can restrict teh users from accessing the site. Visit the [Adding / Removing account access features in MediaWiki](/support/edu/mediawiki/remove-add-account-access/) learn more about tutorial. The following section will explain the steps to delete/remove and restore pages in MediaWiki.

## Steps to delete and restore pages

### Deleting a page

1. [Log into MediaWiki](/support/edu/mediawiki/login-username-password/)
2. **Navigate to the page** you want to delete.
3. [![Select delete MediaWiki](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/edu_mediawiki_101_create-edit-pages_delete-pages-mediawiki-1.gif)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/edu_mediawiki_101_create-edit-pages_delete-pages-mediawiki-1.gif) **Click the drop arrow** on the right top of the page and **select Delete**.
4. [![Click delete page mediawiki](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/edu_mediawiki_101_create-edit-pages_delete-pages-mediawiki-2.gif)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/edu_mediawiki_101_create-edit-pages_delete-pages-mediawiki-2.gif) The page will show **Delete “the page name”.** Select the reason for deleting the page. **Click** the **Delete page** button. **Note!** Deleted pages can be restored at a later date. The pages are removed from the site; however, they can be made available again if the page was deleted by accident. The page is now removed from the wiki.

### How to restore a deleted page

1. [Log into MediaWiki](/support/edu/mediawiki/login-username-password/)
2. **Click Special pages** on the left hand side in the sidebar.
3. [![View deleted pages mediawiki](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/edu_mediawiki_101_create-edit-pages_restore-deleted-pages-mediawiki-1.gif)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/edu_mediawiki_101_create-edit-pages_restore-deleted-pages-mediawiki-1.gif) In the page tools section, **click View deleted pages**.
4. [![The deletion log mediawiki](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/edu_mediawiki_101_create-edit-pages_restore-deleted-pages-mediawiki-2.gif)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/edu_mediawiki_101_create-edit-pages_restore-deleted-pages-mediawiki-2.gif) On the Search deleted pages page, **click “the deletion log”**.
5. [![View restore mediawiki](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/edu_mediawiki_101_create-edit-pages_restore-deleted-pages-mediawiki-3.gif)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/edu_mediawiki_101_create-edit-pages_restore-deleted-pages-mediawiki-3.gif) On the recent deleted pages section, find the page that was deleted and **click view/restore** in the deleted pages information.
6. [![Restore revisions mediawiki](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/edu_mediawiki_101_create-edit-pages_restore-deleted-pages-mediawiki-4.gif)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/edu_mediawiki_101_create-edit-pages_restore-deleted-pages-mediawiki-4.gif) The Restore revisions option will display for restoring the page. In the reason text box, enter the reason for restoring the page. In this case, we entered “*Deleted by Accident*“. **Click restore.** [![Page was restored mediawiki](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/edu_mediawiki_101_create-edit-pages_restore-deleted-pages-mediawiki-5.gif)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/edu_mediawiki_101_create-edit-pages_restore-deleted-pages-mediawiki-5.gif) MediaWiki will confirm that the page was restored on the **View and restore pages** page.