Thank you for your interest in the Windows Server technical documentation! We appreciate your feedback, edits, and additions to our docs. There are a few ways to contribute, depending on the size of your change:
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Create a brand-new article. Create and set up your GitHub account and tools, fork and clone this repo, set up your remote branch, create the article, and then create a pull request for review and publishing. For these instructions, see the Create new Windows Server articles using GitHub and Visual Studio Code article.
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Make large changes to an existing article. To make substantial changes to an existing article, follow the instructions in the Edit an existing Windows Server article using GitHub and Visual Studio Code article.
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Make minor changes to an existing article. To make minor changes to an existing article, follow the instructions in the Update existing Windows Server articles using a web browser and GitHub article.
Every pull request (PR) goes through the same simple lifecycle:
- Open your PR. If it's still a work in progress, open it as a draft. Draft pull requests don't get inactivity reminders, so take the time you need.
- Mark it ready. When your changes are ready, comment
#sign-offto request review and merge. Only the listed authors of the changed files can sign off. - Review. A member of the content team reviews your PR and might suggest changes. Reply to the comments and update your branch.
- Merge and publish. After sign-off and review, your PR is merged and your changes publish to Microsoft Learn.
Steer your pull request with these comments:
| Comment | What it does |
|---|---|
#sign-off |
Marks the pull request ready for review and merge. |
#hold-off |
Pauses merge. |
#please-close |
Closes the pull request. |
#please-open |
Reopens a closed pull request. |
#label:"keep-open" |
Pauses inactivity reminders (adds the keep-open label). |
#assign-reviewer:<github-account> |
Requests a review from a specific person. |
To help keep things moving, a pull request with no activity for 7 days gets an inactive label and a reminder comment. With no further activity, the pull request closes 14 days later. To avoid this:
- Keep a work-in-progress pull request as a draft.
- Comment
#label:"keep-open"to pause reminders when a pull request is ready but long-running, such as a release.
You can reopen a closed pull request at any time.
Most contributors need to sign a Microsoft Contribution Licensing Agreement (CLA) before their first change can be merged. When a signature is needed, the CLA bot comments on your pull request with what to do. If you've contributed to a Microsoft repository before, you've already completed this step.
We've tried to make editing an existing, public file as simple as possible.
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Browse to the Windows Server article that you want to update, and then select Edit.
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Sign in to (or sign up for) a GitHub account.
You must have a GitHub account to get to the page that lets you edit a topic.
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Select the Pencil icon (in the red box) to edit the content.
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Using Markdown language, make your changes to the topic. For info about how to edit content using Markdown, see:
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Make your suggested change, and then select Preview Changes to make sure it looks correct.
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When you’re done editing the topic, scroll to the bottom of the page, type a descriptive name for your fork, and then click Propose file change to create the fork in your personal GitHub account.
The Comparing changes screen appears to see what the changes are between your fork and the original content.
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On the Comparing changes screen, you’ll see if there are any problems with the file you’re checking in.
If there are no problems, you’ll see the message, Able to merge.
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Select Create pull request.
Pull requests let you tell others about changes you've pushed to a branch in a repository on GitHub. After a pull request is opened, you can discuss and review the potential changes with collaborators and add follow-up commits before your changes are merged into the base branch. For more information, see About pull requests
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Enter a title and description to give the approver the appropriate context about what’s in the request.
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Scroll to the bottom of the page, making sure that only your changed files are in this pull request. Otherwise, you could overwrite changes from other people.
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Select Create pull request again to actually submit the pull request.
The pull request is sent to the writer of the topic and your edits are reviewed. If your request is accepted, your updates are published.
- You can use your favorite text editor to edit Markdown. We recommend Visual Studio Code, a free lightweight open source editor from Microsoft.