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Adding Events to the timeline

Introduction

Adding events to the timeline is all done via the main search box on the timeline app, whether you are creating a new timeline or building on an existing one. All you have to do is type in a search and click on a result to add the content to your current timeline.

Histropedia allows you to build timelines in this way using a database of over 1.5 million events and 300,000 ready-made timelines.

Adding individual events (Wikipedia articles)


You can add an event to your timeline in two simple steps:




1. Enter the name of an event in the search box.
e.g. "William Shakespeare", "Roman empire" or "World War I"

2. Click on the event to add it to your timeline. 

Individual events are indicated by a  icon on the left side of the search result (the bottom two results in the screenshot above). The ready-made timelines are always displayed first in the search box if matches are found, so you will normally have to scroll down the list a bit before you can see the individual events.
Only the  results which also have a date and a 
 icon can be added to the timeline with a single click. A result without the date and symbol is just a Wikipedia article that hasn't had dates assigned to it yet. Clicking on the result will load the Wikipedia article in the reading window. If desired, you can then create a new event from the article so that you can add it to your timeline.  

Any events you create are instantly available to all other users of the site.

Adding events in bulk



Histropedia also allows you to add large numbers of events to your timeline in one go!

There are 3 methods for bulk adding of events:

1. Loading timelines from the directory
There are over 300,000 timelines in our directory which can be used like Lego blocks for creating or building on timelines. Just type in a search, and select one of the results to merge a timeline into the one you're working on.

Note: Non-directory timelines can also be merged into your working timeline. These can be timelines you've made yourself, or just found somewhere else on the web.

2. Importing events from Wikipedia categories
The category import feature allows you to generate a timeline automatically based on any Wikipedia category, to any desired depth of sub-categories.


3. Importing events from Wikidata queries
This feature can be used to generate timelines automatically using any Wikidata query, allowing lists of events to be generated based on extremely specific criteria (e.g. "people born in Paris between 1900 and 1910, who died in London"). 
 

With each of the bulk event adding methods listed above, you will need to select "merge" when you are prompted with the message shown below.



Clicking the "merge" option will add the new events to your current working timeline. Clicking "replace" will discard the previous events you had on the timeline, so take care not to choose this option if you are building on an existing timeline.

For more info, see the merging timelines article.

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