Template:Update

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Usage

This template can be used to mark articles or sections that have old or out-of-date information. Include the reason why an article needs updating, unless the reason is very obvious.

• To specify what parts of the page need updating, use the first unnamed parameter (or name it |part= or number it |1=): {{Update|part=the later-life and death material and the [[#Legacy|Legacy]] section|date=December 2025}}
• To use the template in one specific section, and change its wording to refer to the section instead of the page, use |section and insert the template at the top of the section: {{Update|section|date=December 2025}}
• To display the date (in whatever format) of the last significant update to the page, use the second unnamed parameter (or name it |updated= or number it |2=): {{Update|updated=9 November 2025|date=December 2025}}

  Note: The parameter name or number must be used if the first numbered/unnamed parameter is not used.

• To add the date when the tag was added (this is used for cleanup categorization), use: {{Update|date=December 2025}}

  You can also do: {{Update|{{subst:DATE}}}}

• To explain that the article now has inaccuracies (not just missing information) due to being outdated, use |inaccurate=yes: {{Update|inaccurate=yes|date=December 2025}}
• To link to a particular section of the talk page where the update is being discussed, use |talk=Section title (|talksection= and |discuss= are equivalent to |talk=): {{Update|talk=Shall we update this for 2025?|date=December 2025}}
• To display a reason, use |reason=a short comment here, e.g. {{Update|reason=Is missing the December 2025 election results|date=December 2025}}
• These parameters can be combined: {{Update|part=The [[#Production|Production]] section and follow-on material|reason=the film is released, so this needs a "Critical reception" section, too|inaccurate=yes|talk=Post-release updating|updated=September 2025|date=December 2025}}

Example

{{Update|documentation|date=December 2025}}

The template detects which namespace it is used in and changes accordingly:

Article
Category
Template

{{Update|section}} produces:

Article
Category
Template

This template will add mainspace articles to Category:Wikipedia articles in need of updating (this category is not populated by pages in other namespaces).

For factual inaccuracies, stronger wording is used and mainspace articles will be added to Category:Articles with obsolete information.

{{Update|inaccurate=yes}}

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Update in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for Update

<templatedata> { "description": "Use this tag to alert readers that the article is out of date and may need updating.", "params": { "date": { "label": "Month and year", "description": "Provides the month and year of the update request; e.g., 'January 2018', but not 'jan18'", "type": "string", "required": false, "autovalue": "{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}", "suggested": true }, "updated": { "aliases": [ "2" ], "label": "Last updated", "description": "Date of last significant update", "type": "date" }, "inaccurate": { "label": "Inaccurate?", "description": "Use 'yes' if the article has inaccuracies due to being out of date.", "example": "yes", "type": "boolean" }, "talksection": { "aliases": [ "discuss", "talk" ], "label": "Talk page section", "description": "Section name on talk page where the discussion takes place", "type": "string" }, "reason": { "label": "Reason", "description": "Explanation why the article is out of date", "type": "content", "suggested": true }, "part": { "aliases": [ "1" ], "label": "Type (section)", "description": "Part that needs updating (e.g. to replace the word \"article\", often \"section\")", "example": "section", "type": "string", "default": "article", "autovalue": "", "suggested": true }, "type": { "label": "Type", "description": "Type of page, overriding SUBJECTSPACE", "type": "string", "example": "article", "suggested": false }, "demospace": { "label": "Demospace", "description": "", "type": "string", "required": false }, "cat": { "label": "Cat", "description": "Only required if a specific maintenance category is needed.", "type": "string", "required": false } }, "format": "inline", "paramOrder": [ "part", "date", "updated", "inaccurate", "talksection", "reason", "demospace", "cat", "type" ] } </templatedata>

Alternatives

• {{Update after}} is an alternative for individual statements that will be out-of-date at a specifiable future date. It is a more recent and preferred alternative to Wikipedia:As of. It also adds articles to Category:Wikipedia articles in need of updating.
• See Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup#Time-sensitive for alternatives unrelated to out-of-date information.

See also

• {{Update section}}
• {{As of}}
• {{Current}}
• {{Missing information}}
• {{Recentism}}
• {{Show by date}}/{{subst:Show by}}
• {{Time-context}}
• {{Update inline}}
• {{Updated}}
• {{When}}

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:Update/doc. (edit | history)
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox (create | mirror) and testcases (create) pages.
Add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.