Template:Cleanup

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Usage

{{Cleanup}} can be used on its own, or with the following two optional parameters:

• reason: the reason for requesting cleanup. This is useful for editors in case the reason for requesting a cleanup is not immediately obvious. The first character of the reason (immediately after the equals sign) should be lowercase, in order to preserve the sentence flow when rendered.
• date: the month and year (e.g. August 2025) when the Cleanup template was added to the article; this helps to figure out how long an article has been tagged for cleanup.

For example, {{Cleanup|reason=the article is full of incorrect capitalisation|date=August 2025}} would display as:

The template should be placed at the top of the article requiring a cleanup. If practicable, please use a more specific cleanup template. Because {{Cleanup}} is general , specific problems should be identified in the reason field; a more detailed explanation of what needs to be done can be provided on the article's talk page. An article's {{Cleanup}} template may be removed without the problem(s) being fixed if it is not possible to identify what needs to be cleaned-up.

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

Article
Category	This category may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Please help improve this category if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions.
Template

The descriptor (on the preceding example "template") can be changed from its default using the first parameter, for instance {{Cleanup|section}} or {{Cleanup|disambiguation page}}.

Add a new section to the talk page explaining the type and extent of clean-up required so editors will know what to address, and when to remove this template.

Do not substitute this template.

Use this tag when the article needs improvement per WP:BETTER. Articles that violate policy need more direct action.

Categorization

This template will add pages on which it is used to a specific category Category:Articles needing cleanup containing pages needing cleanup or a dated subcategory thereof.

Alternative

If the problem is correctable with the skills you already possess, consider being bold and fixing it yourself, rather than applying this template and leaving it for someone else to clean up.

See also

• {{Cleanup AfD}} - For AfD discussions that closed as "keep", but require cleanup
• {{Cleanup image}} – For images that need clean-up
• {{Multiple issues}}
• {{Spacing}}
• Wikipedia:Clarify the cleanup
• Wikipedia:Cleanup process
• Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup

Redirects

• {{Cleanup-article}}

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:Cleanup/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.