| title | How to Contribute to SQL Server Documentation | Microsoft Docs |
|---|---|
| ms.date | 03/12/2018 |
| ms.prod | sql-non-specified |
| ms.prod_service | sql-non-specified |
| ms.service | |
| ms.component | sql-non-specified |
| ms.reviewer | |
| ms.suite | sql |
| ms.custom | |
| ms.technology | |
| ms.tgt_pltfrm | |
| ms.topic | article |
| author | rothja |
| ms.author | jroth |
| manager | craigg |
| ms.workload | Active |
[!INCLUDEappliesto-ss-xxxx-xxxx-xxx-md]
Anyone can contribute to SQL Server documentation. This includes correcting typos, suggesting better explanations, and improving technical accuracy. This article explains how to get started with content contributions and how the process works.
You can submit simple changes to articles in your browser. Every article, including this one, has an edit button on the right.
All of the content on docs.microsoft.com is managed in various GitHub Repositories. When you click the edit button, you are taken to the topic in the sql-docs repository. To start your edit in the browser, you have to click on the pencil icon at the top-right of the article in GitHub.
Note
You must be signed in to GitHub to edit an article. If you do not have a GitHub account, see GitHub account setup. After creating a new account, you must also verify your email address with GitHub before you can edit.
All of the articles are written in markdown. If you need help with markdown, you can review markdown basics or just observe how published articles render existing markdown.
To complete your edits, you must propose your changes, create a pull request, and interact with Microsoft to review and sign off. For step-by-step instructions, see the following article:
Another editing option is to fork the sql-docs repository and clone it locally to your machine. You can then use a markdown editor and a git client to submit the changes.
To contribute with this method, see the following articles:
- Create a GitHub account
- Install content authoring tools
- Set up a Git repository locally
- Use tools to contribute
If you submit a pull request with significant changes to documentation, you will get a comment in GitHub asking you to submit an online Contribution License Agreement (CLA). You must complete the online form before we can accept your pull request.
Tip
This is a good option for large submissions, such as a change involving multiple articles. It is also useful for frequent contributors. For small or infrequent changes, use the GitHub UI#githubui).
This section provides some additional guidance on working in the sql-docs repository.
The sql-docs repository uses several standard folders to organize the content.
| Folder | Description |
|---|---|
| docs | Contains all published SQL Server content. Subfolders logically organize different areas of the content. |
| docs/includes | Contains include files. These are portions of content that can be included in one or more other topics. |
| ./media | Contains topic images are in various media subfolders relative to the topic location. |
| TOC.MD | Table of contents file in each subfolder. |
Each SQL Server article contains an applies-to include file after the title. This indicates what areas or versions of SQL Server the article applies to.
Consider the following markdown example that pulls in the appliesto-ss-asdb-asdw-pdw-md.md include file.
[!INCLUDE[appliesto-ss-asdb-asdw-pdw-md](../includes/appliesto-ss-asdb-asdw-pdw-md.md)]This adds the following text at the top of the article:
The following table lists current applies-to includes and their rendering.
| Applies-to include file | Rendering |
|---|---|
| appliesto-ss-asdb-asdw-pdw-md.md | [!INCLUDEappliesto-ss-asdb-asdw-pdw-md] |
| appliesto-ss-asdb-asdw-pdw-md.md | [!INCLUDEappliesto-ss-asdb-asdw-pdw-md] |
| appliesto-ss-asdb-asdw-pdw-md.md | [!INCLUDEappliesto-ss-asdb-asdw-pdw-md] |
| appliesto-ss-asdb-asdw-pdw-md.md | [!INCLUDEappliesto-ss-asdb-asdw-pdw-md] |
Find an article, submit a change, and help the SQL Server community. Thank you!