[Drupal 7] CKEditor vs. CKEditor and WYSIWYG

Last updated on
9 September 2022

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Note: This present documentation applies only to Drupal 7. In Drupal 8, none of this is necessary.

Overview

This guide is intended to help understand some differences between CKEditor alone vs CKEditor plus WYSIWYG module.

Use this guide if you want to know:

  • what goes into what folder and why
  • differences between similar folder names
  • using the CKEditor module vs. the WYSIWYG module with CKEditor

There has been confusion for years. Hopefully this will help you keep some hair on your head!

There is a "ckeditor" module folder (module name of "CKEditor - WYSIWYG HTML editor" on https://drupal.org/project/ckeditor and the same one on the CKEditor site labeled "CKEditor for Drupal" on https://ckeditor.com/ckeditor-4/download/, but check the dates to make sure one isn't updated before the other) that goes in the sites/all/modules folder. Just download it at https://drupal.org/project/ckeditor

Library directory

(Note: The next two paragraphs about a library used by CKeditor are called into doubt in a current installation by the first (so far only) comment below.)

There is a "ckeditor" library folder that goes in the sites/all/libraries folder OR the CKEditor module directs you to install it in the sites/all/modules/ckeditor/ckeditor folder, but it also allows you to set the path to the library in the admin interface /admin/config/content/ckeditor/editg so you can choose, I recommend the libraries folder so updates to the module don't require you to re-upload or move the library back into the updated module folder. Download it at https://ckeditor.com/ckeditor-4/download/

The javascript library is the top-most download on the https://ckeditor.com/ckeditor-4/download/ page simply called "CKEditor" (on that Web page) and it's the "engine" that powers the module. The module simply makes it possible to use admin pages to configure the ckeditor library to work in your Drupal site by bridging the gap. Both the module and the library are required (note: I did not just say both modules are required).

When you MUST NOT use WYSIWYG

If you use the module above, don't install & enable the "WYSIWYG" module. If you use the "WYSIWYG" module don't install/enable the "CKEditor - WYSIWYG HTML editor" module.

Both use the library "ckeditor" in the libraries folder. The "WYSIWYG" module is available at https://drupal.org/project/wysiwyg and can load CKEditor or another editor of choice within it, but may not have as many options if it's not kept up to date like the "CKEditor - WYSIWYG HTML editor" is (as they create/maintain the library and module).

When you MUST use WYSIWYG

If you need to use different editors for different fields/pages, then you'll HAVE to use the "WYSIWYG" module and install more than one editor in the libraries folder. Both have what appears to be different options within the user interface but some options may be possible in both via editing some files, though that just complicates things for newbies. There are some sub modules for the WYSIWYG module to add functionality, but you'll just have to compare the functionality of those to what is possible in the CKEditor module at the time of your own install to see which works best for you.

Elsewhere, users had reported that using the WYSIWYG module made it easier to switch to another editor when CKEditor was causing issues. Others elsewhere reported that the CKEditor module worked in overlays (or somewhere) where WYSIWYG was giving them problems (don't hold me to this statement, just compiling notes and with each module update things are likely to change).

If you want to try them both out, keep in mind you can only try one module at a time, and you MUST turn the other off (disable & uninstall) or they will interfere with each other and do indeed make things not work for one or both. If something's not working, check that both the CKEditor module and the WYSIWYG module aren't both installed and enabled at the same time on the Modules admin page.

Setup and configuration

Read the README files for each module to make sure everything is set-up correctly.

If anything I've stated is incorrect, simply correct me with a reply comment, just going off the top of my head as I remember issues when first trying to get CKEditor to work years ago in Drupal 6 and the README(s) didn't give the correct folder structure (or it was the whole same folder name thing) at that time which severely complicated things to the point of almost giving up on it all. The developers of CKEditor have been trying to make it easier to use CKEditor and CKFinder over the years, hence the separate module from WYSIWYG.

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