diff --git a/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/WikitextImporter.java b/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/WikitextImporter.java
index 06d6262ed..c36774c01 100644
--- a/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/WikitextImporter.java
+++ b/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/WikitextImporter.java
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ import xtc.parser.ParseException;
 import com.google.refine.ProjectMetadata;
 import com.google.refine.importing.ImportingJob;
 import com.google.refine.model.Cell;
+import com.google.refine.model.Column;
 import com.google.refine.model.Project;
 import com.google.refine.model.Recon;
 import com.google.refine.model.ReconCandidate;
@@ -388,7 +389,7 @@ public class WikitextImporter extends TabularImportingParserBase {
             return row;
         }
         
-        private void reconcileToQids(String wikiBaseUrl) {
+        private void reconcileToQids(String wikiBaseUrl, StandardReconConfig cfg) {
             if("null".equals(wikiBaseUrl)) {
                 return; // TODO: more thorough URL validation instead
             }
@@ -406,18 +407,6 @@ public class WikitextImporter extends TabularImportingParserBase {
                 columnReconciled.add(false);
             }
             
-            // Wikidata reconciliation endpoint, hardcoded because the user might not have it in its services
-            StandardReconConfig cfg = new StandardReconConfig(
-                    "https://tools.wmflabs.org/openrefine-wikidata/en/api",
-                    "http://www.wikidata.org/entity/",
-                    "http://www.wikidata.org/prop/direct/",
-                    "", 
-                    "entity",
-                    true,
-                    new ArrayList<ColumnDetail>(),
-                    1
-                );
-            
             int batchSize = 50;
             int i = 0;
             int totalSize = this.visitor.wikilinkedCells.size();
@@ -490,8 +479,13 @@ public class WikitextImporter extends TabularImportingParserBase {
             
             // Reconcile if needed
             String wikiUrl = JSONUtilities.getString(options, "wikiUrl", null);
+            // Wikidata reconciliation endpoint, hardcoded because the user might not have it in its services
+            String reconUrl = JSONUtilities.getString(options, "reconService",
+                  "https://tools.wmflabs.org/openrefine-wikidata/en/api");
+            StandardReconConfig cfg = getReconConfig(reconUrl);
+
             if (wikiUrl != null) {
-                dataReader.reconcileToQids(wikiUrl);
+                dataReader.reconcileToQids(wikiUrl, cfg);
             }
             
             JSONUtilities.safePut(options, "headerLines", 1);
@@ -508,7 +502,9 @@ public class WikitextImporter extends TabularImportingParserBase {
             if (dataReader.columnReconciled != null) {
                 for(int i = 0; i != dataReader.columnReconciled.size(); i++) {
                     if (dataReader.columnReconciled.get(i)) {
-                        project.columnModel.columns.get(i).setReconStats(ReconStats.create(project, i));
+                        Column col = project.columnModel.columns.get(i);
+                        col.setReconStats(ReconStats.create(project, i));
+                        col.setReconConfig(cfg);
                     }
                 }
             }
@@ -520,5 +516,18 @@ public class WikitextImporter extends TabularImportingParserBase {
         }
     }
     
+    private StandardReconConfig getReconConfig(String url) {
+        StandardReconConfig cfg = new StandardReconConfig(
+            url,
+            "http://www.wikidata.org/entity/",
+            "http://www.wikidata.org/prop/direct/",
+            "", 
+            "entity",
+            true,
+            new ArrayList<ColumnDetail>(),
+            1
+        );
+        return cfg;
+    }
 
 }
diff --git a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/importers/WikitextImporterTests.java b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/importers/WikitextImporterTests.java
index 742247d75..82b5ff7b0 100644
--- a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/importers/WikitextImporterTests.java
+++ b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/importers/WikitextImporterTests.java
@@ -204,6 +204,7 @@ public class WikitextImporterTests extends ImporterTest {
         whenGetBooleanOption("blankSpanningCells", options, blankSpanningCells);
         whenGetBooleanOption("storeBlankCellsAsNulls", options, true);
         whenGetIntegerOption("headerLines", options, 1);
+        whenGetStringOption("reconService", options, "https://tools.wmflabs.org/openrefine-wikidata/en/api");
     }
 
     private void verifyOptions() {
diff --git a/main/webapp/modules/core/MOD-INF/controller.js b/main/webapp/modules/core/MOD-INF/controller.js
index ab4433840..ca9d45c0f 100644
--- a/main/webapp/modules/core/MOD-INF/controller.js
+++ b/main/webapp/modules/core/MOD-INF/controller.js
@@ -346,7 +346,9 @@ function init() {
       "scripts/index/parser-interfaces/xml-parser-ui.js",
       "scripts/index/parser-interfaces/json-parser-ui.js",
       "scripts/index/parser-interfaces/rdf-triples-parser-ui.js",
-      "scripts/index/parser-interfaces/wikitext-parser-ui.js"
+      "scripts/index/parser-interfaces/wikitext-parser-ui.js",
+
+      "scripts/reconciliation/recon-manager.js" // so that reconciliation functions are available to importers
     ]
   );
 
diff --git a/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/dialogs/extend-data-preview-dialog.js b/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/dialogs/extend-data-preview-dialog.js
index bdb5d5fdc..c64ff9116 100644
--- a/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/dialogs/extend-data-preview-dialog.js
+++ b/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/dialogs/extend-data-preview-dialog.js
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ function ExtendReconciledDataPreviewDialog(column, columnIndex, rowIndices, onDo
     this._service = service;
     var serviceMetadata = ReconciliationManager.getServiceFromUrl(service);
     this._serviceMetadata = serviceMetadata;
-    if ("extend" in serviceMetadata) {
+    if (serviceMetadata != null && "extend" in serviceMetadata) {
        var extend = serviceMetadata.extend;
        if ("propose_properties" in extend) {
 	   var endpoint = extend.propose_properties;
diff --git a/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/index/parser-interfaces/wikitext-parser-ui.js b/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/index/parser-interfaces/wikitext-parser-ui.js
index 0bf9b7dc9..902845717 100644
--- a/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/index/parser-interfaces/wikitext-parser-ui.js
+++ b/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/index/parser-interfaces/wikitext-parser-ui.js
@@ -93,6 +93,8 @@ Refine.WikitextParserUI.prototype.getOptions = function() {
   options.storeBlankCellsAsNulls = this._optionContainerElmts.storeBlankCellsAsNullsCheckbox[0].checked;
   options.includeFileSources = this._optionContainerElmts.includeFileSourcesCheckbox[0].checked;
 
+  options.reconService = ReconciliationManager.ensureDefaultServicePresent();
+
   return options;
 };
 
diff --git a/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/reconciliation/recon-manager.js b/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/reconciliation/recon-manager.js
index b3ed02c7b..36aab93bc 100644
--- a/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/reconciliation/recon-manager.js
+++ b/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/reconciliation/recon-manager.js
@@ -127,8 +127,28 @@ ReconciliationManager.save = function(f) {
   });
 };
 
+ReconciliationManager.getOrRegisterServiceFromUrl = function(url, f) {
+   var service = ReconciliationManager.getServiceFromUrl(url);
+   if (service == null) {
+      ReconciliationManager.registerStandardService(url, function(idx) {
+          ReconciliationManager.save(function() {
+              f(ReconciliationManager.standardServices[i]);
+          });
+      });
+   } else {
+      f(service);
+   }  
+};
+
+ReconciliationManager.ensureDefaultServicePresent = function() {
+   console.log('ensureDefaultServicePresent');
+   var lang = $.i18n._('core-recon')["wd-recon-lang"];
+   var url = "https://tools.wmflabs.org/openrefine-wikidata/"+lang+"/api";
+   ReconciliationManager.getOrRegisterServiceFromUrl(url, function(service) { ; });
+   return url;
+};
+
 (function() {
-  var lang = $.i18n._('core-recon')["wd-recon-lang"];
 
   $.ajax({
     async: false,
@@ -140,9 +160,7 @@ ReconciliationManager.save = function(f) {
         ReconciliationManager.standardServices = JSON.parse(data.value);
         ReconciliationManager._rebuildMap();
       } else {
-         ReconciliationManager.registerStandardService(
-	      "https://tools.wmflabs.org/openrefine-wikidata/"+lang+"/api"
-              );
+        ReconciliationManager.ensureDefaultServicePresent();
       }
     },
     dataType: "json"