Frequently Asked Questions

7/12/2021 Frequently Asked Questions
Getting help
Asking good questions

With the exception of AnkiMobile, Anki and its support is provided free of charge, by people
who generously volunteer their time. Please bear this in mind when posting - if you are rude
and demanding, or have made no effort to solve the problem on your own, people are less
likely to want to help you.
Please start by trying to resolve the issue on your own:
Read the getting started section of the manual, and check out the intro videos.
If you've encountered a bug, please follow these steps.
Use the search button on this page to search frequently asked questions.
Use the search button in the manual.
Google the issue.
If you have tried the above and are still stuck, it's time to ask for help. When writing a post,
please explain the problem you are having clearly, and in detail.
Please avoid vague questions like:
"My Anki doesn't work, what should I do?"
Instead, please provide as much detail as you can. For example:
"When I double-click on the Anki icon, an error message pops up. I tried searching for
the error on Google, but couldn't find anything useful. I have copied and pasted the
error message to the bottom of my post. I followed the steps on the 'When problems
occur' page, but the error message does not go away. What should I do?"
This is a much better question. It tells us:
What you have tried.

What steps you are taking when the problem happens.
What problems/errors you are getting when things go wrong.
Knowing these things makes it much easier to answer your question.
The user forums use a different login to AnkiWeb, so please create an account there if it's
your first time.
https://faqs.ankiweb.net/print.html 1/54
Finally, please check out the community guidelines.
Anki Desktop (the computer version) and AnkiWeb

After reading the above section, please post on the user forums for assistance.
AnkiMobile (iPhone/iPad)
Please see AnkiMobile's support page.
AnkiDroid (Android devices)

Please see AnkiDroid's support page.
Private questions
Where possible, please use the user forums - you do not need to provide your full name,
and your email address will only be visible to support staff/forum moderators. Questions
posted on the user forums are likely to be answered faster, as they can be seen by more
people.
If you need to write something that shouldn't be seen by the public, please create a private
ticket on the old support site.
When problems occur

When you have problems, please try the following.
1. Restart Anki
Please close Anki, then start it again.
If you are unable to close Anki because of an error message, you can either terminate Anki
using your task manager, or restart your computer. Anki saves periodically, so you should
not lose more than a few minutes of work in most circumstances.
If the problem does not occur again, you can skip the following steps.
2 Check add ons

2. Check add-ons
Please close Anki, then start it again while holding down the shift key, which will disable any
add-ons you have installed.
If the problem goes away when add-ons are disabled, you can narrow down the culprit by
disabling one or more add-ons, restarting Anki, and seeing if the problem goes away.
Repeat the process trying different add-ons, until you discover which one is causing the
problem.
If the issue turns out to be an add-on, please report the issue to the add-on author.
3. Check your Anki version
These days, Anki shows its version in the error message. If you're using an old Anki, you can
find the version you're using in the Help>About or Anki>About menu.
If the version you're using is not the latest 2.1.x version published on
https://apps.ankiweb.net, please close Anki, install the latest version, and then start Anki
again to see if the problem has gone away.
If you're using Linux, please make sure you can reproduce the error using the packaged
version on the Anki website, as distros often distribute broken versions.
4. Check your database
After restarting Anki, please try the Tools>Check Database menu item to make sure your
collection doesn't have any problems.
5. Restart your computer
Sometimes restarting your computer may help.
6. Change the Video Driver
On Windows and Linux, crashes and display issues can be caused by the video driver.
Changing to a different video driver in the preferences screen or via the gldriver file may
help. On Windows, make sure you try all three options.
7. If the problem remains
If you're confirmed you are using the latest Anki version, and are still receiving errors when
starting Anki while holding down the shift key, please report the problem, including the next
error you receive in your post.
Anki 2.0 support has ended
Anki
Update 1 Jun 2020: An upstream SSL certificate has expired, and this has broken syncing for
the remaining users on 2.0.
On Feb 1 2020, AnkiWeb received a security update that broke syncing for some Anki 2.0
users. The tools Anki 2.0 was built on are no longer receiving bugfixes or security updates,
and there is a risk that Anki 2.0 will stop working without warning. For this reason, we highly
recommend you start migrating to Anki 2.1.
Syncing with Anki 2.1.x will continue to function. If you have not updated to Anki 2.1.x yet,
upgrading is as simple as installing it on your computer, as Anki 2.0.x and 2.1.x use the
same file format. You can even switch back and forth if you install 2.0 and 2.1 in separate
locations - though please make sure to use the Downgrade button if you're using the latest
Anki.
For information on the changes in Anki 2.1, please see

https://apps.ankiweb.net/docs/changes.html#changes-in-anki-2.1
You can download Anki 2.1 from https://apps.ankiweb.net
AnkiDroid
This change will affect devices running Android 4.4 or below. There is a beta build of
AnkiDroid available that should fix syncing on devices running 4.1+:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/anki-android/f9ikzWikjjk
AnkiMobile
Any iOS version from 5 onwards should be fine.
Anki's not showing me all my cards!
Anki decides which cards you see

Anki was designed to help you remember large amounts of material for a long time. To do
this, it operates differently to a traditional flashcard program.
In a conventional flashcard program, you see the same set of cards over and over again, and
decide when you want to stop. Repeatedly reviewing material in this way - "cramming" -
tends to be what we're used to, and for many people it feels like the natural way to study.
There's just one problem with this approach it's not terribly effective! Studies have shown
There s just one problem with this approach - it s not terribly effective! Studies have shown
that you can achieve better results by adding a delay between each review of an item,
instead of reviewing it multiple times in a short period. This delay between reviews is called
"spaced repetition".
In Anki, instead of going over material until you decide to stop, Anki chooses which cards
you need to see. If you press the Again button on a card because you've forgotten it, it will
be shown again soon. Once you've remembered the card correctly for 10 minutes, Anki will
not show the card again until the next day - and if you answer it correctly then, the delay will
grow larger each time.
If you are new to spaced repetition, you may well be skeptical, and you may still feel that
cramming would help you more. You are not alone - studies have shown that people tend to
assume that cramming will be more effective, even when results show that spaced
repetition actually works better. Please keep an open mind, and try it for a few weeks before
you decide which approach is best for you.
If you have a test due in a few days, it's probably not the best time to be starting with Anki.
While Anki does have tools to bypass the regular scheduling for things like upcoming tests,
they take some time to learn how to use, and they are awkward to use on a daily basis. If
you have an imminent test, you may want to consider studying as you have done previously,
and then picking Anki back up when you're not under as much pressure.
New cards
By default, Anki will show you a maximum of 20 new cards each day. The reason for this
limit is because those cards will need to be reviewed in the coming days - such as the next
day, and then a few days after, and so on. Each day you use Anki, another 20 cards will be
introduced, and the reviews will start to add up - if you're adding 20 new cards each day,
you can expect the daily reviews in the early stages to build up to around 200 cards/day.
It is possible to increase the number of new cards that are presented each day by adjusting
the deck options or using the custom study feature, but please be careful - if you try to learn
too many new cards at once, you'll find the follow-up reviews overwhelming, and you'll end
up forgetting the material again. While you're no doubt eager to get stuck into your
material, it's a good idea to try Anki with the default options for a week or two before you
think about changing the limits.
Reviews
Anki will show cards you've previously reviewed when it thinks you will forget them. The
delays will start from a single day, but can grow into months or years if you repeatedly
answer a card correctly.
Unless you have a test coming up soon, it's best to review cards as Anki schedules them. Try
to resist the urge to review material multiple times to reinforce it - it is more efficient to just
wait a while than to view the same content over and over again. If you do find yourself with
free time, consider adding some more new cards to Anki instead, or doing some other
studies.
If you have a test coming up and need to review the material before it is due, you can tell
Anki you'd like to review outside of the regular schedule. If you just want to quickly flip
through some cards to check for mistakes after creating them or get a general idea of
what's there, you can use the Preview button in the upper-right corner of the Browse
screen.
Card counts dropping down by more than one

If you're seeing the card count drop down by more than one after certain operations like an
undo, please see https://anki.tenderapp.com/kb/problems/i-created-reversed-cards-but-
theyre-not-showing-up
Related
Settings for using Anki to prepare for a large exam
Media files may take time to sync

Please take a look at the media syncing intro video. If you prefer not to watch a video,
please read on.
Recent Anki and AnkiMobile versions synchronize sounds and images in the background,
allowing you to continue using the app while they are transferred. Until the media files have
been transferred, audio may fail to play, and images may fail to appear if those files are not
available yet.
If you tap/click on the sync button when a spinner is shown next to it, it will reveal more
details about the syncing progress. If you are waiting for sounds/images to start working,
please wait for that window to show "media sync complete". Once that message has been
displayed, it indicates all media files have been transferred to or from your device, and the
media should then work during study.
AnkiMobile
If you turn your device's screen off, or you switch to a different app, it will interrupt the sync.
When you sync again, the download will resume where it stopped.
If you have a lot of media, the initial sync may take quite a while. AnkiMobile 2.0.64+ will
keep the screen turned on while the media syncing screen is shown. Older AnkiMobile
versions did not do this, so if you are on an older version and you leave your device
unattented, the screen may turn off, interrupting the sync. You can check the version you're
running in the Preferences>About screen. If you are on an older version, you can download
the free update by searching for AnkiMobile in the app store.
Monitoring progress
The media sync screen will show increasing counts as progress is made. If you find the
added/removed count does not change for an extended period, you can use the Abort
button to interrupt the sync, then sync again to pick up where you left off.
If problems persist
If sounds or images fail to appear after "media sync complete" is shown, please check that
you have syncing of sounds and images enabled in the preferences screen of each Anki
version you use, and please use the "Check Media" function in the preferences screen or
tools menu to check if you are missing files.
A deck I want has disappeared from

AnkiWeb
The shared decks on AnkiWeb are provided by other Anki users. If the deck author has
chosen to remove a shared deck, the deck has been deleted from our servers, and we do
not have the ability to restore it.
Shared decks may also be hidden from view for other reasons, such as their copyright
status needing to be confirmed. For legal reasons, we can not restore decks in these cases
until we hear back from the deck author.
A shared deck is not showing

images/playing audio
Some shared decks are missing sounds or images, either because the author expects you to
download them from a separate location, or because they've accidentally or deliberately
omitted them.
When downloading a shared deck from AnkiWeb, the number of included sounds and
images is listed near the top of the download page.
If you've downloaded a shared deck from somewhere other than AnkiWeb and media files
are not working, please contact the sharer for assistance.
Brosencephalon
We've received a number of questions about this deck. Some Googling revealed the
following:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Brosencephalon/comments/6evmiy/brosencephaloncom_is_now_l
You may know someone who's downloaded that deck with working images. This would
either be because they got it from somewhere else in the past, or they downloaded it before
the images were removed. Currently the downloads on Brosencephalon's website do not
contain any images, so all image links in the deck will show up broken.
A shortcut key is not working

Some other program on your computer is likely capturing the shortcut. For example, some
users have recently reported that their AMD/ATI video card software is stealing the cloze
deletion shortcut key. When they disable the shortcut in that program's preferences, the key
starts working in Anki again.
If you run into similar problems, please try temporarily closing/turning off other software
running on your machine, until you discover the cause.
If you use add-ons in Anki, please also try disabling them to rule them out as the cause of
the problem.
Anki 2.0 add-ons

Due to the libraries Anki 2.0 uses no longer being supported, Anki 2.0 has been
discontinued, and may stop working in a future OS update. Please consider updating
to Anki 2.1 instead.
If the add-on you want has a 2.0 download link on AnkiWeb, you can download the add-on's
.py or .zip file.
If it's a .py file, place it in your add-on folder.

If it's a .zip file, unzip the contents into your add-on folder.
Your add-on folder is inside your data folder:

https://apps.ankiweb.net/docs/manual20.html#file-locations
An archive of the old 2.0 add-ons has also been made available. To use it:
Download the add-on archive from

https://apps.ankiweb.net/downloads/archive/addons-2.0.zip
Extract the zip.
Search through the README file to locate the add-on ID you want.
If it's a .py file, place it in your add-on folder.
If it's a .zip file, unzip the contents into your add-on folder.
Your add-on folder is inside your data folder:

https://apps.ankiweb.net/docs/manual20.html#file-locations
These add-ons are provided as-is, and no support can be provided for them.
Anki failing to start on some Windows 7/8

machines
Some users on Windows 7 or Windows 8 have reported that they are unable to start Anki on
their system. It is not clear what is causing these problems - it may be that some systems
are missing a certain library, or something about their configuration is not compatible with
the libraries recent versions are built with.
If you are not able to update to Windows 10 at the moment, please download the older
2.1.15 version. It is built with older libraries, and should work on most systems where the
latest release does not. Please uninstall the current version before installing 2.1.15.
Anki must be able to connect to a local

port
When Anki 2.1 starts up, it listens on a port on localhost for requests from the user
interface. If you have a proxy server configured on your machine, please go into your proxy
settings and make sure that "bypass proxy server for local addresses" is enabled - otherwise
Anki's user interface will have its local communication redirected through the proxy, which
will prevent Anki from functioning.
More info: https://superuser.com/a/261434
This problem may also occur if you have a firewall running on your machine that blocks
local connections, or are using a VPN that is incorrectly redirecting local traffic.
Anki not picking up GTK theme on

Gnome/Linux
You can work around this issue by explicitly telling Anki what the GTK theme is. Run the
following commands in a terminal:
theme=$(gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme)

echo "gtk-theme-name=$theme" >> ~/.gtkrc-2.0
echo "export GTK2_RC_FILES=$HOME/.gtkrc-2.0" >> ~/.profile
Then log out and log back into your computer, and Anki should pick up the GTK theme.
Anki says my clock is wrong

To ensure your scheduling doesn't get messed up, Anki requires that your device's clock is
set correctly. This means all of the following must be set correctly:
the time (including AM/PM)

the date
the timezone
daylight savings
If you receive an error about the clock being wrong, please check to ensure all of the above
are set correctly. Please note that even if your system is showing you what looks like the
correct time, if the above settings are not correct, the computer's internal idea of the correct
time may be wrong.
"What should I do if my country has just changed its handling of daylight savings?"
When politicians change the handling of daylight savings time, it can take companies like
Windows and Apple time to update their operating systems to reflect the new handling. To
work around the problem, you can select a different timezone that has the same UTC offset
as your current location, and then update the clock to make sure it is correct. For example:
it's 10AM where you are

you've checked Google for the current standard time, and it's currently midnight:
https://www.google.com.au/?gws_rd=ssl#q=utc+time
this means you are ten hours ahead of standard time, so your UTC offset is +10:00
in your system settings, look for a timezone that is +10:00
after adjusting the time zone, adjust the clock so it shows the correct time
"Why doesn't Anki let me ignore the error?"
If you study while the clock is incorrect, then your progress is likely to be messed up when
any of the following happen:
the clock is automatically reset to the correct time in an OS upgrade

you decide to start using AnkiWeb for backups or deck sharing
you decide to start studying on multiple devices

you move to a new machine after the old one breaks
you manually change the time because other apps also notice the clock is wrong
Anki refuses to start up because an incorrect clock will also cause issues like file
modification times to be wrong, and it's better to address the issue than hide it away and
risk issues in the future.
AnkiApp is not part of the Anki ecosystem

The program called AnkiApp was developed by a separate group of people, and is not
related to the rest of the Anki ecosystem. It was released years after Anki was already
established in the marketplace, and we suspect the name was deliberately chosen to take
advantage of the brand recognition we have built up. Using Anki in the name implies that it
will function with the other Anki clients, which it does not.
If you have downloaded AnkiApp in error, please consider leaving a review on the app store
alerting people to the fact that AnkiApp is not connected to Anki.
The Anki ecosystem is made up of Anki, AnkiMobile, AnkiDroid, and AnkiWeb, all of which
are linked from our official website: https://apps.ankiweb.net
Importing from AnkiApp
If you have accidentally added content to AnkiApp, you may be able to move it over to Anki.
Study progress can't be imported, but basic text and images can be:
1. Export from AnkiApp, which gives you a .zip file

2. Unzip the file somewhere - you will get a fields.csv file and any media files.
3. Use File>Import in Anki to import the fields.csv file. In the Import window, ensure the
"Allow HTML in fields" checkbox is enabled.
If the file contained images, those image references need to be changed to a format Anki
understands. Select all the cards you imported in the Browse window of Anki, and use the
Edit>Find&Replace menu item. Then replace:
{{
with
<img src="
Then do another Find&Replace, replacing
}}
with
">
Finally, you'll need to move the image files that you extracted from the zip file into the User
1/collection.media folder:
https://apps.ankiweb.net/docs/manual.html#file-locations
AnkiDroid has a separate support site

AnkiDroid is developed by a separate group of people, and has its own support site. Please
see this page:
https://ankidroid.org/docs/help.html
AnkiUniversal is not supported here

AnkiUniversal is by a separate group of developers and is not fully compatible with the rest
of the Anki ecosystem - it does not support things like syncing of media, creating LaTeX
images, and so on.
You may wish to consider using the official Anki version from https://apps.ankiweb.net
instead.
If you wish to continue using AnkiUniversal, please direct any questions you have to the
AnkiUniversal authors: ankiuniversal@gmail.com
AnkiWeb account removal

As AnkiWeb is a free service, we need to periodically delete unused account data in order to
keep costs down. As mentioned in our terms of service, your data may be deleted if you
have not accessed your account or synced in the last 6 months.
Once your deck data has expired, it is not possible for us to recover your data from
AnkiWeb, but you may be able to recover it if you have a local copy.
What gets deleted

If your AnkiWeb account expires, only the AnkiWeb copy of your data is deleted. Any cards
you have stored on your computer, phone or tablet will remain on those devices.
Returning to AnkiWeb after your data has expired

If your account data was deleted due to inactivity, you may still be able to recover that data
if you have a copy on your computer or mobile device. You can confirm this by opening Anki
or AnkiMobile/AnkiDroid to see if your data is still there. If you had data on your device but
accidentally overwrote it in a sync, you may be able to recover it from an automatic backup
If you'd like to start syncing that data with AnkiWeb again, please start by logging in to
ankiweb.net using your Anki ID. If you receive a message that no such account exists, you'll
need to sign up again first - you can use the same email address as before if you wish.
Once you have a valid AnkiWeb login, you can sync your computer or mobile device, enter
your details, and then choose "Upload" to send your data back to AnkiWeb. Please make
sure to upload, as choosing download would overwrite your local content with your empty
AnkiWeb collection.
Avoiding account deletion

Each time you visit ankiweb.net, or use the synchronisation feature in Anki, AnkiMobile or
AnkiDroid, your account will automatically be marked as active. The mobile clients do not
sync automatically, so simply using them to study will not result in your AnkiWeb account
being marked active unless you use the sync button.
If your account has been inactive for 6 months or more, and you used the service for a week
or longer, we will send you an email notifying you that deletion is pending. If you'd like to
keep your account active, please log in to ankiweb.net and study a card, or sync one of your
devices within 30 days.
Backing up your collection

If you're not planning to study for a while, or if you receive an inactivity notice and don't
wish to renew your account immediately, please ensure that you have a copy of your
collection on your local computer or mobile device. Your data should already be on your
device if you've used Anki's synchronisation feature. If you've only used AnkiWeb before,
please install the computer version or a mobile client and sync with AnkiWeb in order to
download your data.
Shared items
When you share a deck, a copy of the deck without scheduling information is made, and
that copy along with any add-ons you share are not subject to the usual data expiry.
Please note however that shared decks will expire if they average less than a few downloads
a month, so deck sharing is not a backup mechanism.
Are there limits on file sizes on AnkiWeb?

Collections on AnkiWeb are limited to a compressed size of 100MB, and an uncompressed
size of 250MB. This includes the text on your cards and the scheduling information, but
does not include sounds/images, as they are stored separately.
Most users will never reach the limit. 25,000 average-sized cards and several years of review
history will take up about 25MB, so to hit the limit you usually need to either be copying
large amounts of text into each card, or filling your collection with hundreds of thousands of
new cards that you aren't actually studying.
At the moment there are no limits on the size of your media, although the size of individual
media files is limited to 100MB.
As the usage of Anki and AnkiWeb increases, at some point a pricing system may be
introduced where basic, low-capacity accounts are free and heavier users can pay more for
more space.
If you have hit the collection size limit, you will see messages about the collection being in
an inconsistent state when you do a one way upload to AnkiWeb. It is not possible to
increase the limit, because such large collections slow down AnkiWeb for other users. If you
have imported a dictionary's worth of content, you will need to move some unused cards to
a separate deck, export the deck, and then delete the deck from your collection. After doing
so, Tools>Check Database can be used to free up space that was taken by the deleted cards.
Can I link cards together?

Anki supports links between cards of a note, but not between unrelated cards. Imagine you
are studying Japanese and aiming to be able to both recognize and reproduce the Japanese.
You may enter the word "ookii", which means "big", and tell Anki to generate two cards -
ookii→big and big→ookii.
In the above situation Anki can space reviews of those two sibling cards out so that they
don’t appear one after the other.
Some people want to extend this link between arbitrary cards. They want to be able to tell
Anki "after showing me this card, show me that card", or "don’t show me that card until I
know this card well enough". This might sound like a nice idea in theory, but in practice it is
not practical.
For one, unlike the sibling card case above, you would have to define all the relations
yourself. Entering new notes into Anki would become a complicated process, as you’d have
to search through the rest of the deck and assign relationships between the old and new
material.
Secondly, remember that Anki is using an algorithm to determine when the optimum time
to show you material again is. Adding constraints to card display that cause cards to display
earlier or later than they were supposed to will make the spaced repetition system less
effective, leading to more work than necessary, or forgotten cards.
The most effective way to use Anki is to make each note you see independent from other
notes. Instead of trying to join similar words together, you’ll be better off if you can
determine the differences between them. Synonyms are rarely completely interchangeable -
they tend to have nuances attached, and it’s not unusual for a sentence to become strange
if one synonym is replaced with another.
Continuing with the Japanese example earlier, imagine you want to learn the word "dekai",
which also roughly translates to "big", but is a more colloquial expression. If you still want to
review in both directions, you might make the English prompt of this word "big (more
casual)". The further you progress in your language studies though, the more of a burden it
becomes to define the differences between similar words, which is why cards asking you to
produce a particular word are best left to the early stage of your studies. With a strong base
vocabulary, moving towards recognition-based study makes more sense, as we all have a
much larger passive vocabulary than our active vocabulary.
As for ensuring that difficult material is introduced after easier material, a number of
existing tools are available. New cards are by default introduced in the order they are added
to the deck, so as long as the learning materials or sources of information you are using are
adequately graded for your level, material should appear in order of easiness.
Can I reveal parts of a card one at a time?

Typical flashcards, both on paper and in Anki, have a front and a back: the prompt or
question is shown on the front and the answer on the back. Sometimes people want to add
more steps to the answer. For instance, you might want to show the word in a foreign
language on the front, then show a definition when you press the button once, then show
an example sentence when you press it again, and so on.
This is generally not a good idea. The more complicated you make your cards, the more
difficult they become to remember and the less efficiently they can be scheduled. The
difference between the amount of time it takes to learn and review a few complex cards
and the amount of time it takes to learn a larger number of much simpler cards containing
the same information can be stunning.
For this reason, Anki doesn't support having more than two sides per card. In our foreign-
language words example, you might instead want to create multiple card types, so that you
would be asked for each of the items on separate cards – one card could show you the word
and ask for a definition, another could show the example sentence with the word missing
and ask what word logically fits, and so on.
In some cases, you might want to include extra non-essential information on a card without
showing it until you need it. For this situation, Anki offers hint fields.
Can I sync only some of my decks?

Anki stores all your decks in a single collection file, so there is no way to sync only part of a
collection. However, there are several possible workarounds that may be useful:
Use two profiles. You can store the decks you do not want to sync in a separate profile (you
can create and manage profiles by choosing File → Switch Profile). This is useful if you have
a lot of media that you have no need for on your mobile device, or if you cannot place some
data on AnkiWeb because of security or confidentiality issues. However, it has the
disadvantage that you will have to switch profiles to review all of your decks, and you will
not be able to get combined statistics easily.
If you decide to use two profiles, you can easily move data between them by exporting .apkg
files with scheduling information and media.
Use subdecks. If your primary objection to syncing all of your decks is that you simply don't
need some of them on the mobile device and don't want to clutter up the screen, you may
choose to keep them in your collection and sync them, but keep them out of the way in a
separate deck. One way to do this is to create a deck called ~ Desktop Only or something
similar and drag all of your desktop-only decks underneath it (the tilde keeps it at the
bottom of the deck list; you can use an underscore if you want it at the top or nothing if you
want it to sort with the other decks). You can then keep this deck collapsed on your mobile
device. While the information will still sync, you will not have to see it.
Can I use Anki in a company or school?

The following is provided for your convenience. For the exact terms of the computer version
license, please read the LICENSE file distributed in the Anki source package.
You are free to use the computer version of Anki in a school or company. As per the terms
of the license, if you modify Anki, you must make your modifications publicly available.
AnkiWeb is intended for individual users. People in a school or company are welcome to
sign up for their own accounts, but teachers or company staff should not create accounts in
bulk for people. AnkiWeb does not currently provide any means of monitoring activity on
students' accounts.
A copy of AnkiMobile must be purchased for each user who wants to use it. Volume
licensing is available for academic institutions.
The cards you create with Anki are your own, so you are free to license them as you please,
and sell them if you wish. Anki does not include any DRM features to prevent users from
sharing decks, as its open-source nature means any such protections could be bypassed
easily. If your decks turn up on the Internet in violation of your copyright, you are of course
free to send takedown notices. If you find your copyrighted content has been uploaded on
AnkiWeb's list of shared decks, please let us know and we will remove it as soon as possible.
We do not have the resources to create custom versions of Anki, AnkiMobile, or AnkiWeb at
this time, whether to add DRM or other features. You are free to modify the desktop version
of Anki yourself in accordance with the license.
Card template has a problem

Anki has recently become stricter about reporting mistakes in card templates. In the past, it
would silently ignore some problems, but display templates in unexpected ways. This
change has been made to make mistakes easier to notice.
If you have not edited your card templates yourself, it is likely you have downloaded a
shared deck, where the original deck author made a mistake when creating the template.
You can correct mistakes on the template by opening the card templates screen:
On the computer version, edit a problem card, and then click on the Cards... button
On AnkiMobile, while viewing a problem card in the review screen, tap the cog/gear,
then Card Template.
When you correct a mistake, it will update all cards of that type - you do not need to make
the same change for every card that uses the template.
What needs changing will depend on the message you are getting.
Found '{{Field}}', but there is no field called 'Field'
This indicates your template includes the name of a field that doesn't exist. To fix the
problem, locate the {{Field}} inside the card template, and remove it.
Missing }} in {{Field
This message is shown when {{ is found in the template without a matching }}. For example,
if you have
{{Field
then this needs to be changed to
{{Field}}
Missing {{/Field}}
This means Anki found {{#Field}} or {{^Field}} in your card template, without a
matching {{/Field}} . Removing {{#Field}} or {{^Field}} from the template will fix the
error.
Found {{/One}}, but expected {{/Two}}
Conditional replacements need to be closed in the same order they are opened. For
example, the following template is incorrect:
{{#One}}
{{#Two}}
{{Three}}
{{/One}}
{{/Two}}
To fix the problem, the template should be changed like so:
{{#One}}
{{#Two}}
{{Three}}
{{/Two}}
{{/One}}
Found {{/Field}}, but missing '{{#Field}}' or '{{^Field}}'
Closing tags must be matched by opening tags. For example, the following is invalid,
because there is no {{#Two}} or {{^Two}} at the start:
{{Field}}
{{/Two}}
It can be fixed by removing the closing tag:
{{Field}}
Cards are being placed in the "Default"

deck
This is usually caused by an AnkiDroid bug, but can happen for other reasons as well. To fix
the problem, please click the Cards button while adding a card, select the card type you're
having trouble with via the tabs at the top, and ensure Options>Deck Override (More>Deck
Override on Anki 2.0) is turned off.
Cards are reversed / appearing twice
Anki can be configured to show cards in both a forward and reverse direction. If you want
cards to only show from front->back, you can delete the reverse card.
If you have added cards to the "Basic (and [optional] reversed)" card type, you can change
the cards to the "Basic" card type by selecting them in the Browse screen, then using the
Change Note Type menu item. Select your Basic note type, choosing to keep Card 1, and
discard Card 2.
If you have modified the Basic card template to add an unwanted reverse direction, you can
modify it back instead:
Edit a card
Click the 'Cards' button
You will see one or more tabs at the top representing each card type that will be
created. Locate the card type you don't want, click the Options button, and remove the
unwanted card template.
Changing the font
Anki
To change the font when reviewing, please see here.
To change the font you see when adding or editing, please click the Fields button.
To change the font in rows of cards in the browser, please click the Cards button, and
then More, and then Browser Appearance.
For buttons, menus and so on, Anki uses your system font settings, so you can alter
the size by adjusting the system font scale. If you wish to override the font only in Anki,
you'll need to install https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/2103013902 and then alter the
fontHeight line, changing f.pixelSize() to a number like 16.
AnkiMobile
Any changes you make to your card templates will be reflected when studying in
AnkiMobile
You can also tap on Tools while reviewing to adjust the font scaling relative to the
computer version
Changing the interface language

By default, Anki displays interface text such as menus and dialog boxes in the language you
selected when you ran Anki for the first time. If you selected wrong or want to use multiple
languages, you can change the language in Anki's preferences screen (ctrl+p on
Windows/Linux, cmd+, on OS X). After selecting a new language, restart Anki for the new
language to take effect.
If you've just started using Anki, after restarting, use File>Switch Profile to create a new
profile that will use the language you've selected - otherwise things like field names will be
in the previous language.
Characters are cut off

If you find that parts of your characters are missing, the font you're using is probably not
appropriate for the language you're studying. To fix this:
While an affected card is shown, click Edit, then Cards.

Click the Add Field button.
Select Front or Back, depending on which side you want the field to be shown on.
Choose a font that is intended for the language you're studying.
After clicking OK, you should see the field appear a second time on your card, and this
time it should appear correctly. If it doesn't, add the field again and try a different font.
Remove any other {{field}} references on the left side, so that the field only appears
once on your card.
If you're using Windows, you may need to install language support for the language you
want to use in Windows first. After rebooting, any newly added fonts should become
available to Anki.
Customizing MathJax
Anki's bundled MathJax support is loaded before your card content, so if you wish to
customize MathJax, you will need to do so in a specific way.
For recent Anki versions, please see this post.
For older Anki versions:
<script>
MathJax.Hub.Config({
...
});
MathJax.Hub.Configured();
</script>
Notes:
Please avoid changing the standard open/close tags ( \( and \[ ), to something like $
and $$ , as Anki has special logic for cloze deletions, which will not work if you change
the delimiter.
Due times after a break

When you use Anki every day, each time a card is answered correctly, it gets a bigger
interval. Let’s assume that 'good' about doubles the interval. Thus you have a 5 day wait,
then a 10 day wait, 20 days, 40 days, and so on.
When people return to their deck after weeks or months of no study, they’re often surprised
by the length intervals have grown to. This is because Anki considers the actual time the
card was unseen, not just the time it was scheduled for. Thus if the card was scheduled for 5
days but you didn’t study for a month, the next interval will be closer to 60 days than 10
days.
This is a good thing. If you have successfully remembered a card after a one month wait,
chances are you’ll remember it again after a longer wait, too. The same principles which
make SRS effective in normal use apply when you’re studying after a delay, too. It also
makes little sense to schedule a card for 10 days in the future if you were able to easily
answer it after a whole month’s wait - you’d be going backwards.
Resetting the deck is an even worse solution. When returning to a deck after a long absence,
you may have forgotten many of your cards, but chances are you haven’t forgotten them all.
Resetting the entire deck means you have to waste time studying material you already
know.
Now you may find overdue cards that you were able to recall, but not comfortably, since
they were not reviewed when they should have been. To counter this, Anki treats the delay
differently depending on your answer. If you find a card easy, the last interval plus the full
delay are added together, and then used to calculate the next interval. When you answer
good, only half the delay is used. And when you answer hard, none of the extra delay is
used. So if a card was due in 5 days, and it’s answered 20 days late, the next times you’d end
up with are approximately:
Hard: 5 * 1.2 = 6 days
Good: (5 + 20/2) * 2.5 = 37.5 days
Easy: (5 + 20) * 3.25 = 81.25 days
The exact numbers will depend on your past performance with the card, and your deck
settings.
If you find a card hard, the next interval is conservative and any extra delay is discarded. If
you find it good, the next interval is only about 50% higher. And easy increases the interval
aggressively as usual.
So it is recommended that you study as normal when you return to Anki after a period of
absence. But if you absolutely must reset the deck, you can select the cards to reset in the
browser, and use Cards>Reschedule.
Email verification
AnkiWeb was previously lax about verifying your email address, sending a message out
when you sign up for an account but not requiring that it be responded to. The problem
with this is that email hosts don't like it when email is sent to invalid addresses, and we risk
the messages we send about the service landing in the spam folder or being dropped
completely if the email providers decide the valid/invalid ratio is not good enough.
So to address this, we've had to start verifying your email address is valid once a year. Once
you click the link in the verify email message, it tells us your address is current and we are
known to you, so we can send you service-related mails in the future (like when you reset
your password) with a reasonable degree of certainty that the mails will not bounce back.
Please note our privacy policy has not changed - we will only use your email address for
messages related to Anki.
Emails not being received due to "spam"

Some email providers (typically school or business email) outsource spam checking to
external companies. Some of these external companies can be heavy-handed when fighting
spam, and collateral damage unfortunately happens - innocent parties such as AnkiWeb can
end up getting blocked when a different customer on the same network has sent
inappropriate mail.
If you have access to an email address at another provider, the fastest solution is to use the
Account tab of AnkiWeb to change to your other email address.
If you do not have access to another email address, you could try asking your email provider
to remove 23.249.217.77 from the block list they are using. It is a dedicated IP used only by
AnkiWeb, hosted in Amazon's network. If your email provider are not able to fix the problem
for you, please sign up for a free email address at somewhere like gmail.com instead, as
they reliably accept the email we send.
"Error establishing a secure connection."

when syncing
This error happens when Anki tries to make a connection to AnkiWeb, and receives an
invalid response. It can be caused by:
antivirus or firewall software on your machine

a filtered network connection, common on work and school networks
an unreliable network connection
Antivirus/firewall/VPN/proxy
Antivirus, firewall and VPN programs can often cause problems when they filter network
traffic.
The first thing to try is to add an exception for Anki.
If that doesn't work, try disabling your antivirus temporarily.
Unfortunately some antivirus programs do not completely stop themselves when disabled.
We have seen cases where the only way to resolve the problem was to completely uninstall
the antivirus program. We do not expect you to stop using your antivirus program just to
run Anki, but if the previous suggestions have not helped, it is worth uninstalling and
restarting your computer to see if it resolves the problem. If it does, then please contact
your antivirus company to report the issue to them.
Unreliable internet
If your wifi or internet connection is experiencing troubles, the messages from AnkiWeb
may arrive corrupted or not at all, which can cause this error message to occur. It may be
worth checking for packet loss:
https://anki.tenderapp.com/kb/problems/syncing-failed-connection-timed-out-errors-when-
syncing
Errors when recording

If you have problems recording audio in Anki, please make sure:
a microphone is connected to the computer

the microphone is set as the default recording device in your system's sound settings
another program like Skype is not using the microphone - you may need to close the
other microphone-using program. If that does not help, please try restarting your
computer.
If you receive the message "IOError: [Errno Unanticipated host error] -9999" on Windows 10,
please make sure you have allowed Anki to use the microphone:
https://winaero.com/blog/disable-app-access-microphone-windows-10/
Extra characters appearing on cards

Sometimes users notice that text is appearing in front of or on their cards that they don't
remember putting there. Usually it is just a couple of letters or nonsense. For instance, on
the front side of your card you have written book , but when you review the card it appears
as fybook .
This problem is caused by accidentally placing text in the card template. You can solve it as
follows:
1. While reviewing with the computer version, locate one of the cards that has the
problem, and edit it. (Alternatively, search for one in the browser.)
2. Click the Cards button.
3. Look in the Front Template box (or, if the text is appearing on the back of the card, the
Back Template box). You should see the extra text in there somewhere. Being careful
not to delete anything else, remove it.
After you close the Cards dialog, your cards should appear as normal again.
If you don't have access to the computer version, you can study such a card in AnkiMobile,
then tap on Tools>More>Edit Card Template.
Extra copies of a card are coming up

Occasionally you may have been editing a note type and later discover that a number of
cards are duplicated (sometimes there may even be more copies).
You can fix this as follows:
1. Find one of the duplicated cards in the browser.

2. Click the Cards button.
3. Select each card type in the top drop-down box in turn, and compare the contents of
the template fields and card preview pane. If the card types are identical, delete one of
them (Options → Delete).
This should remove all the duplicate cards that use this note type. (If you are still having
problems, it's possible that multiple note types have the issue, in which case you can repeat
these steps with a card of the other note type.)
Hard/good interval is longer than

good/easy
When a card is in learning:
Again will be the first learning step

Hard will be the current learning step
Good will the the next learning step, or the Graduating interval if learning steps are
exhausted
Easy will be the Easy Interval
If the learning steps are set to be longer than the graduating or easy interval, Hard/Good
might show longer intervals than Good/Easy.
Hiding Decks
If you do not intend to study a deck for some time do not want to delete it, you may wish to
hide it. There are two ways to do this.
A) Export the deck and delete it.
1. Choose File → Export. Select Anki Deck Package (*.apkg) from the Export Format
drop-down.
2. Select the deck to be removed from the Include drop-down.
3. Make sure that Include scheduling information and Include media are checked—
otherwise you will have lost your review history and possibly your media when it
comes time to use the deck again.
4. Click Export and save the apkg file somewhere you can find it again.
5. Finally, delete the deck from your collection.
You can restore the deck to your collection by choosing File → Import and importing the
deck again. It will be restored with the same name it had when you exported it.
B) Create an "unused" deck.
You can create a tree of decks in Anki by dragging and dropping the decks in the deck list.
You can use a combination of this property and options groups to hide decks you do not
intend to use:
1. Click Create Deck and add a deck called "Unused," "Hidden," or something similar. You
can place a tilde (~) before the name (like "~Unused") if you want to force the deck to
appear at the bottom of the list.
2. Drag and drop the deck you wish to hide to underneath the new deck. Then collapse
the Unused deck by clicking the minus sign next to the name.
3. You can stop here if you're happy with this; however, if you leave it this way, due
counts will still be displayed. If you would rather get rid of them, continue with step 4.
4. Click the options button next to the Unused deck and choose Options.
5. Click the options button in the upper-right-hand corner and add a new options group
(you can call it "unused deck" or something similar).
6. On the New Cards tab, select a new cards/day limit of 0. On the reviews tab, select a
maximum reviews/day limit of 0.
To restore the deck, simply drag and drop it back into the main deck list (you can go either
to the very top or the very bottom of the list to get the top level). You can leave the Unused
deck for future use.
How can I donate?

As Anki is run as a business, it is difficult to accept donations. Instead, we make available
AnkiMobile to raise funds for development. You can purchase AnkiMobile on your Apple
mobile device, and the proceeds from it go towards supporting Anki's development.
For people who don't use Apple products we hope to have more options available for
For people who don t use Apple products, we hope to have more options available for
supporting Anki in the future. In the mean time, please support Anki by telling your friends
about it!
How can I work with someone else to

create a deck?
Anki's collaboration support is limited at the moment, but it is possible for multiple people
to work on content together.
If you are creating cards that have no sounds or images, then the easiest option may be to
take advantage of an online document collaboration service such as Google Drive.
With this system, you create your cards in a spreadsheet (one column per field in the note
type you're using). To allow updating easily, the first column should be one that you do not
expect to change if you update the cards. You can add and edit cards together at whatever
time you want; when you're ready to update your collection with new and updated cards,
each user can export the spreadsheet to a text file and import it into Anki .
If you are creating cards that contain images or sounds, it gets more complicated. You can
use the above approach, but it means you'll need to distribute the media files separately.
Instead, we recommend taking turns to create the content. For example, if students are
collaborating on a class, student A creates a deck "lesson 1" and puts all the first lesson
content in it, then student B creates "lesson 2", and so on. As each lesson is done, the
student exports the deck to an apkg file, and uploads/emails/etc it, and the other people
import it.
Using a separate deck for each unit of work makes it easier to export the content separately,
instead of sharing everything that's been created so far (which would lead to large files).
After other users import the content, they can move it to another deck if they wish, using
the computer version.
Advanced users can skip the separate deck step by instead creating a filtered deck using
something like 'added:7' to only include cards added in the last 7 days, and then exporting
that filtered deck to share.
How do I move cards between decks?

You may want to move cards between decks for a variety of reasons, for example:
you accidentally put them in the wrong deck

you made a single large deck and want to break it into several smaller ones
you made several small decks and want to combine them into a larger one
The browser offers a Change Deck option in the menu bar for these kinds of tasks.
See also Merging/combining two decks for more precise instructions for that exact situation
See also Merging/combining two decks for more precise instructions for that exact situation.
If you want to move cards between profiles, or share cards with other people, you can use
Anki's export function to export a packaged deck. If you want to share or move to a new
profile only some of the cards in a deck, you can first use the change deck option above to
move them into a temporary deck, then export that deck.
I'm going on vacation. Can I pause the

scheduler?
Being able to come back from a break to find Anki in exactly the same state you left it in may
sound attractive, but unfortunately while it's easy to tell the computer to suspend its
estimates of how quickly you are forgetting, it's not possible to suspend your memory, so
memories will continue to decay if you don't review. If you paused the scheduler, you would
be delaying the review of every card in your deck, increasing your chance of forgetting every
one of them, even those that would normally have appeared after you returned from your
break.
Anki does have a "Set Due Date" feature in the Browse screen that can change the due date
of cards. You can use this to either to move cards to an earlier due date (allowing you to
study more before you take a break), or to push cards back to a later date. Conservative
changes are recommended - if you alter the due date of cards by too much, there is a good
chance you will forget them and need to relearn them again.
Merging/combining two decks

Anki does not have an explicit feature to combine decks, but you can accomplish this easily
by moving all the cards in one deck to the other deck. Please follow these steps:
1. Open the browser (click Browse at the top of Anki's main window) and select one of
the decks you want to merge in the left pane.
2. Select all the cards (Edit → Select All or Ctrl-A) and click the Change Deck option in the
menu bar. Select the other deck and click Move Cards.
3. If you want to merge more than two decks, repeat steps 1 and 2 as necessary until you
have only one deck remaining.
4. Close the browser to return to the deck list and delete the now-empty deck(s) by
clicking the settings button to the right of each. (Anki will warn you if you try to delete a
deck that still has cards in it.)
See also How do I move cards between decks?.
Multiple choice questions

Multiple choice questions are not the most effective way to study. The reason they are
commonly used in an academic setting is because they are easy to mark, and they allow the
person studying to demonstrate their ability to recognize the correct answer, even if they
can’t produce it themselves.
When you need to pick from a selection of answers, it is easy to "cheat", as you can guess
what the correct answer is if you know what the other displayed options are. When multiple
choice tests are designed by humans, the test creator can create clever "distractors" that are
similar to the correct answer, making it harder for you to guess. Computers are not so good
at this.
If you are studying for a test and you have a sample test with a multiple choice questions,
like the following:
Q: What animal has a really long neck?
A: 1. A monkey. 2. A giraffe. 3. A donkey. 4. A snail.
Then the recommended way to put that question into Anki is to drop the incorrect answers,
turning it into a simple question/answer card instead:
Q: What animal has a really long neck?
A: A giraffe.
My antivirus program says Anki is

infected!
Antivirus programs sometimes get things wrong. This is especially so when we release a
new version - some AV programs assume that because the new version has not been seen
in the past that it must be dangerous. Anki updates are built on machines dedicated to that
purpose, so the chances of a virus infection are very slim. If you've received a message from
your antivirus, please contact your AV vendor to let them know about the false positive.
No cloze found on card
Single empty cards
When making clozes, each cloze number is turned into a separate card. For example, the
following will create three cards:
{{c1::This}} is a {{c2::sample}} {{c3::sentence}}.
If you you later edit the text, and either remove or change a cloze number, the previously
created card may become blank. For example:
{{c1::This}} is a {{c2::sample}}
and
{{c1::This}} is a {{c2::sample}} {{c1::sentence}}.
are both changes that would make card 3 blank. When you view card 3, you'll see a message
indicating that the card is blank, and can be cleaned up with the Empty Cards function. You
can access that function via the Tools menu of the computer version's main window, and
use it to remove blank cards. Please check the reported empty cards first, and if in doubt,
create a backup with the File>Export menu item before proceeding.
All cloze cards empty

If you accidentally modify your card template, it may prevent any cloze deletions from
appearing. If that has happened, please edit one such problem card, and note down the
name of the first field - it is usually called "Text". Then, please:
Click on the Cards... button
Replace the front text with
{{cloze:Text}}
Replace the back text with the same.
If your field was called something other than Text, replace Text with the name of the field.
Note types with strange names

After you've used Anki for a while and downloaded some shared decks, you may end up
with some note types with names like Basic-908e4 or Cloze-37a28 . These note types are
created when you download a shared deck that uses a note type with the same name as
one that's already in your collection. (If Anki didn't do this, then it might merge two different
note types that happened to have the same name.)
Having these note types in your collection is normal and will not cause any problems, but if
you would like to clean up, you can use the following procedure:
1. Compare the fields and card templates of each of the note types using the Fields... and
Cards... buttons in the Manage Note Types dialog (Tools → Manage Note Types in the
main window). If they're not the same, then you should just rename one to something
more descriptive. If they are the same, then you can continue with these instructions
to merge them.
2. Open the browser and select the note type that you want to get rid of in the left pane.
(You can pick either one as long as you're consistent.)
3. Click in the right pane and choose Edit → Select All.
4. Choose Edit → Change Note Type and change all of the cards to the note type that
you're keeping. (Note that this step will require a full sync to AnkiWeb the next time
you sync, so if you have unsynced progress on other devices, you should get
everything in sync first. Anki will give you a warning about this.)
5. Close the browser, return to the Manage Note Types dialog, and delete the old note
type.
6. Repeat these steps for any other pairs of note types you'd like to combine.
Outlook.com silently discards email

Microsoft's email servers do not reliably deliver email. There are numerous reports on the
web of email being successfully delivered to Microsoft's servers, but failing to show up in a
user's inbox - even in the spam folder.
You may be able to work around this by clicking on the cog icon in your inbox, going to "Safe
and blocked senders", and adding noreply@ankiweb.net to the list of safe senders. You can
then visit AnkiWeb's verification page and refresh it until another verification email is sent.
If problems persist, you will need to use a different email provider (such as a free gmail.com
account) that reliably delivers email.
Verifying your email may be frustrating, but it is important to have a working contact
method - without one, you would not be able to recover your account if you forgot your
password.
Printing cards in your collection

Some people like to print the cards in their collection so that they can review them on paper
or for other reasons. Before you do this, please keep in mind that Anki is most effective
when you study only through the application. Studying a list of your cards will necessarily
require you to study them at suboptimal intervals compared to the ones Anki gives you.
Printing in Anki is handled by the Basic Printing Support add-on. If you have trouble getting
your browser to open, please follow the directions in the review "WORKS, but does not open
the browser automatically", located on that page.
Removing duplicate note types

Sometimes you may end up with several note types of the same name. This usually happens
due to importing multiple decks, although you can also create a note type with the same
name as another one in the Manage Note Types dialog box.
While this is generally harmless, it can be somewhat annoying if you can't tell which cards
belong to which note type, so you can fix it as follows:
1. First, confirm that all of the note types with duplicate names are really the same by
going to the browser, clicking on each one in turn, and comparing the fields that are
shown at the bottom of the window. (If you're not sure, you can also click the Cards
button and make sure that the templates are the same as well.) If they're not the
same, you should use the Manage Note Types dialog (mentioned in step 2) to rename
one to something else instead.
2. In the main Anki window, choose Tools → Manage Note Types. Select one of the
duplicate note types, click Rename, and give it a new name (you can change it back
later if you wish).
3. Open the browser and click on one of the remaining note types with a duplicate name.
Select all the cards, choose Edit → Change Note Type, and select the note type you just
renamed for "New note type." Repeat this step as necessary.
4. Close the browser, go back to the Manage Note Types dialog box, and delete the now-
unused note types. If you wish, you can change the one you renamed in step 2 back to
its original name.
Requesting a refund for AnkiMobile

If you're having problems with AnkiMobile, please let us know and we'll do our best to help
you resolve them.
When you purchase items on the app store, Apple sell the product to you. As we are not
involved in the sales process, we do not have the ability to offer you a refund as we have no
access to your payment details - Apple does not even tell us who is purchasing the app. For
this reason, any refund requests need to be submitted to Apple directly. Please see the
following page for more information:
http://www.imore.com/how-request-refund-itunes-or-app-store-purchase
Resetting progress in a deck

Sometimes you may want to "reset" part of your collection so that the cards become new
again and the scheduling algorithm starts from the beginning. For instance, you might have
completely changed a card or updated it so that you need to start learning it again, or you
may have flipped through some cards without really studying if you were just trying to take
a look at the cards or figure out how Anki works.
Resetting part of your collection because you are behind is not recommended. While it
can be tough to recover from a backlog of cards, erasing all the progress you have made is
the worst possible thing you can do: you will still remember many of those cards, and you'll
have to start them all over even though you could have pushed "easy." Instead, consider
setting up a daily review limit ("maximum reviews/day" in the options) and studying a set
number of the overdue cards each day until you catch up.
Resetting cards within Anki

1. Find the cards you want to reset in the browser.
2. Select all the cards and choose Cards->Reschedule or Edit->Reschedule, then Place at
end of new card queue. Click OK.
When you do this, Anki will turn the cards back into new cards. If you click Info in the
browser you'll see any previous reviews you've done listed there, but that history will not
influence how the cards are scheduled: they will be treated just like new cards.
Removing the review history

If you accidentally imported the review history of someone else, because they shared their
deck with scheduling, you can use the following add-on to remove the history of cards you
have selected.
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/2089200096
Restoring an Automatic Backup

(Recovering from Data Loss)
Sometimes your collection may become very damaged. For instance:
You accidentally deleted a card type or hundreds of cards and didn't notice in time to
undo it.
Your collection has become corrupted.
There was a syncing error and you accidentally overwrote a large number of reviews
that you did on another device.
...or anything else that leaves you with lost data.
Anki automatically backs up your collection every time you close Anki or sync (AnkiMobile
backs up after fixed time intervals and before syncs), and by default it stores 30 backups.
For information on restoring an automatic backup, please visit the relevant page:
Restore a backup made by Anki 2.1 on your computer

Restore a backup made by AnkiMobile
Restore a backup made by AnkiDroid
Retrieving AnkiMobile crash logs

Crash logs help us identify what's going wrong when AnkiMobile crashes. To share your
crash logs, please:
Go to the Settings app on the home screen, and tap on 'Privacy'

Then tap on 'Analytics Data'
Scroll down until you find 'anki' - there should be a report for each crash.
Tap on the latest 'anki' one.
Tap the share icon and mail the report to yourself
Grab the file from your email, and attach it to a support ticket here
Running from Python

If you experience startup problems or crashes with the packaged builds of Anki that you are
unable to resolve, you can try running directly via Python as a last resort.
The instructions below are provided for Windows users, as these problems seem most
prevalent on Windows, but a similar approach can be taken on other platforms too.
1. Install https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.8.10/python-3.8.10-amd64.exe. Customize

the install location, and choose c:\python
2. Open the Start menu, and open a Command Prompt.
3. Type in the following and hit enter:
\python\python -m venv \anki-venv
4. And then the following, which will take a while:
\anki-venv\scripts\pip install aqt orjson
5. Finally:
\anki-venv\scripts\anki
If that solves your problem, you can start Anki again in the future by repeating steps 2 and
5.
If you still experience problems, you can try changing the Qt version:
i i
https://faqs.ankiweb.net/print.html i i i 33/54
\anki-venv\scripts\pip install pyqt5==5.13 pyqtwebengine==5.13.0
If that does not help either, and you have already followed all the steps on when problems
occur, then you may unfortunately be out of luck.
Screenshots large and blurry on retina

displays
If you edit a card, click on Cards, and then place the following at the very bottom of the
styling section, it will shrink screenshots down to the correct size:
img { zoom: 50%; }
The problem is that it will shrink all images by 50%. Images from high resolution displays will
now look correct, but images you obtain from other sources may now look too small.
Unfortunately there is no good solution to this problem at the moment - the web
technologies Anki uses do not have a way of detecting which images need to be resized.
Resizing the images prior to adding them to Anki will allow you to mix and match other
images, but it requires some setup: https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-get-my-retina-Mac-
to-not-take-screenshots-that-are-too-big
If you're on Windows, an Anki user suggested using SnagIt as a workaround:

https://anki.tenderapp.com/discussions/ankidesktop/38152-feature-request-de-zoom-
picture-pasted-with-a-certain-hotkey#comment_48043268
Settings for using Anki to prepare for a

large exam
If you have started using Anki to help prepare for a large exam some weeks or months in
the future, you may wonder how you should best configure it to get you ready for the test.
Anki’s default settings are primarily configured to be useful for learning and remembering
information over the long term, but this is usually the best way to prepare for an exam as
well – you just need to make sure that you finish the material in enough time to be ready for
the exam when it comes.
How many new cards per day?
The most important question is how many new cards you need to study every day in order
to be ready by the time the test comes around. A very simple way to calculate this is to
divide the total number of cards you have by the number of days you have to study, but
before doing this, you should usually make a couple of modifications to the number of days
you have to study:
If you have the time, generally it is a good idea to leave 2–4 weeks between the time
you will study the last new material and the time you will be tested on it. This way, you
have time to consolidate all of the material so you will feel confident on it, as well as
some time to do extra review right before the test. So you should subtract somewhere
between 14 and 30 days from the number of days you have left.
If you’re like most people, you probably will miss a few days of study now and then, so
it’s a good idea to plan to subtract a few days for this so that you won’t get further
behind when you do.
If you anticipate adding more cards between now and the exam, you will need to
account for the amount of extra material you plan to add.
After making these modifications, you can divide the total number of cards in your deck by
the adjusted number of days to get the number of new cards per day you should study; you
can set this number on the new cards tab of the deck options screen. You can find out how
many new cards are in the deck by selecting it in the deck list, choosing Browse at the top of
the window, pressing Enter to search for the current deck, and looking at the title bar.
Doing extra review

If you get through all of your new cards with time to spare and your exam is in a couple of
days, you may wish to run quickly through all of your cards or some subset of them to brush
up on the ones that you’ve forgotten since your last review. You can use Anki’s custom study
feature to study extra cards; please see the linked section of the manual for instructions and
available options.
Shared decks with broken Javascript

Some shared decks make use of a feature called 'Javascript', which allows them to
dynamically modify the display of the card. Javascript can be fragile, which is why the Anki
manual recommends deck authors avoid it. It may break when Anki is updated, or when the
deck author has not tested their Javascript on the different Anki platforms.
If you encounter a Javascript error in a shared deck, please post a review on the shared deck
download page to let the deck author and other users know of the problem. If the deck
author is active, they will hopefully address the issue in a future update.
If the deck author is unable to help you, you can try edit your card template to remove the
Javascript to prevent an error from showing. Depending on what the Javascript was doing,
this may result in lost functionality.
To do so using the computer version of Anki:

To do so, using the computer version of Anki:
Use File>Export to export your entire collection with scheduling information. This will
give you a backup that you can restore to if anything goes wrong.
Edit a card, and click the Cards... button.
Look for areas in the front and back template that start with <script> and end with
</script> . Remove the start and end, and everything in between.
Confirm that the card displays in the review screen without error. If it's working ok, you
can sync your changes to AnkiWeb and then to your other devices.
If removing the script has completely broken the card, use File>Import to restore to
the backup you created.
"Some updates were ignored because note

type has changed"
When importing a shared deck that has previously been imported, Anki will only be able to
update your existing cards if:
the name, number and order of fields has not changed

the name, number and order of card templates has not changed
Changes to the front and back template will not prevent updates.
If changes have been made to the fields or card templates and you want to apply updates,
you will need to modify the note type in your collection to match the one in the deck you're
trying to import. To do this, you can import the shared deck into a new profile, note down
the note type's fields and card templates, and then compare them with the note type in
your profile.
If you're not concerned with updates, and just want to grab any new cards, one way to make
importing work is to delete the old note type via the Tools>Manage Note Types screen. This
will delete any cards associated with it, so if you wish to preserve the existing cards, you'll
need to manually use the Change Note Type option in the browse screen to move them to a
new note type.
Please note that if the deck sharer has used the 'change note type' option in their collection,
they will have permanently broken link between your copy and theirs, and updating via
.apkg import will not be possible even if your note type's fields and card templates match.
You can check the note types are linked by using the following command in the debug
console while looking at a card in the study screen:
pp(card()['_note'].mid)
Repeat for the shared deck imported into a temporary profile. If the numbers match, the
note types are still linked.
If one of the fields in the shared deck has not been altered, it is also possible to apply
updates via a text import. After importing the shared deck into a temporary profile, use
File>Export to save the notes in txt format. Then in your original profile, you can import the
text file, matching against a field that has not changed. Text imports can only operate on
one note type at once, so if the shared deck you've downloaded contains multiple note
types, you'll need to do the process one note type at a time. More info is at
https://apps.ankiweb.net/docs/manual.html#duplicates-and-updating
Sound/image media files have gone

missing!
Anki stores your cards' sound and image files on your computer, in your Anki folder, in User
1/collection.media. If you delete any files from that folder, Anki notes they have been
removed and on the next sync it will remove them from your other devices as well. What
sometimes happens is users tidy up files on their computer, and accidentally remove the
sounds and images that their cards use, resulting in sounds not playing or images not
appearing. This is particularly easy to do accidentally on a Mac with the "all my files" feature
of the Finder, but can happen on other platforms as well.
You can use Anki's Tools>Check Media function to find out which images are missing from
your collection by looking at the "Used on cards but missing from media folder" section.
If you've accidentally deleted the files your cards were using, you may be able to restore
them from your recycle bin / trash can if the trash has not been emptied yet. Placing them
back in the collection.media folder should cause the media to work again.
If you are unable to recover your media from any of your devices, we may be able to restore
it from AnkiWeb's backups for you if it was deleted recently.
If you've lost your sound and images, but had obtained them from a shared deck, if the
shared deck is still available you can import it into a new profile, and then copy the sounds
and images from it into your original collection to restore the data.
When editing fields, Anki shows the names of sound files. To see the names of image files,
you can press ctrl+shift+x while the cursor is in the field with the image (cmd+shift+x on a
Mac). For an image or sound file to work, a file with the exact same file name must be in the
collection.media folder.
Sounds/images are not appearing on

AnkiWeb or the mobile clients
If you created your deck by importing from a text file, or you downloaded a shared deck that
was created in that way, it's possible the filenames in Anki do not match the filenames on
the computer. Some computers treat "file.jpg", "file.JPG" and "FILE.JPG" all as the same file,
but other computers do not. This means that if the deck contains a reference to "dog.jpg"
but the file on disk is "dog.JPG", some devices (including AnkiWeb) will not be able to display
the image.
You can confirm this is a problem by editing a card that's not showing up correctly using the
computer version. If audio isn't working, you'll see a link like [sound:hello.mp3] . If you see
a broken image link, click on that field, then press the down arrow on the top right, choose
"Edit HTML", and locate text that looks like:
<img src="cat.jpg">
Note down the name of the file.
Then open your collection's media folder (http://ankisrs.net/docs/manual.html#file-

locations) and locate the file that is referenced. If the file does not use exactly the same
combination of lowercase or uppercase letters, you've found the problem.
If it was a shared deck, please report the issue to the shared deck author. If the differences
in case are regular, you can try fix the problem using Anki's find&replace feature in the
browser. For example, if the link is for "dog.JPG" but the file on disk is "dog.jpg", you can
click browse, select all cards, and use find&replace to replace JPG with jpg.
If that doesn't explain your issue, please check that the computer you're on is not using a
vfat/fat32 file system. Anki currently is unable to detect changes to the media folder when
it's on such a filesystem, so media syncing will not work in this case. A workaround is
planned for a future release.
Splitting a field into multiple fields

Sometimes you may create a deck, or download a shared deck, with several things in one
field, such as text and audio, but then later decide that you would rather have the
information in two fields so that you can have more precise control over what displays on
each card. One option is to add a new field and then manually cut and paste the content
between fields; this may be the fastest if you have less than a hundred cards or so, but
otherwise it will be very tedious and slow. Here is a method you can use based on exporting
to a text file and doing a search and replace; as an example, we'll focus on
1. If the field you want to split is the first field, make a different field the first field by
using the Reposition button in the Fields dialog.. This field needs to be unique, so that
no two cards have the same content in that field. If you don't have any unique fields
except the one you're trying to split, you can use the add note ID add-on to add a
unique field to the notes.
2. Export the entire deck to a text file, using the Notes in plain text choice.
3. Add a new field to your note type. The new field should come immediately after the
one that you're trying to split, so if you had a "Word and Audio" field, you could
rename it to "Word" and then add an "Audio" field and reposition it to go after the
"Word" field.
4. Open the text file and do the search and replace. If your text editor supports a certain
form of regular expressions, this might work for the expression: s/\[sound/\t\
[sound/ . Otherwise, if you're not sure how to form the expression, you can ask on the
Community section or look for regular expression help on the Internet.
5. Import the text file back into your collection, making sure to use the correct note type
and deck. Your notes will be updated with the newly split field.
If you run into problems, please ask on the Community category, as this is outside the scope
of the official support we can provide for Anki.
Synchronizing multiple profiles

Profiles are a feature designed to allow multiple people to study with Anki on the same
device. They may also be useful for testing and other similar purposes, but this is not their
primary purpose. Profiles are not recommended for dividing up your content, as doing so is
unnecessary and limits your options in terms of viewing statistics and moving content
around. Profiles are also unsupported on AnkiDroid.
Anki is designed so that each profile syncs with a single AnkiWeb account – this way, each
user can have their own account and use it on whichever devices they want.
If you have created multiple profiles for yourself, the best option is to merge them into a
single profile. You can do so by exporting one deck from profile A, and then importing it into
profile B, repeating for any other decks in profile A, until everything is in profile B.
If you have different users on your computer, each user will need to set up a separate
AnkiWeb account for their profile. Attempting to sync different profiles with the same
AnkiWeb account will result in lost data.
'Syncing failed: Connection timed out'

errors when syncing
Antivirus/firewall software on Windows and corporate/school networks
If syncing never appears to make any progress, it is possible that Anki is completely blocked
from connecting to the internet. In that case, you may need to add an exception in your
antivirus/firewall, or ask your network administrators for assistance. For more information,
please see
https://anki.tenderapp.com/kb/anki-ecosystem/error-establishing-a-secure-connection-
when-syncing
If the sync appears to make some progress
When you sync, Anki sends messages to AnkiWeb, and these messages typically flow
through a number of networks and countries before they reach AnkiWeb. If one of the
networks between you and the AnkiWeb servers is experiencing issues, this can result in
connections that run slowly or terminate abruptly.
A typical cause of this is when your internet provider experiences a problem with one of
their international links. When this happens, you may find you can access most other sites
without any problems, because those sites are hosted in different geographical locations,
and thus your connections to them use different networks. Such problems typically take a
few hours to a few days to clear up.
Sometimes the problems can be caused more locally. If you're on a distant or congested wifi
network, that can also cause the connection to AnkiWeb to become unstable.
Unstable connections tend to become more apparent the more data you transfer. If you are
experiencing packet loss you may find you can load ankiweb.net fine most of the time, but
still have issues when syncing - especially if you have a lot of data to transfer.
Working around the issue
The best thing to do is try syncing on a different network - using your phone's cellular
connection for example, or using your work or school's wifi network. In many cases you will
find that resolves the problem, and after waiting a few hours to a few days, the problem
with your home network should have gone away.
Determining packet loss
A tool called 'mtr' can be useful for determining packet loss.
Windows: https://sourceforge.net/projects/winmtr/
Mac:
https://www.reddit.com/r/TagPro/comments/2j6qx7/how_to_run_an_mtr_on_mac/
Linux: install 'mtr' from your package manager
Once installed, you should use mtr to access 'ankiweb.net', and let it run for about 15
minutes. If any of the steps between your device and the AnkiWeb servers show a packet
loss above 0%, it indicates instability.
If you are seeing no packet loss at all but are still having problems syncing, you may be
having a different problem - please contact us and let us know.
Text to speech support
For Anki 2.1.20+

Please see https://docs.ankiweb.net/#/templates/fields?id=text-to-speech
For AnkiMobile 2.0.56+

Please see https://docs.ankimobile.net/#/more?id=text-to-speech
For AnkiDroid
Please search for TTS in the AnkiDroid manual.
For older Anki versions

There is a popular add-on called AwesomeTTS that supports a number of text to speech
programs and services. You can read more about it here:
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/814349176
It works by downloading the audio into your collection, so that when you sync with
AnkiWeb, your other devices will gain access to the audio as well.
If you want to use the generated files outside the computer version, make sure you use the
stored files mode and not 'on the fly': https://ankiatts.appspot.com/usage/editor
While AnkiMobile <2.0.56 has no official support for on-device TTS, Apple introduced TTS
support in iOS7, and it is possible to gain access to it. The following is based on a user-
contributed solution.
<span id="word">{{Word}}</span>
<script>
<script>
var w = document.getElementById("word");
window.setTimeout("speak(w.innerHTML)", 500);
function speak(word) {
var speech = new SpeechSynthesisUtterance();
speech.text = word;
speech.volume = 1; // 0 to 1
speech.rate = 1; // 0.1 to 9
speech.pitch = 1; // 0 to 2, 1=normal
speech.voice = window.speechSynthesis
.getVoices()
.filter((v) => v.lang == "en-GB")[0];
speechSynthesis.cancel();
speechSynthesis.speak(speech);
}
</script>
You can change en-GB to other languages like en-US, de-DE, ja-JP, zh-HK, etc. You can use
the example section on the following page to see all the different languages.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/SpeechSynthesis/getVoices
You may need to install the Enhanced audio files for the language you want to play, which
you can do so via the Settings app, then General, Accessibility, Speech and Voices.
The Anki 2.1 scheduler

Anki 2.1 comes with a new scheduler that fixes a number of issues that previous Anki
versions had.
Compatibility
The 2.1 scheduler was introduced in Aug 2018. Support was added to AnkiMobile and
AnkiWeb around the same time, and AnkiDroid has supported it in releases since Oct 2019.
It is not supported by the older Anki 2.0.
Updating
If you are syncing with AnkiWeb, updating requires a one-way upload to AnkiWeb. Please
ensure all of your devices are in sync before you update, as otherwise you may accidentally
overwrite changes made on your other devices.
Before updating, it is recommended you export a backup. Using the computer version, you
can use the File>Export menu item to create a .colpkg file containing all decks and
scheduling. In the unlikely case that you run into problems, you will be able to restore from
the backup.
Once you have updated, please sync and choose "Upload" to send the upgraded collection
to AnkiWeb. Then please sync any other devices you use, choosing "Download" on each of
them, to bring things back into sync.
Anki 2.1.41+/AnkiMobile 2.0.75+.
To update, click the Update message shown in the deck list.
Unlike older Anki versions, cards in learning will not be reset, and cards in filtered decks will
remain filtered. The new scheduler handles filtered decks differently, so custom steps you
may have set will no longer apply, but filtered decks with rescheduling enabled will not reset
learning cards.
You may be asked if you use AnkiDroid 2.14 when updating. It is safe to choose "no" here,
as AnkiDroid 2.15 has since been released. If you make a mistake when prompted, you can
adjust the timezone handling in Anki's Preferences screen.
Once you've updated, there is no option to switch back to the old scheduler. While you can
still accomplish this by switching back to an older Anki version and changing the scheduler
in the preferences, please bear in mind that it will require your learning cards and filtered
decks to be reset.
Older Anki versions
Older Anki versions reset all cards in learning prior to updating, and move all cards in
filtered decks back to their original decks. This is problematic for people with longer
learning steps. If you're in that situation, it is recommended you update with 2.1.41 or later.
Older versions have an option in the preferences screen to toggle the scheduler version.
Changes
Reviews:
When a deck has children, reviews are taken from all children decks at once, instead of
showing one deck at a time.
The daily review limit is taken from the deck you click on. If you have a deck tree of the
form "grandparent::parent::child" and you click on "parent", the limits you have set on
"grandparent" and "child" are ignored.
(Re)learning:
(Re)learning:
Learning cards have 4 buttons instead of 3 - Hard repeats the current step after the
first step, and is the average of Again and Good on the first step.
The learn count is now the number of cards, instead of the number of steps required
to complete.
Suspending/burying cards does not reset a card's learning steps.
Lapsed reviews have their next due date updated on the last relearning step, instead
of the first step.
There is a new option in the preferences screen to show day learning cards before
reviews.
When cards are in relearning, the Easy button boosts the interval by 1 day.
Filtered decks:
Filtered decks no longer reset (re)learning cards when they are built or emptied, and
reviews and learning cards will show up in the correct queue instead of the new
queue.
Filtered decks support a second search term, so you can include 100 cards to review
and 20 new cards for example.
Scheduling of cards that aren't yet due has been improved, and will show 4 buttons
instead of 3.
Filtered decks no longer support custom steps, and there is now a simple "preview
mode" instead of the old option to disable scheduling changes. The new card order
does not get forgotten when previewing.
Cards can be buried or suspended while remaining in the filtered deck.
Other changes:
"Next day starts at" is now relative to the current timezone.

Anki now distinguishes between manually and automatically buried cards, and you can
unbury one set without the other.
2021 updates
Updates to the V2 scheduler are currently in beta testing.
2021 Scheduler
The 2021 scheduler ("v3") is an update to the Anki 2.1 scheduler ("v2"). It is currently in beta
testing.
Compatibility
The v2 and v3 schedulers are compatible. You can switch between them without a full sync,
and it will not cause scheduling issues if you use v3 on one device and sync with another
device that is using v2.
Client support:
Anki: 2.1.45+
AnkiMobile: 2.0.75+
AnkiWeb: yes
AnkiDroid: not yet
It will likely be some time until AnkiDroid supports the v3 scheduler directly. In the mean
time, it will continue to show cards using the v2 scheduler, regardless of the setting you
have chosen.
Because the v3 scheduler uses a different approach to gathering and sorting cards, a v2 and
v3 client may show a different number of due cards on a given day. While this will not cause
scheduling problems, please bear it in mind if you're switching back and forth.
Changes
Undo
The v3 scheduler uses Anki's new undo infrastructure - you can answer a card, bury a
different card, and answer another card, then undo each one in turn if you wish. Previous
schedulers handled undo separately, so a non-review action would clear the review history,
and vice versa.
Daily limits
Previously each deck's limit was limited by the its parent limits, grandparent limits, and so
on. This has been simplified to the following:
Each deck's limit controls how many cards from that specific deck can be used.
The deck you select controls the maximum number of cards that will be shown in the
study session.
For example, imagine you have a parent deck with a limit of 100, with 2 child decks. The first
one has a limit of 20, and the second has a limit of 200.
If you click on the parent deck, you will get a maximum of 100 cards.
If you click on the first child, you'll get a maximum of 20 cards.

If you click on the second child, you'll get a maximum of 200 cards.
This may sound similar to the way reviews are handled in the v2 scheduler. The difference is
that each child deck's limit is also enforced. When you click on the parent deck, you will not
get more than 20 cards from the first child. You do not need to see the cards in deck order
either - see the Sorting section below for more.
Another change is that the new count is now capped by the review count. If you have limits
of 200 reviews and 20 new cards, and 190 reviews are due, only 10 new cards will be
introduced.
Sorting
Additional deck options have been added to control the order new cards and reviews are
presented in. New cards can be mixed from multiple decks, and reviews can optionally be
ordered by interval or subdeck.
When burying is disabled, it is now possible to control whether siblings are shown together
or not.
The options controlling the mixing of new cards and interday learning cards have been
moved from the Preferences screen into the deck options. The options will be used from the
deck you select to study.
Burying
When burying is enabled, cards are now excluded from the queues at the start of a study
session. Previously if you had 10 forward and 10 reverse cards, the counts would start at 20
and jump down as you review, but now they'll start directly at 10. The actual burying still
happens as you review cards.
Because exclusion is done when you click on a deck, the counts you see on the deck list will
differ from the ones you see when you click on a deck. If you press the Unbury button at the
end of reviews, you'll get the other cards that were excluded at the start.
Fuzz
The small random delay added to reviews is now reflected on the answer buttons, instead
of only being applied when answering.
Interday learning
Learning cards that cross a day boundary are now included in the review count, instead of
the learning count. They will now be affected by the daily review limit, and can be
automatically buried like review cards.
Filtered decks
Filtered decks with rescheduling disabled now show 4 buttons - the provided delay applies
to the Again button, and Hard/Good will use 1.5x and 2x the provided delay. Easy will
remove the card.
Add-ons and custom scheduling

The new scheduler is a ground-up rewrite, so add-ons that modified the old scheduler's
card gathering or answering routines will no longer work. It is no longer possible to
selectively replace parts of the scheduler's code ("monkey patching"), so some add-ons may
not be practical to port without significant effort.
The new scheduler does provide some control over the scheduling however. As each card is
presented, the times and states associated with each answer button are calculated in
advance, and it is possible to modify the calculated scheduling with some JavaScript code
entered into the bottom of the deck options screen.
For example:
// print the existing states

console.log(JSON.stringify(states, null, 4));
// load the debugger if the web inspector is open

debugger;
// if the hard button is a learning step, make it

// a 123 minute delay
if (states.hard.normal?.learning) {
states.hard.normal.learning.scheduledSecs = 123 * 60;
}
// apply the same change in a rescheduling filtered deck

if (states.hard.filtered?.rescheduling?.originalState?.learning) {
states.hard.filtered.rescheduling.originalState.learning.scheduledSecs =
123 * 60;
}
// increase ease factor by 0.2 when Easy used on a review

if (states.good.normal?.review) {
states.easy.normal.review.easeFactor =
states.good.normal.review.easeFactor + 0.2;
}
Because this is implemented in JavaScript, it is not limited to the computer version.

AnkiMobile supports it as well, and AnkiWeb and AnkiDroid may support it in the future too.
This will allow advanced users to make adjustments to the standard scheduling behaviour,
that apply on all platforms.
The various scheduling states are described here.
Stability
The new scheduler passes most of the tests used to test the previous schedulers (the ones
where behaviour is the same), and appears to have been well received so far, but it's
possible there are corner-cases that have not been discovered yet. If you notice anything
unexpected, please let us know.
Trying it out
As of Anki 2.1.45alpha4 and AnkiMobile 2.0.75, the scheduler can be enabled and disabled
in the Preferences screen.
Third party Linux packages and source

builds are not supported
We have seen a lot of issues caused by the customized versions of Anki distributed by Linux
distributions:
Anki depends on third-party libraries like Qt, and Linux distributions often substitute
different versions of those libraries, without testing the impact of those changes.
Sometimes the version of Anki they distribute is years old, or is an alpha/beta version
not intended for stable release. Distributions will often disable the built-in update
check as well, to prevent you from being notified of newer versions.
Compiled builds of Anki are available on https://apps.ankiweb.net. Most of the necessary

libraries are included, and Anki has been tested to work with these library versions. If you're
experiencing issues with your distro's version, the first thing you should try is switching to
the latest packaged version we provide.
You are welcome to continue using your distro's version of Anki if you prefer, but if you run
into any issues, you will need to report them to your distribution's package maintainers.
Timezone handling changes

Anki 2.1.22+ and AnkiMobile 2.0.57+ contain an optional change to the way Anki calculates
the elapsed number of days. This change addresses some corner cases where timezone
changes (including daylight savings) could cause Anki to move back or forward a day, and
addresses cards being unburied / daily counts being reset for some users when syncing with
AnkiWeb.
For most users, the new calculation should produce the same number of elapsed days as
the old calculation. For some users, enabling this code may move Anki forward or back by
one day, but this will only happen once, and Anki should be more robust against timezone
changes afterwards.
Please make sure you are running the above-mentioned versions prior to enabling
the new code. If any of your Anki clients have not been updated yet, you won't be able to
sync them while this feature is enabled. AnkiDroid does not currently support these
changes.
To enable the new calculation, please make sure:
your devices are in sync

you're running Anki 2.1.22+
the 2.1 scheduler is enabled in the preferences screen
Then to enable the new timezone code, please check the 'new timezone' checkbox.
Please close the window and sync, then sync your other devices to complete the process.
If you notice any problems with the new handling, please let us know.
We do not make robots

We make a flashcard program called Anki. If you are having problems with a robot you
bought from a company called Anki, please go to https://support.anki.com/hc/en-
us/requests/new
When Anki doesn't start on Windows

(debugging steps)
Please try the following:
Ensure you're on the latest Anki 2.1 version.

Go into the Windows Update settings, and make sure all updates have been installed.
Restart your computer.
If problems continue after that, instead of running Anki directly, please use Start>Run and
type cmd.exe. When a console window appears, please type
cd \program files\anki & anki-console
Presumably Anki will fail to open like before. But it should give you some lines of debugging
info; please copy&paste or screenshot the text and attach it to your support ticket.
What spaced repetition algorithm does

Anki use?
Anki’s algorithm is based on the SuperMemo 2 algorithm. For info on SM-2, please see
http://www.supermemo.com/english/ol/sm2.htm
Anki’s algorithm differs from SM-2 in some respects. Notably:
SM-2 defines an initial interval of 1 day then 6 days. With Anki, you have full control
over the length of the initial learning steps. Anki understands that it can be necessary
to see a new card a number of times before you’re able to memorize it, and those
initial "failures" don’t mean you need to be punished by being shown the failed card
many times over the course of a few days. Performance during the learning stage does
not reflect performance in the retaining stage.
Anki uses 4 choices for answering review cards, not 6. There is only one fail choice, not
3. The reason for this is that failure comprises a small amount of total reviews, and
thus adjusting a card’s ease can be sufficiently done by simply varying the positive
answers.
Answering cards later than scheduled will be factored into the next interval calculation,
so you receive a boost to cards that you were late in answering but still remembered.
Like SM-2, Anki’s failure button resets the card interval by default. But the user can
choose to have the card’s interval reduced instead of being reset completely. Also, you
can elect to review failed mature cards on a different day, instead of the same day.
Remembered easily not only increments the ease factor, but adds an extra bonus to the
current interval calculation. Thus, answering remembered easily is a little more
aggressive than the standard SM-2 algorithm.
Successive failures while cards are in learning do not result in further decreases to the
card’s ease. A common complaint with the standard SM-2 algorithm is that repeated
failings of a card cause the card to get stuck in "low interval hell". In Anki, the initial
acquisition process does not influence a card’s ease.
You can also check out sched.py and schedv2.py in Anki’s source code for the scheduling
code. Here is a summary (see the deck options section of the manual for the options that
are mentioned in italics).
If you press…
Again
The card is placed into relearning mode, the ease is decreased by 20 percentage points (that
is, 20 is subtracted from the ease value, which is in units of percentage points), and the
current interval is multiplied by the value of new interval (this interval will be used when the
card exits relearning mode).
Hard
The card’s ease is decreased by 15 percentage points and the current interval is multiplied
by 1.2.
Good
The current interval is multiplied by the current ease. The ease is unchanged.
Easy
The current interval is multiplied by the current ease times the easy bonus and the ease is
increased by 15 percentage points.
For Hard, Good, and Easy, the next interval is additionally multiplied by the interval modifier.
If the card is being reviewed late, additional days will be added to the current interval, as
described in a previous FAQ.
There are a few limitations on the scheduling values that cards can take. Eases will never be
decreased below 130%; SuperMemo’s research has shown that eases below 130% tend to
result in cards becoming due more often than is useful and annoying users. Intervals will
never be increased beyond the value of maximum interval. Finally, all new intervals (except
Again) will always be at least one day longer than the previous interval.
After you select an ease button, Anki also applies a small amount of random “fuzz” to
prevent cards that were introduced at the same time and given the same ratings from
sticking together and always coming up for review on the same day. This fuzz does not
appear on the interval buttons, so if you’re noticing a slight discrepancy between what you
select and the intervals your cards actually get, this is probably the cause.
Why doesn’t Anki use SuperMemo’s latest algorithm?

The simple answer is that SuperMemo’s latest algorithm is proprietary, and requires
licensing. As Anki is an open source application, it can only make use of algorithms that have
been made freely available.
We’re inclined to believe SuperMemo when they say their newer algorithms are more
efficient, but feel that to a certain extent, it is a case of diminishing returns. The gains
achieved by moving from a traditional study routine to SM-2 are already great, and by
sticking with an open algorithm, your learning data is not locked into a single product.
Ultimately it’s up to you to decide - if access to the latest and greatest scheduler is a higher
priority than the things that Anki brings to the table, you may want to check out SuperMemo
to see if it is a good fit for you.
What about SM-5?

Anki’s scheduler was originally based on SM-5. Anki’s default of showing the next interval
above each ease button revealed problems with the implementation - harder cards could
end up with greater interval increases than easy ones, and the ease factors sometimes grew
to the point where a single review could result in a 20-30x increase in interval.
An attempt was made at the time to correct this by smoothing the optimal factors matrix -
applying a cap on the maximum factor and enforcing a minimum difference between
adjacent ease factors. This addressed the above problems, but resulted in an optimal
factors matrix that had very little room to move, and the conclusion drawn at the time was
that SM-5 was not an improvement over SM-2.
While SM-5 clearly wasn’t working for Anki, in hindsight, it may not have been fair to assume
the issues we encountered were due to fundamental problems with the algorithm.
SuperMemo have subsequently stated that the description of the SM-5 algorithm listed on
their website is incomplete, so it is possible the problems we encountered do not exist in
SuperMemo’s proprietary implementation.
Why does AnkiMobile cost more than a

typical mobile app?
AnkiMobile is not a standalone app - it is intended to be used in conjunction with the online
synchronization service and open source computer version that I've made available for free
for the last 10 years. Working on these three platforms is a full time job, and AnkiMobile is
my way of putting food on the table and supporting future development.
Because there are so many $1 apps out there, some people are surprised by the price. But
when you factor in the computer version, synchronization service, and free updates,
AnkiMobile's price is quite competitive. At the time of writing (2013-10-04), SuperMemo's
computer+iPhone version will set you back $60, and MentalCase's combo will cost you
$29.95.
Whether you find AnkiMobile's price to be a good deal will ultimately depend on your needs.
If you're an existing Anki user that has invested many hours studying on the computer,
AnkiMobile provides an easy way to do your studies anywhere while taking advantage of the
advanced scheduling and formatting features that Anki provides. On the other hand, if
you're looking for something inexpensive and simple and don't mind being restricted to
your Apple device, there are cheaper alternatives out there that you may want to consider.
One other thing to note is that once purchased, you can use AnkiMobile on up to 5 of your
iOS devices, provided they use the same Apple ID. AnkiMobile also supports family sharing,
for families that have that set up.
Some frequently asked questions:
"You'd make more money if you priced it cheaper."
I have experimented with different price points in the past, and reducing the price resulted
in a net decrease in income. Games like Angry Birds are able to make a profit because they
appeal to a wide audience. Spaced repetition flashcard apps are quite a niche market in
comparison. For this reason, neither a price change nor a sale is likely in the foreseeable
future.
"It's too expensive in my country."
I am not against the idea of providing different prices based on a country's average income,
but Apple does not make it possible to set different prices for different countries. Apple sets
the price in each country based on the local taxes and costs of doing business there.
Please also bear in mind that the price in the US is the price before state sales taxes are
applied, so the difference may not be as as much as you think.
"As a student, I think it's too expensive."
Please compare it to the price of the average textbook and then consider how many hours
of use you get out of each. If you don't use Anki enough to justify the price, then you're
welcome to use AnkiWeb instead or look into cheaper alternatives.
"Can I get a free copy for personal use, or for writing a review?"
Sorry, I do not offer promo codes, as preparing them takes time away from development.
"You should just rely on donations."
Unfortunately that would not be enough to live on. No matter how much people appreciate
a product or service, if they're given the option of not paying, most people will choose not
to.
"You should charge for AnkiWeb instead."
Apple's app store provides a safe and friction-free way of making purchases. Purchasing a
subscription from a website requires considerably more effort, and many people are wary
of making purchases online.
"Why is the Android version free?"
The Android version is developed by a different group of people, who based it off the
computer version I wrote. Because they have day jobs and can only work on it in their free
time, AnkiMobile is better supported: no questions or bug reports go unanswered, the app
is more polished, and most bugs get fixed quickly.
Windows permission problems

Permission Problems
If you receive "access denied" messages, some of Anki's files may be set to read only mode,
meaning Anki is not able to write to them.
To fix the problem, you can do the following:
in the search area of the start bar, type cmd.exe and hit enter
in the window that opens, type the following and hit enter to see your username:
whoami
type the following, hitting enter after each line, and replacing ____ (and keeping the :F
part) with your username from the previous command
cd %APPDATA%
icacls Anki2 /grant ____:F /t
That command should fix the permissions on Anki's data folder, and you should now be
able to start the program.
Antivirus/Firewall/Anti-Malware
Some users have experienced "permission denied" or "readonly" errors that were caused by
security software installed on their machine. You may need to add an exception for Anki, or
try temporarily disabling the software to rule it out as the cause. Some users have reported
that simply turning off their software did not fix the problem, and they either had to add an
exception for Anki or uninstall the software.
Debugging Permission Problems
If problems persist after you've ruled out Antivirus and related programs, have performed
the steps above to fix permissions, and don't use OneDrive, please run the following
commands in cmd.exe, pressing enter after each one.
whoami
cd %APPDATA%
icacls Anki2 /t
Then please copy & paste or screenshot what you see, and post it to us in a support ticket.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Frequently Asked Questions

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7/12/2021 Frequently Asked Questions

Asking good questions

Please start by trying to resolve the issue on your own:

Please avoid vague questions like:

"My Anki doesn't work, what should I do?"

Instead, please provide as much detail as you can. For example:

This is a much better question. It tells us:

What you have tried.

Knowing these things makes it much easier to answer your question.

Finally, please check out the community guidelines.

Anki Desktop (the computer version) and AnkiWeb

AnkiDroid (Android devices)

When problems occur

Please close Anki, then start it again.

2 Check add ons

3. Check your Anki version

4. Check your database

5. Restart your computer

Sometimes restarting your computer may help.

6. Change the Video Driver

7. If the problem remains

Anki 2.0 support has ended

For information on the changes in Anki 2.1, please see

You can download Anki 2.1 from https://apps.ankiweb.net

Anki's not showing me all my cards!

Anki decides which cards you see

answer a card correctly.

Card counts dropping down by more than one

Media files may take time to sync

A deck I want has disappeared from

A shared deck is not showing

A shortcut key is not working

Anki 2.0 add-ons

If it's a .py file, place it in your add-on folder.

Your add-on folder is inside your data folder:

Download the add-on archive from

Your add-on folder is inside your data folder:

Anki failing to start on some Windows 7/8

Anki must be able to connect to a local

More info: https://superuser.com/a/261434

Anki not picking up GTK theme on

theme=$(gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme)

Anki says my clock is wrong

the time (including AM/PM)

it's 10AM where you are

"Why doesn't Anki let me ignore the error?"

the clock is automatically reset to the correct time in an OS upgrade

you decide to start studying on multiple devices

AnkiApp is not part of the Anki ecosystem

Importing from AnkiApp

1. Export from AnkiApp, which gives you a .zip file

Then do another Find&Replace, replacing

AnkiDroid has a separate support site

AnkiUniversal is not supported here

AnkiWeb account removal

What gets deleted

Returning to AnkiWeb after your data has expired

Avoiding account deletion

Backing up your collection

Are there limits on file sizes on AnkiWeb?

Can I link cards together?

Can I reveal parts of a card one at a time?

and ask what word logically fits, and so on.

Can I sync only some of my decks?