Anki - ArchWiki

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Anki is a spaced repetition system (SRS), a program which allows you to create, manage and review flashcards. Anki is very flexible and also allows the creation of templates. Apps for Android and iOS as well as a web interface can be used to interact with the user's flashcard database. Anki supports addons, written in python.

## Installation

Install the ankiAUR package, or anki-official-binary-bundleAUR if you prefer an installable binary. For the development version, install the anki-gitAUR package.

By default, cards are synchronized using anki's web server, but you can use your own anki-sync-server-gitAUR.

## Flashcards

Flashcards can be obtained by:

- Creating them inside Anki, organized in decks and possibly tagged. Cards can contain audio, pictures and even TeX formulas;
- Downloading them, grouped in an existing shared deck (e.g. top 1000 words in a language);
- Generating them as a .csv file that will be imported in Anki.

## Tips and tricks

### Addons

Anki makes many addons available, which can perform a variety of functions, expanding and personalizing your use of Anki. These are third-party and are not checked or vetted by Arch Linux or Anki, so only use addons you trust.

### Kanji stroke support

Install the ttf-kanjistrokeordersAUR package if you want to display kanji stroke orders in Anki. You have to select this font inside Anki in your deck properties after installation.

### Asian language support

Install the mecab-ipadicAUR package and the kakasi package.

Launch Anki, and inside Anki use File > Download > Shared Plugin to download and install the "Japanese Support" plugin, restart.

After creating a new deck, you need to select "Japanese" as the deck model in "deck properties" to have Japanese support. Make sure that the Japanese Support plugin is installed, otherwise you cannot select "Japanese" as the model.

### Self-hosted sync server

AnkiWeb is a proprietary service. If you prefer a self-hosted free (as in freedom) alternative, you can use anki-sync-server. One tutorial how to set it up is available here.

### Dark theme

Anki UI may be unreadable with dark GTK theme. You may want to enable night mode to fix that (Tools > Preferences... > Night mode).

If you have an older version you may need to install an addon (e.g. 1496166067 and View > Night mode > Enable night mode).

## Troubleshooting

### Unable to launch

The display driver can be adjusted by writing either `auto` or `software` to `~/.local/share/Anki2/gldriver`. If Anki core dumps at launch with error qt: No suitable graphics backend found then setting it to `auto` may resolve:

    $ echo auto > ~/.local/share/Anki2/gldriver

When using the Nouveau driver, only `software` is supported and it is known to be buggy (see [1]).

### Wayland

Wayland support is available in Anki since v2.1.48. However it is not stable yet and disabled by default. If you want to use it in Wayland anyway, then set some environment variables.

    QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland
    ANKI_WAYLAND=1

Related bug report: Github issue #1767

## See also

### Official

- Anki manual
- FAQs
- Forums
- Old forums archive
- Knowledge base

### Other

- Guide for creating good cards
- Mnemosyne - Another open-source flashcard program using spaced repetition.
- org-drill - A spaced repetition extension for Emacs org-mode.

Category:

- Applications