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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-binAUR if you prefer an installable binary. For the development version, install the anki-gitAUR package. For the Qt5 version, install the anki-qt5AUR.

By default, cards are synchronized using Anki's web server, but you can use your own anki-sync-server-gitAUR. Additionally, Anki 2.1.57+ includes a built-in sync server.

## 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.

## 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 Anki, so only use addons you trust. To install an addon, copy the code from the addon page, go to Tools > Add-ons > Get Add-ons... and paste the code. To manually install an addon file (with a `.ankiaddon` extension) from sources like github, go to Tools > Add-ons > Install from file.... Some popular addons include Image Occlusion Enhanced and Review Heatmap.

## Tips and tricks

### 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.

Additionally, Anki 2.1.57+ includes a built-in sync server.

While unofficially supported, it is also possible to use Syncthing.

### 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

It may also be necessary to install the qt6-wayland package.

Related bug report: Github issue #1767

### Images falsely showing up in unused media

Anki has a feature to check for unused media and delete them to free up space. When copying images from webpages and pasting them into the card editor, the image is often pasted along with an `alt` attribute inside the `<img>` tag. If this or any other attribute which is placed before the `src` attribute contains a `>` character, this image will show up in unused media and might get accidentally deleted even if it is still being used.

For example, this image will show up in unused media:

    <img alt="bad>text" src="image.jpg">

To prevent this, remove any `>` characters or place the `alt` attribute after the `src` attribute:

    <img src="image.jpg alt="bad>text">

See the bug report and forum post.

Tip: Press `Ctrl+Shift+x` to open the HTML editor inside the card editor.

## 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