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<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd">
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<title>Anki User Manual</title>
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<firstname>Damien</firstname>
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<surname>Elmes</surname>
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<email>anki@ichi2.net</email>
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<authorinitials>DE</authorinitials>
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<chapter id="_introduction">
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<title>Introduction</title>
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<simpara>Anki is a program which makes remembering things easy. Because it is a lot
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more efficient than traditional study methods, you can either greatly decrease your
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time spent studying, or greatly increase the amount you learn.</simpara>
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<simpara>Anyone who needs to remember things in their daily life can benefit from Anki.
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Since it is content-agnostic and supports images, audio, videos and scientific
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markup (via LaTeX), the possibilities are endless. For example:</simpara>
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studying for medical and law exams
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memorizing people’s names and faces
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brushing up on geography
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even practicing guitar chords!
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<simpara>There are two simple concepts behind Anki: <emphasis>active recall testing</emphasis> and <emphasis>spaced
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repetition</emphasis>. They are not known to most learners, despite having been written
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about in the scientific literature for many years. Understanding how they work
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will make you a more effective learner.</simpara>
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<section id="active-recall">
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<title>Active recall testing</title>
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<simpara><emphasis>Active recall testing</emphasis> means being asked a question and trying to remember
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the answer. This is in contrast to <emphasis>passive study</emphasis>, where we read, watch or
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listen to something without any output. Research has shown that active recall
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testing is far more effective at building strong memories than passive study.
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There are two reasons for this:</simpara>
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The act of recalling something <emphasis>consolidates</emphasis> the memory, increasing the
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chances we’ll be able to remember it again
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When we’re unable to answer a question, it tells us we need to return to
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the material to review or relearn it
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<simpara>You have probably encountered active recall testing in your school years
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without even realizing it. When good teachers give you a series of questions
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to answer after reading an article, or make you take weekly progress-check
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tests, they are not doing it simply to see if you understood the material or
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not. By testing you, they are increasing the chances you will be able to
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remember the material in the future.</simpara>
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<simpara>You don’t need to leave it up to teachers, however. Consider a language
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learner who wants to memorize a list of 20 Indonesian numbers, like:</simpara>
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<literallayout>1 = satu
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3 = tiga</literallayout>
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<simpara>Many students will look at each line in turn, concentrating on
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it for a few seconds before moving on. This is passive learning, and so the
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results will not be great. However, if you simply cover the right-hand side
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and check if you recall each word, you’ll find your initial memories are
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<simpara>Active recall testing can make for stronger initial memories, but it’s only
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part of the solution to learning efficiently.</simpara>
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<section id="_the_importance_of_review">
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<title>The importance of review</title>
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<simpara>Even with active recall testing, if you wait too long before testing again,
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you’ll find you’ve forgotten most of the material you tried to learn. This can
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be very demotivating, as it can feel like no progress is being made towards
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your goals. In order to avoid this disappointment, it’s essential to review
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previously learnt material.</simpara>
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<simpara>Despite the importance of review, it is often overlooked by learners. Part of
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the reason for this is that reviewing was traditionally difficult. If you have
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a page with 50 new words on it and you learn them in one day, some words will
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fall from your memory the next day, others a few days after that, and others
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may last a few weeks or more. It is difficult to return to the page and review
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only the words you’re about to forget.</simpara>
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<simpara>Traditional paper flashcards make it easier to acquire material than a single
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page with a list of words, since you can separate the cards into "known" and
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"not-known" piles. They don’t make it very easy to review the material in the
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following weeks, however.</simpara>
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<section id="spaced-repetition">
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<title>Spaced repetition</title>
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<simpara>The <emphasis>spacing effect</emphasis> was reported by a German psychologist in 1885. He
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observed that we tend to remember things more effectively if we spread reviews
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out over time, instead of studying multiple times in one session. Since the
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1930s there have been a number of proposals for utilizing the spacing effect
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to improve learning, in what has come to be called <emphasis>spaced repetition</emphasis>.</simpara>
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<simpara>One example is in 1972, when a German scientist called Sebastian Leitner
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popularized a method of spaced repetition with paper flashcards. By separating
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the paper cards up into a series of boxes, and moving the cards to a different
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box on each successful or unsuccessful review, it was possible to see at a
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glance a rough estimate of how well a card was known and when it should be
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reviewed again. This was a great improvement over a single box of cards, and
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it has been widely adopted by computerized flashcard software. It is a rather
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rough approach however, as it can’t give you an exact date on which you should
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review something again, and it doesn’t cope very well with material of varying
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difficulty.</simpara>
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<simpara>The biggest developments in the last 30 years have come from the authors of
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SuperMemo, a commercial flashcard program that implements spaced repetition.
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SuperMemo pioneered the concept of a system that keeps track of the ideal time
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to review material and optimizes itself based on the performance of
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<simpara>In SuperMemo’s spaced repetition system, every time you answer a question, you
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tell the program how well you were able to remember it - whether you forgot
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completely, made a small mistake, remembered with trouble, remembered easily,
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etc. The program uses this feedback to decide the optimal time to show you the
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question again. Since a memory gets stronger each time you successfully recall
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it, the time between reviews gets bigger and bigger - so you may see a
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question for the first time, then 3 days later, 15 days later, 45 days later,
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<simpara>This was a revolution in learning, as it meant material could be learnt and
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retained with the absolute minimum amount of effort necessary. SuperMemo’s
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slogan sums it up: with spaced repetition, you can <emphasis>forget about forgetting</emphasis>.</simpara>
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<section id="_why_anki">
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<title>Why Anki?</title>
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<simpara>While there is no denying the huge impact SuperMemo has had on the field, it
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is not without its problems. The program is often criticized for being buggy
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and difficult to navigate. It only runs on Windows computers. It’s proprietary
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software, meaning end-users can’t extend it or access the raw data. And while
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very old versions are made available for free, they are quite limited for
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modern use.</simpara>
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<simpara>Anki addresses these issues. You are not forced to pay for it, so struggling
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students and teachers with budgetary constraints are not left out. It’s open
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source, with an already flourishing library of plugins contributed by
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end-users. It’s multi-platform, running on Windows, Mac OSX, Linux/FreeBSD, and
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some mobile devices. And it’s considerably easier to use than SuperMemo.</simpara>
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<simpara>Internally, Anki’s spaced repetition system is based on an older version of
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the SuperMemo algorithm called SM2. Subsequent versions have managed to
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squeeze out a little more learning efficiency, but they come at the cost of
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greatly increased complexity, and they are more susceptible to scheduling
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errors in real-world use. For a more in-depth discussion of this and the
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differences in scheduling algorithms, see the bottom of <ulink url="http://ichi2.net/anki/wiki/FrequentlyAskedQuestions">Frequently Asked Questions</ulink>.</simpara>
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<chapter id="_getting_started">
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<title>Getting started</title>
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<section id="_installing_amp_upgrading">
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<title>Installing & upgrading</title>
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<simpara>Installation instructions are available on the front page of the <ulink url="http://ichi2.net/anki/">Anki website</ulink>.</simpara>
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<section id="_introductory_videos">
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<title>Introductory videos</title>
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<simpara>A lot of the basic usage is covered in tutorial videos, available on the
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<ulink url="http://ichi2.net/anki/">Anki website</ulink>.</simpara>
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<section id="_adding_material">
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<title>Adding material</title>
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<simpara>Anki uses <emphasis>cards</emphasis> to help you with <link linkend="active-recall">active recall testing</link> and
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<link linkend="spaced-repetition">spaced repetition</link>. Each card is a virtual flashcard with
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a question and answer. These cards are stored together in a file called a
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<emphasis>deck</emphasis>. You can have one big deck or keep separate decks for separate
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<simpara>Most of your time in Anki will be spent reviewing these cards, but to get
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started we first need to add some. You can add cards by typing them in
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yourself, copying & pasting them from some online resource, importing them
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from a text file, or you can use a deck someone else has shared.</simpara>
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<title>Self-made versus pre-made</title>
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<simpara>Creating your own deck is the most effective way to learn a complex subject.
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Subjects like languages and the sciences can’t be understood simply by
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memorizing facts - they require explanation and context to learn effectively.
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Furthermore, inputting the information yourself forces you to decide what the
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key points are, and leads to a better understanding.</simpara>
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<simpara>If you are a language learner you may be tempted to download a long list of
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words and their translations, but this won’t teach you a language any more
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than memorizing scientific equations will teach you astrophysics. To learn
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properly, you need textbooks, teachers, or exposure to real-world sentences.</simpara>
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<literallayout class="monospaced">Do not learn if you do not understand.
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-- SuperMemo</literallayout>
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<simpara>Most shared decks are created by people who are learning material outside of
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Anki - from textbooks, classes, TV, etc. They select the interesting points
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from what they learn and put them into Anki. They make no effort to add
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background information or explanations to the cards, because they already
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understand the material. But when someone else downloads their deck and tries
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to use it, they’ll find it very difficult as the background information and
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explanations are missing.</simpara>
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<simpara>That is not to say shared decks are useless - simply that for complex
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subjects, they should be used as a <emphasis>supplement</emphasis> to external material, not as a
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<emphasis>replacement</emphasis>. If you’re studying textbook ABC and someone has shared a deck
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of ideas from ABC, that’s a great way to save some time. And for simple
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subjects that are basically a list of facts, such as capital city names or pub
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quiz trivia, you probably don’t need external material. But if you attempt to
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study complex subjects without external material, you will probably meet with
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disappointing results.</simpara>
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<section id="_creating_or_getting_a_deck">
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<title>Creating or getting a deck</title>
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<simpara><emphasis role="strong">To create your own deck</emphasis>:</simpara>
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<orderedlist numeration="arabic">
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Choose File→New, or click the Create button.
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<simpara><emphasis role="strong">To open a shared deck</emphasis>:</simpara>
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<orderedlist numeration="arabic">
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Choose File→Download→Shared Deck, or click the Download button.
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Type in a string to search for, or scroll through the list.
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Select a deck you’re interested in, and click OK. The deck will be
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downloaded and will open up.
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<tip><simpara>You are not limited to one deck. You can see a list of your decks by
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clicking on <inlinemediaobject>
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<imagedata fileref="images/view_text.png"/>
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<textobject><phrase>images/view_text.png</phrase></textobject>
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</inlinemediaobject></simpara></tip>
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<section id="_making_questions">
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<title>Making questions</title>
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<simpara>If you have downloaded a shared deck, this step is optional.</simpara>
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<simpara><emphasis role="strong">To add a new card to your deck</emphasis>:</simpara>
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<orderedlist numeration="arabic">
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Click <inlinemediaobject>
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<imagedata fileref="images/list-add.png"/>
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<textobject><phrase>images/list-add.png</phrase></textobject>
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</inlinemediaobject> on the toolbar.
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Enter the question on the <emphasis>Front</emphasis> area and the answer on the <emphasis>Back</emphasis>.
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Click <emphasis>Add</emphasis>, or press Ctrl+Enter (Command+Enter on a Mac).
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<simpara>You’ll see a screen like the following:</simpara>
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<simpara><inlinemediaobject>
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<imagedata fileref="images/addcards.png"/>
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<textobject><phrase>images/addcards.png</phrase></textobject>
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</inlinemediaobject></simpara>
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<simpara>Front is a required field, so it is marked yellow until you input something.
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The back can be left blank, so it is not drawn in yellow.</simpara>
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<section id="_for_general_knowledge">
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<title>For general knowledge</title>
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<simpara>Turning a given idea into a question and answer pair is simple. Imagine you’ve
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just heard the following sentence:</simpara>
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<literallayout class="monospaced">Canberra was founded in 1913.</literallayout>
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<simpara>The easiest way to test this is to make a <emphasis>cloze deletion</emphasis>.</simpara>
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<orderedlist numeration="arabic">
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Type or copy the above sentence into the <emphasis>Front</emphasis>.
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Highlight <emphasis>1913</emphasis>.
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Click the […] button, or press F9.
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<simpara>You’ll end up with:</simpara>
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<simpara><inlinemediaobject>
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<imagedata fileref="images/cloze2.png"/>
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<textobject><phrase>images/cloze2.png</phrase></textobject>
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</inlinemediaobject></simpara>
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<simpara>You can then click the add button to add the newly created card to your deck.</simpara>
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<section id="_for_languages">
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<title>For languages</title>
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<simpara>There are two approaches to studying languages: you can aim for <emphasis>recall</emphasis> or
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<emphasis>recognition</emphasis>.</simpara>
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<simpara><emphasis>Recognition</emphasis> cards are cards which show you some written or audio extract of a foreign
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language, and check if you can understand it. For example, if you’re learning
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German, you might be shown a German word or sentence and asked to recall the
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general meaning. Recognition cards are comparitively easy to do, allowing you
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to cover more material in a shorter time. Their downside is that while you may
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be able to recognize many words, they may not enter your active vocabulary.</simpara>
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<simpara><emphasis>Recall</emphasis> (or <emphasis>production</emphasis>) cards are cards which require you to produce an
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answer in the language you are studying. The question is either a word or
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expression in your native tongue, or a description. The answer will depend on
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what you’re trying to study - how to pronounce the foreign words, how to spell
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them, how to write them. Recall cards are more difficult than recognition
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cards and thus take longer to do. They are best suited to essential vocabulary
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and expressions, where issues of synonyms arise less frequently.</simpara>
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<section id="_advanced_input">
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<title>Advanced input</title>
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<simpara>If you want to input audio, pictures, movies or scientific markup, please see
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the dedicated section below about adding content.</simpara>
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<section id="_reviewing">
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<title>Reviewing</title>
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<simpara>When you have found a deck you like or entered some cards in, it’s time to
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start reviewing. If the <emphasis>Add Items</emphasis> screen is still open, close it by clicking
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on close or pressing Esc. You should see a screen entitled <emphasis>Study Options</emphasis>:</simpara>
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<simpara><inlinemediaobject>
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<imagedata fileref="images/studyoptions-basic.png"/>
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<textobject><phrase>images/studyoptions-basic.png</phrase></textobject>
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</inlinemediaobject></simpara>
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<simpara>In the above example, it says there are 6 new cards today, and 6 new cards
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total. If you’ve downloaded a shared deck, there will probably be more than 20
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new cards, but Anki will only show you 20 per day by default. You can adjust
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this number by changing <emphasis>new cards per day</emphasis>, but be wary of setting it too
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high or you’ll have many reviews to do over the next few days.</simpara>
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<simpara>When you’re ready, click <emphasis>Start Reviewing</emphasis>. You’ll then see a screen like
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<simpara><inlinemediaobject>
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<imagedata fileref="images/review1.png"/>
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<textobject><phrase>images/review1.png</phrase></textobject>
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</inlinemediaobject></simpara>
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<simpara>Here you need to look at the question and think about the answer. It can help
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to say the answer out loud, but that is not necessary. It’s ok if it takes you
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a little while to recall the answer, but as a general rule if you can’t answer
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within 10 seconds, you should just show the answer.</simpara>
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<simpara>When you’re ready, click <emphasis>Show Answer</emphasis> or press the spacebar. You’ll see
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something like the following:</simpara>
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<simpara><inlinemediaobject>
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<imagedata fileref="images/review2.png"/>
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<textobject><phrase>images/review2.png</phrase></textobject>
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</inlinemediaobject></simpara>
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<simpara>Now you need to decide how well you remembered. Anki gives you four options.
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The labels on the buttons will change depending on whether you got the card
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right last time, but the behaviour is the same.</simpara>
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The card will be shown again shortly - within 10 minutes with the
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default settings. If you don’t know the answer to the question, or have
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forgotten it, choose this button.
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Wait a little bit longer before showing the card next time,
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and tell Anki to be more conservative in the future. Best used when you are
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able to answer correctly but not with speed/confidence.
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Wait a fair bit longer before showing the card next time, and
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tell Anki the last interval was about right.
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Wait a lot longer before showing the card next time, and
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tell Anki to be less conservative in the future.
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<simpara>Each time you answer a card correctly, the time before it is shown again will
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grow longer. Imagine a user has added two cards to their deck - one difficult
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one, and an easy one. The difficult one is displayed first, and the user
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presses 1. The easy card is shown next and the user already knows the answer,
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so they choose 3. The easy card will be shown again in 3-5 days. Next the
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difficult card is shown again, and this time the user remembers the answer, so
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they choose 2, in order to be able to see the card again the next day.</simpara>
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<simpara>The next day the difficult card appears again, and the user still finds it a
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little difficult, so they choose 2 again. It will then be shown again in about
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<simpara>After 3 days have passed, the easy card appears again. The user still finds it
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pretty easy, so they choose 3 again. The card will next be shown about 10 days
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in the future.</simpara>
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<chapter id="_adding_material_via_anki">
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<title>Adding material via anki</title>
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all buttons / shortcuts
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adding text to every card
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<tip><simpara>You can also add <emphasis>tags</emphasis> (also called <emphasis>labels</emphasis>), to make organizing
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information easier. Tags are a list of space-separated words. For example, you
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might have the three tags "Level4 BookB ToCheckLater".</simpara></tip>
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<chapter id="_fonts_and_colours">
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<title>Fonts and colours?</title>
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<chapter id="_reviewing_main_window">
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<title>Reviewing / main window</title>
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what you see on the main screen
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what buttons to press (see next section)
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<chapter id="_study_options">
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<title>Study options</title>
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<chapter id="_browsing_your_deck">
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<title>Browsing your deck</title>
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<chapter id="_importing_amp_exporting_data">
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<title>Importing & Exporting data</title>
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<section id="_importing">
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<title>Importing</title>
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<simpara>text files, mnemosyne, etc</simpara>
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<section id="_exporting">
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<title>Exporting</title>
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<simpara>…</simpara>
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<section id="_printing">
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<title>Printing</title>
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<simpara>…</simpara>
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<chapter id="_card_props">
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<title>Card props</title>
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<chapter id="_deck_props">
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<title>Deck props</title>
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<chapter id="_preferences">
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<title>Preferences</title>
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<chapter id="_cramming">
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<title>Cramming</title>
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<chapter id="_graphs">
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<title>Graphs</title>
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<chapter id="_statistics">
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<title>Statistics</title>
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<chapter id="_plugins">
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<title>Plugins</title>
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japanese/chinese/german etc
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<chapter id="_sharing_decks_plugins">
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<title>Sharing decks/plugins</title>
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<chapter id="_priorities">
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<title>Priorities</title>
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<chapter id="_inactive_tags">
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<title>Inactive tags</title>
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<chapter id="_synchronization">
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<title>Synchronization</title>
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<chapter id="_leeches">
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<title>Leeches</title>
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<chapter id="_media_support">
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<title>Media support</title>
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<chapter id="_progress_bars">
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<title>Progress bars</title>
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<chapter id="_running_from_a_usb_driver">
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<title>Running from a usb driver</title>
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