简体中文
English
Website review
This review may include AI-generated content and is not individually verified. Domain, certificate and other facts come from the observed data on this page.
What is Anki?
Anki is a flashcard program built around spaced repetition: instead of reviewing everything every day, you review each card just before you're likely to forget it, so most of your study time goes to material you don't know well yet. The official manual at Anki Manual covers the desktop version; Android and iPhone/iPad users have separate manuals.
What that looks like in practice
- Cards and decks. You create notes (a question/answer pair, a vocabulary word, a diagram label) and Anki schedules them into decks.
- Daily reviews. Each day you get a queue of due cards. You rate how well you recalled each one, and that rating sets when it comes back.
- Long-term retention. The interval between reviews grows as you keep answering correctly, so a card can move from daily to weekly to monthly.
Who it suits
Anki rewards people with a steady, long-term goal: medical and language students, exam candidates, or anyone memorising large volumes of facts over months. It suits self-directed learners who are willing to build or find their own cards. It's a poor fit if you want a ready-made course, a single cramming session, or a tool that decides the content for you — Anki schedules your material, it doesn't teach it.
Desktop and mobile
The manual you're reading covers the computer version, which is where most people author cards, import shared decks and manage settings. Mobile clients are covered separately, and their manuals are linked from the same page. If you plan to review on your phone, check the mobile manual for that platform rather than assuming the desktop instructions match.
A useful next step
If you're deciding whether to commit, start with the manual's Quickstart and Getting Started pages, then make one small deck from something you're already studying. If the daily review habit sticks for two weeks, expand; if it feels like a chore, Anki is probably the wrong tool for your goal.
A practical decision rule: choose Anki when the bottleneck is remembering material you already understand, and choose a course, textbook or tutor when the bottleneck is understanding it in the first place.
How do I get started with Anki?
Start by installing Anki on the device you will actually study from, then work through the manual's Getting Started section before you build anything elaborate. The official manual at Anki Manual is written for the desktop version, and it points to separate manuals for the Android app (AnkiDroid) and the iPhone/iPad app (AnkiMobile). That split matters: the core ideas are the same, but menus and buttons differ by platform.
A practical first route
- Install and open the desktop version. The manual's Quickstart exists precisely for people in a hurry, so use it rather than reading cover to cover.
- Create one small deck on a subject you are genuinely studying now — vocabulary, medical terms, exam facts. A real subject exposes problems that a demo deck hides.
- Add a handful of cards by hand. Typing your own cards teaches you what makes a question answerable in a few seconds.
- Review daily for a week. The scheduling behaviour only becomes visible over several days, so judge the tool after a realistic run, not after one session.
- Use Getting Help when something confuses you, and check the manual's translations if English is not your first language. The manual notes that volunteer translations may lag behind the current version, so cross-check anything critical against the English pages.
Who this suits, and the trade-off
Anki rewards people who will invest a little time in card design and keep showing up. If you want a ready-made course with no setup, this is the wrong shape of tool. If you are willing to write your own questions and review most days, the manual is a sufficient starting point on its own.
A concrete example: a student learning anatomy might spend one evening reading Getting Started, create a 20-card deck from the week's lecture, and add cards after each class rather than mass-producing hundreds at once. That habit keeps the workload small and makes the scheduling useful instead of overwhelming.
For a second opinion on spaced-repetition study habits, SuperMemo publishes background material on the method, though it is a different product with its own approach.
How do I use Anki on my phone or tablet?
Anki on a phone or tablet is a separate app from the desktop program, so you install a mobile client rather than opening the desktop manual. The desktop manual at Anki Manual points to dedicated manuals for the two main mobile clients: AnkiDroid for Android and AnkiMobile for iPhone/iPad. The core idea is the same as desktop Anki — you review cards, and the app schedules them using spaced repetition — but the interface and some settings differ by platform.
Pick the client for your device
- Android: AnkiDroid is the usual choice.
- iPhone/iPad: AnkiMobile is the iOS client.
- Desktop + phone: Many people create and edit decks on a computer, then sync so the phone is mainly for reviewing.
A practical setup path
- Install the mobile client for your device.
- If you already use Anki on a computer, set up syncing so your decks and review history stay consistent across devices.
- Start with one small deck and review it daily; add more cards only once the habit sticks.
- Use the mobile client's manual for platform-specific gestures, buttons and settings, since those are not covered by the desktop manual.
If you are deciding between phone-only and phone-plus-desktop, think about where you will actually do the work: a phone is convenient for short review sessions during commutes or breaks, while a computer is generally easier for creating and organizing large numbers of cards. For most people, the combination — create on desktop, review anywhere — is the least frustrating.
What keyboard shortcuts does Anki support?
Anki's manual lists keyboard shortcuts as a dedicated section, but the page itself only names that section rather than spelling out the individual key combinations. The practical answer is that shortcut support is version- and platform-specific: the desktop manual covers the computer version, while Android and iPhone/iPad users get separate documentation for their clients. So the exact keys you can rely on depend on whether you are on desktop, AnkiDroid, or AnkiMobile, and on which Anki release you have installed.
Where to look for the actual key list
- The manual's Keyboard shortcuts section is the intended reference for the desktop version.
- Mobile Clients links to separate manuals: AnkiDroid for Android, AnkiMobile for iPhone/iPad. Shortcuts there follow the device's own conventions, and many actions are touch- or gesture-based instead of key-based.
- If you are not on the latest release, the manual points to archived versions, so an older shortcut list may differ from your installed build.
A realistic scenario
Suppose you review cards on a laptop and want to move faster without reaching for the mouse. You would open the desktop manual, find the Keyboard shortcuts section, and learn the keys for showing the answer, grading a card, and undoing your last answer. If you then switch to reviewing on a phone, do not expect the same keys to apply; check the mobile manual instead.
Next step
Open the Keyboard shortcuts section of the manual for your exact version and platform, then practise the three or four keys you use most during a review session. If a key does not behave as described, confirm your Anki version first, since shortcut behaviour can change between releases.
For the desktop reference, start at Anki Manual.
Where can I find help if I have a problem with Anki?
The official starting point is the Anki Manual's Getting Help section, linked from the manual's introduction page at Anki Manual. That page is written for the desktop version of Anki, and it points to separate manuals for the mobile apps, so the right help page depends on which client you use.
Which help route fits your situation
- Desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux): use the manual at Anki Manual. Its introduction links directly to Getting Started if you are new, and to Getting Help if something is broken.
- Android: AnkiDroid has its own manual, separate from the desktop one.
- iPhone/iPad: AnkiMobile also has its own manual.
- Language barrier: the manual has volunteer translations, including German, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Ukrainian, Arabic, Persian, Japanese and Simplified Chinese. These may lag behind the English version, so check the English page if a translated step does not match what you see.
- Old Anki version: archived copies of the manual are kept at the Internet Archive, and there is a separate FAQ for old scheduler versions.
A practical example
Suppose your cards stop appearing in the order you expect. Before posting anywhere, open the manual and check whether your deck options or scheduler version explain it — older scheduler behaviour is documented separately from the current one. If the manual does not cover it, the Getting Help page is the intended next step for finding the community support channels.
How to choose
Use the manual first for "how does this work" questions, because it is the authoritative reference and is version-specific. Use community help for bugs, sync problems and account issues, where another user's experience is more useful than documentation. If you use a mobile client, go to that client's manual before the desktop one — the menus and settings differ.
How can I read the Anki manual in another language?
The computer-version manual is translated by volunteers, and the manual page itself lists the available languages. From the manual's Introduction page you can jump directly to a translation, though the page notes that translations may not always be up to date with the English original.
What the manual offers
- Bahasa Indonesia, Deutsch, Español, Français, Italiano, Oʻzbekcha, Polski, Português Brasileiro, русский язык, Українська, العربية, فارسى, 日本語, 简体中文.
- Separate manuals exist for the mobile clients: AnkiDroid (Android) and AnkiMobile (iPhone/iPad).
- If you want to help translate the manual, the page points to the translation docs.
How to get there
- Open the Anki manual at Anki Manual.
- On the Introduction page, look for the "Translations" section and choose your language.
- If your language isn't listed, use the English manual and, if you're comfortable in both languages, consider contributing a translation.
A practical caveat
Translations can lag behind the English version, so for a recently added feature or a changed setting, the English page is the safer reference. A useful habit: read the translated page for orientation, then check the English page for exact menu names or steps before following them. If you're on an older Anki release, the manual also links to archived versions via the Internet Archive, which can match what you actually see on screen.
Cloudflare
Fastly
Google Workspace
User reviews (0)