How to Import Your Anki Decks into Ankra (Bring Your Cards With You)

You spent months, maybe years, building your Anki decks. So the idea of switching to a new app usually comes with a catch: you have to leave all that work behind. Not here. You can import your Anki decks straight into Ankra and pick up right where you left off.

Whether you are looking for an Anki alternative with a better mobile experience, AI card generation, and quizzes, or you just want your cards somewhere cleaner to study, importing takes a couple of minutes. Here is how it works and what to expect.

How to import an Anki deck into Ankra

Bringing a deck over is a simple upload.

1. Export your deck from Anki as a .apkg file. In Anki, choose your deck, select Export, and pick the Anki Deck Package (.apkg) format. This is the standard Anki export, so nothing unusual to set up.
2. Upload the file to Ankra. Open the import screen, then drag and drop your .apkg file or browse for it. Files up to 200 MB are supported, which covers even large decks with media.
3. Review what is coming in. Before anything is added, Ankra shows you how many cards are ready to import and flags any card types it cannot bring over yet. No surprises.
4. Confirm, and you are done. Ankra sorts your cards into a deck and they go straight into spaced repetition. Images may take a few extra seconds to finish loading, and then you are ready to study.

That is the whole process. Export, upload, confirm.

What comes across

The cards most people rely on import cleanly.

• Basic cards come over with their fronts and backs intact.
• Cloze deletion cards keep their blanks and stay as cloze cards in Ankra, which has its own cloze editor so you can keep editing them.
• Images and audio attached to your cards come along too, so diagram cards and language audio do not get stripped out.

Once imported, your cards work like any other deck in Ankra. They run on the same proven spaced repetition algorithm, and you can edit them, expand them with AI, or continue to manually update the deck.

What is not supported yet

We want to be straight with you about the limits, because nobody likes finding out after the fact.

Right now, Ankra imports Basic and Cloze cards. A few Anki card types are skipped for now:

• Image Occlusion cards are not yet supported.
• Custom or heavily modified note types, like the complex setups some shared decks use with many extra fields, may be skipped.

The good news is you are never left guessing. When you import, Ankra tells you exactly which note types were skipped and how many cards that affected, so you know precisely what made it in. Support for more card types is something we are actively working on, so this list is getting shorter over time.

For most personal decks, which are built from Basic and Cloze cards, everything you care about comes across.

Why people move from Anki to Ankra

Anki is powerful, and its spaced repetition is the gold standard. Ankra keeps that same science-backed approach and adds the things Anki makes hard.

• A mobile and web experience that just works. Study on your phone or your laptop, synced automatically, with no add-ons to install or configure.
• AI card generation. Snap a photo of your notes, paste text, or upload a PDF, and let AI draft flashcards and quizzes for you. Import your old Anki deck and build the rest in minutes.
• Multiple choice quizzes. Practice in the same format as most real exams, with explanations for every answer. Read more about Quiz Mode.
• Study together. Build and fact-check decks as a group with Study Circles, so your whole study group can share one trusted set of cards.
• LaTeX and clean formatting. Math and science notation render properly, without wrestling with templates.

You do not have to choose between the spaced repetition you trust and a modern app. Importing your decks lets you keep both.

Your decks, but better

Importing is not just a copy and paste. Once your cards are in Ankra, they plug into everything else the app can do.

Run a thin deck through AI to expand it with new cards. Drop a deck into a Study Circle so classmates can add to it and check each other's work. Your old Anki decks become the starting point, not the ceiling.

Frequently asked questions

How do I import an Anki deck into Ankra? Export your deck from Anki as a .apkg file, then upload that file in Ankra. Ankra shows you how many cards are ready to import, you confirm, and your cards are added to a deck and scheduled for spaced repetition.

What file format does Ankra need? A .apkg file, which is the standard Anki Deck Package export. In Anki, select your deck, choose Export, and pick the .apkg format.

Will my cloze deletion cards work? Yes. Cloze cards keep their blanks and import as cloze cards in Ankra, and you can keep editing them with the built-in cloze editor.

Does Ankra import images and audio from my Anki cards? Yes. Images and audio attached to Basic and Cloze cards come across with your cards. Images may take a few extra seconds to finish loading after the import.

Why were some of my cards skipped? Ankra currently imports Basic and Cloze cards. Image Occlusion cards and some custom or heavily modified note types are skipped for now. After importing, Ankra tells you exactly which note types were skipped and how many cards were affected.

Is there a file size limit? Yes, .apkg files up to 200 MB are supported, which is enough for large decks that include images and audio.

Does the import bring my Anki review history? The import brings your cards into Ankra, where they start fresh in Ankra's spaced repetition. From your first review, the algorithm learns how well you know each card and schedules it accordingly.

Is Ankra a good Anki alternative? If you want Anki's proven spaced repetition with a smoother mobile and web experience, AI card generation, multiple choice quizzes, and collaboration, Ankra is built for exactly that. Importing your decks means you can switch without starting over.

Bring your decks with you

Switching study apps should not mean throwing away the cards you worked hard to build. Export your decks from Anki, import them into Ankra, and keep the spaced repetition you trust while getting AI tools, quizzes, and collaboration on top.

Download Ankra, import your first .apkg, and see how your old decks feel in a new home.

Have questions or run into a deck that will not import? Reach out anytime at [email protected].