[Premium Quality] Anki Operation Manual: From Basic Concepts to Latest FSRS Settings and Card Creation Procedures

"I studied so hard, yet I forgot more than half of it just a few days later..."

"There's so much to memorize that I spend my whole day just taking notes..."

This is a wall that everyone hits at least once in their studies or exams.

To put it bluntly, memorization is not something you do with sheer willpower or grit.

If you master the tool called "Anki" correctly, you can completely systematize your memorization.

Anki is the ultimate spaced repetition tool that automates "Active Recall" and "Spaced Repetition," both proven by cognitive psychology, using mathematical algorithms.

I explain the big picture and the benefits, such as "What is Anki in the first place? How does it work?" in detail in my previous article here.

*If you haven't read it yet, reading that first will help you understand this better!

It is also a fact that because Anki is so flexible, there are many people who say, "I don't really know how to use it" or "I gave up because I used the default settings."

Therefore, in this article, I will thoroughly explain everything from the basic structure of Anki, the latest "FSRS" algorithm settings, specific card creation procedures, to operation methods that prevent you from giving up, at a level where "if you read this, you can master Anki perfectly."

1. [Preparation] Start here! Basic structure and initial settings of Anki

First, I will explain the "basic mechanisms" and introduction procedures that you absolutely must grasp when using Anki.

If you don't understand this, you will definitely lose control once your cards start to pile up, so let's check it carefully.

1-1. Download, pricing, and the role of each device

Anki can be used on various devices, but the price varies depending on the device.

• Windows / Mac / Linux (PC version): Free

• Web version (AnkiWeb): Free

• Android version (AnkiDroid): Free

• iOS version / iPhone/iPad (AnkiMobile): Paid (approx. 4,000 yen, one-time purchase)

"Wait, is only the iPhone version paid?" you might think.

In fact, sales from the iOS version are used to cover the development costs and server maintenance fees for Anki as a whole.

While it may feel a bit expensive for an app at around 4,000 yen for a one-time purchase, if you consider it an investment that will dramatically reduce your future study time, it is undoubtedly a god-tier app that is well worth the price.

By the way, the PC version including Mac, is completely free to use.

Therefore, the recommended way to use it is the style of "creating cards and performing detailed settings on a free PC (Mac / Win), and doing daily reviews on your smartphone."

Once you have the app ready, first create a free AnkiWeb account.

If you create an account and set up synchronization, the cards you create on your PC will be instantly reflected on your smartphone, allowing you to review in your spare time anywhere.

1-2. Super Important! Understand the difference between "Notes" and "Cards"

The most important concept for mastering Anki is that "Notes" and "Cards" are different things.

• Note: The "raw data (the information itself)" that you input

• Card: The "question and answer" that is actually displayed on the screen

For example, suppose you create one note for "apple = apple (Japanese word)."

In Anki, from this single note, you can

1. Front (apple) → Back (apple in Japanese) card

2. Front (apple in Japanese) → Back (apple) card (reverse direction)

you can automatically generate multiple cards like this.

There is no need to go through the trouble of manually entering "apple → apple (Japanese)" and "apple (Japanese) → apple" twice.

Since data can be managed centrally, even when you want to make corrections later, you only need to fix the note once, and it will be reflected in all cards.

1-3. The trap of deck structure and the correct way to use "hierarchical tags"

The most common mistake beginners make is "dividing decks too finely."

If you classify decks too finely, such as "English::Grammar::Chapter 1::Relative Pronouns," you might be able to predict the answer based on the context that "this is a relative pronoun question" when reviewing, which lowers the retention rate of your memory (context effect).

Also, the randomness of reviews will be lost.

The correct operational rules are as follows.

• Decks: Place only a small number of items in broad categories (e.g., "Medicine," "English," etc.)

• Tags: Use "hierarchical tags (Tag::Subtag)" to classify in detail (e.g., medical::anatomy)

The ironclad rule of Anki is to perform all detailed organization and tasks like "I only want to search this range" using tags.

2. [Practical Edition] Concrete Procedures for Creating Cards Without Failure

Once you understand the basic structure, let's finally start creating cards.

There are several card types (note types) in Anki, but beginners only need to master the following three.

1. Basic

2. Cloze

3. Image Occlusion

By mastering how to create and use these three, you will be able to handle memorization for any genre.

2-1. How to Create Basic Cards and the "Principle of Atomicity"

First is the simplest format of creating a "Front (Question) and Back (Answer)."

[Operation Procedure]

1. Click "Add" at the top of the main screen (Shortcut: A)

2. Confirm that the Type (note type) is set to "Basic"

3. Enter the question text in the Front field

4. Enter the answer in the Back field

5. Press the "Add" button at the bottom right (or Ctrl + Enter / Cmd + Enter)

💡 The Golden Rule of Creation: "The Atomic Principle (1 Card, 1 Fact)"

When creating Basic cards, the one thing you must never do is "cram too much information onto the back."

• ❌ Bad Example

  • Front: Explain the effects of insulin.

  • Back: Lowers blood sugar. Promotes glucose uptake into muscle and adipose tissue. Promotes glycogen synthesis. Promotes protein synthesis.

• ⭕️ Good Example

  • Front: What is the main effect of insulin (on blood sugar levels)?

  • Back: Lowers blood sugar

Cards where you think during review, "Hmm, I remembered 3 of them, but I can't remember the last one..." are incomplete.

Put only one atomic fact on each card.

The trick to flying through your reviews is to break down questions into a size where you can instantly judge whether you are "correct or incorrect."

2-2. How to create Cloze (fill-in-the-blank) cards

This is a method for turning important terms you want to memorize within a sentence into fill-in-the-blank questions.

In fact, this Cloze type is the most frequently used and most efficient method in Anki.

[Operation Procedure]

1. Open the "Add" screen and change the Type to "Cloze"

2. Text Enter the sentence you want to memorize directly into the field

3. Select (drag) the word you want to make into a blank

4. Press Ctrl + Shift + C (Cmd + Shift + C on Mac).

Then, the selected part will change to a display like {{c1::word/phrase}}.

When you add a card this way, that part will be masked as [...] and presented as a question during actual review.

💡 Applied Technique: Adding Hints

If you add two more colons and text after it like {{c1::word/phrase::hint}}, you can display [hint] on the review screen.

This is extremely useful when there are similar words that are easy to confuse, or when you want to narrow down the direction of the answer.

2-3. How to create Image Occlusion

This feature is most powerful when you want to "memorize an entire image," such as anatomical diagrams, maps, flowcharts, or structural diagrams.

Previously, it was necessary to install an add-on (extension), but it is now included as a standard feature in current Anki (version 23.10 and later).

[Operation Procedure]

1. Copy the image you want to memorize to the clipboard (or prepare an image file).

2. Open the "Add" screen and change the Type to "Image Occlusion".

3. Click the "image icon (Image Occlusion)" in the upper right (you can also drag and drop the image directly).

4. The image editing screen will open, so use the rectangle tool on the left to draw a mask (frame) over the part you want to hide.

5. Press the create button at the bottom.

There are mainly two modes for the create button.

• Hide All, Guess One:

  1. While keeping the masks for the entire image hidden, only the specified location is questioned with a red frame (recommended because you cannot see other answers).

• Hide One, Guess One:

  1. Hide only the one location being questioned with a mask.

Memorizing diagrams and tables by manual input takes too much time and can lead to giving up.

Capture an image and quickly apply masks with Image Occlusion. Once you learn this sense of speed, the efficiency of creating memorization cards will skyrocket.

3. [Settings] Configuring the Latest "FSRS" Algorithm and How to Press Buttons Correctly

Once you can create cards, the next step is to configure "how to review them".

The biggest reason Anki stands out from other memorization apps is this review schedule calculation algorithm.

In particular, the latest version of Anki (version 23.10 and later) comes with a machine learning-based next-generation algorithm called "FSRS (Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler)" as standard.

There is no need to understand difficult mathematical formulas.

For beginners, just keep the following points in mind and configure them, and you will be perfect.

3-1. Steps to Enable FSRS

First, let's check if FSRS is turned on.

[Operation Steps]

1. Click the gear icon (Deck Options)

2. Scroll down the screen and look for the "FSRS" section

3. Confirm that the switch is turned on (enabled)

People who have used older versions of Anki might still be on the old-generation algorithm (SM-2), so please be sure to check that FSRS is selected.

FSRS learns from your past answer data to automatically create a "memory decay curve tailored to you," which dramatically reduces wasted review time.

3-2. Setting the Desired Retention

The most important number that users should decide for themselves in the FSRS settings screen is the "Desired Retention."

This is a setting value for "what percentage of the time you want to remember the material when the review timing arrives."

• 80%–85%: For those who want to reduce the amount of review as much as possible (high time efficiency, but allows for some forgetting)

• 90% (Recommended): This is fine for most cases. The ultimate setting with the best balance between study time and retention level

• 95%–97%: High-load mode for when you "absolutely do not want to forget," such as for medical national exams or certification tests (the amount of review will increase sharply).

Basically, it is highly recommended to keep it at "90%".

If you are right before an exam and absolutely do not want to forget, or conversely, if you have too many reviews piling up and are about to burn out, try fine-tuning this number.

3-3. Must follow! The golden rules for how to press the answer buttons

When you review cards, four buttons appear at the bottom of the screen, right?

• Again

• Hard

• Good

• Easy

If you press these buttons incorrectly, the FSRS algorithm will malfunction and your review schedule will collapse.

You must follow the following golden rules.

⭕️ Golden rules for button operation

• If you got it wrong or couldn't remember ➔ Press "Again" without hesitation.

• If you remembered it normally ➔ Press "Good".

• If the answer came to you instantly or it was too easy ➔ Press "Easy".

⚠️ NG actions you must never do

The worst thing you can do is "press 'Hard' because you're frustrated that you didn't get it right."

In FSRS, "Hard" is processed as a passing grade meaning 'I got it right, but it was quite a struggle to answer.'.

If you press "Hard" even though you got it wrong, the system will misunderstand and think, "Oh, this person got it right," and will extend the interval until the next time it appears. As a result, you will end up with cards you can never remember.

"If you couldn't remember it, press 'Again' no matter what the reason is."

4. [Operation Section] Techniques for Daily Consistency Without Burning Out

Once you have completed the settings and card creation up to this point, all that remains is to go through your cards calmly every day.

However, as you continue using Anki, you will inevitably encounter situations where you feel discouraged because reviews have piled up, or you need to search for and edit specific cards.

Finally, I will introduce operational techniques to prevent burnout and help you make the most of Anki.

4-1. Mastering the Card Browser with "Search Syntax"

As your card count increases, you will have more opportunities to search for specific cards in the browser screen (B key).

By entering the following search syntax (commands) into the search bar, you can instantly extract cards that meet your criteria.

Search Command Meaning/Search Resulttag:medical Cards tagged with "medical" is:dueCards due for review todayis:new New cards that have not been touched yet prop:repetition>5 Mature cards that have been reviewed more than 5 times Front:anatomy Cards containing the word "anatomy" on the front

You can also combine these.

For example, if you search for "tag:medical is:due", you can narrow down the results to "only cards tagged with 'medical' that are due for review today."

This is extremely useful when you want to change tags or delete cards in bulk for a specific range, so please keep it in the back of your mind.

4-2. How to Handle Piled-Up Reviews (When You Run Out of Time)

Everyone has experienced the despair of having hundreds of review cards pile up because they couldn't open Anki for a few days due to travel or illness.

Giving up because you feel you can't catch up is the biggest waste. When reviews pile up, try the following countermeasures.

1. Use "Filtered Decks (Custom Study)"

This is a feature that temporarily extracts "what you need to do today" into a separate deck.

Extract cards that are "is:due" (due for review) in the browser, sort them by "relative ease" (order of forgetting), and set a daily limit, such as 100 cards, to work through them.

2. Set the number of new cards to "0"

When reviews are piling up, temporarily stop the addition and presentation of new cards.

The secret to not giving up is to focus solely on clearing your review cards and only resume adding new cards once the pile has decreased.

5. Summary: Trust the tool and press the buttons calmly every day.

This has been a long guide, but this is the complete manual covering Anki's basic structure, the latest FSRS settings, card creation, and operation.

There is a slight learning curve to mastering Anki, but once you get on board with this system, you will gain the overwhelming peace of mind that comes from knowing you won't forget what you've learned.

Memorization is not about talent or how good your memory is.

Trust Anki to manage your review timing based on scientific principles, and make it a habit to calmly press the buttons every day, just like brushing your teeth.

That is the shortest path to mastering a vast amount of knowledge.

Please try creating a few cards today and experience the power of this new spaced repetition method for yourself!