Getting started by cloning an existing deck with FlashFork

This functionality is supported through a separate add-on, FlashFork, so you'll need to install that first.

Anki assumes that you will be creating all of your flashcards from scratch. If you want to instead use someone else's deck as a starting point--we'll call this the 'source deck'--then you'll need to clone some or all of these:

• The source deck.
• The data records (Notes) associated with the cards in that deck.
• The corresponding Note Types (which determine which fields are available and which flashcards will be auto-generated).

If you don't need to copy any of their data, then the only thing you need is the Note Type. See Getting started for details. Otherwise, you'll need to clone the entire deck. This is typically only useful if there is generic data in the Note records, such as images, English meanings, etc.

If there is useful data in the source deck which you wish to repurpose for a different language deck, then you'll need to clone the data. You'll need the FlashFork add-on installed, as Anki does not provide a way to clone decks, notes or cards. (Technically, you could clone a deck by exporting to plain text and then re-importing into a new deck, but it's a lot of steps.)

WARNING: Use at your own risk; it is possible that it will start making incomplete copies if Anki changes in the future. The reason Anki does not include copying functionality is that copying cards and putting them back in their original deck could easily be misused to create unnecessary redundant copies, instead of simply creating proper new flashcard types.

FlashFork provides a "Copy selected deck..." option in the Tools menu. This feature will generate a brand new ID for each Note record and flashcard so that you can all freely share/sync your decks as you please. You shouldn't just import and directly edit the source deck's records because then Anki would attempt to do a merge or overwrite if these two decks (or any other derivatives) ever ended up on the same computer.

TIP: You may also wish to first merge any subdecks into the main deck. To do this, select the cards that are in subdecks (you may wish to apply distinguishing tags at this point) use the Change Deck button to move them, and then delete the now-empty subdecks. Although subdecks are just stored as specially-named separate decks, and so their structure would probably be preserved by copying them separately (unverified), there's a big caveat: if you are generating new note types while copying (recommended, usually), then each subdeck will end up with its own separate note types (not good, hard to maintain).

Reusing existing data by cloning

Here's the proper way to 'fork' a deck.

1. The instructor uses File, Export to create an APKG file (selecting only the deck in question).

2. You import it into Anki by double-clicking the APKG (or via File, Import).

3. Make sure that the latest FlashFork is installed. If not, paste 558884301 into Tools, Addons, Install. Restart Anki, and there should be a new menu option under Tools for copying a deck.

1. Click to select the newly imported deck, then go to Tools, "FlashFork: Copy selected deck..." Usually, you should choose to "Clone All" note types.

Choose "Clone All" to clone all note types unless you are sure that you want changes that are made to a note type (on any computer) to affect both decks (on all computers). See Getting started for details. Usually, you don't want multiple decks to stay exactly in sync with regard to their fields and flashcard templates. (For example, deleting a field would impact multiple decks.)

1. On the main screen (click "Decks" to return there), you should now see a new deck with a unique name. Click the dropdown button on the right to rename it to something useful.

1. Likewise, if you chose to clone any note types, go to Tools, Manage Note types and give them helpful names, such as ArabicWord and ArabicSentence.

1. Optionally, use the dropdown button to delete your copy of the instructor's deck. (And then use Tools, Manage Note Types to delete its Note Types.)

1. Optionally, you may want to initially disable all the copied cards, and only enable them once you've actually entered useful data into them.

2. Start editing and creating Notes, and practicing with the flashcard that get generated. See Getting Started.