What happens when Anki cannot sync due to down Internet?

[Friday]

I am studying with Anki and want to sync it with AnkiWeb. Sometimes though, my Internet connection is down.

• Say that I study with Anki on my computer Monday, then it syncs. On Tuesday, I want to study again on the same computer, but the Internet connection is down. Will Anki still let me study, or will there be problems, e.g. can't study for a day or errors in the deck, because it cannot sync with the server?
• How about if the Internet goes down mid-way while studying or mid-way while it is syncing?

[Guest realmayo]

Assuming you are just using the desktop programme Anki to answer the questions, you will still be able to study, in both cases, regardless of the internet.

Anki backs itself up a lot on your computer. The sync is another form of back-up off your computer.

 

If you use mobile forms of Anki as well as the desktop, or if you use Ankiweb in a web browser sometimes, then it's a little more complicated. But if all you're using is the desktop programme, then treat sync simply as an extra backup in case your hard drive explodes.

[Lu]

This is not a problem. You can study off-line and the program works just fine. You can sync later, when you do have an internet connection again. Not sure what happens if you study on both your computer and your phone for a while and then sync, I think the system will get a bit confused but just sync it to the best of its abilities, and the resulting problem for you will be pretty minimal.

 

If syncing fails mid-way, just try again later. This happens on my phone regularly, and it's not a problem.

[Ruben von Zwack]

Sometimes when I haven't synced for ages, Anki tells me my phone + computer are too disparate, and that it will override the deck with the fewer changes. As far as I'm aware, there is no other option. But I don't find it to be a problem.

[Yadang]

The two above posts are correct as far as I'm aware, but just to clarify,

 

- If you're just studying using one device (like your desktop), there should be no problems - as realmayo said, it's just like backing up your decks/stats

 

- If you study on your desktop, don't sync, then study on your phone or another device and sync, and then go back to your desktop to sync, Anki will ask you to force the changes in one direction, either by overwriting the "local" (what's on your desktop) with what is online, or uploading from your desktop to overwrite your "remote" (what's online)

 

- But, as far as I'm aware, this only happens when there are actual conflicts in studying. So, if you study on your phone and sync it, and then study a different deck on your desktop, and then sync, Anki will not ask you to overwrite anything, because there aren't any conflicts (but after syncing your phone and then your desktop, you would have to sync your phone again to get the changes from your desktop). This also means you can study on your phone, sync, and create a new deck on your desktop and then sync from your desktop and there should be no problem, you just have to remember to sync your phone one last time, after you sync your desktop.

 

- Lastly, you can also optionally "force" changes in one direction from your desktop. Let's say for example, that your friend wanted to see how Anki works, so you show him on your phone. Then you sync it with Ankiweb. But you think "oh no, I don't want to actually save that as a review". You can go to your desktop, and then under "Tools", choose "Preferences" and then go over a tab to the "Network" tab. There you'll see a check box that says "On next sync, force changes in one direction". If you check this box, close the preferences window, and then sync, anki will come up with the window asking you if you want to download the remote or upload the local. So even though it would usually sync from Ankiweb because no conflicts would arise, you can overwrite Ankiweb by uploading the local, and then going to your phone or other device and re-syncing. 

 

I find this especially helpful if I want to show a friend, or just to "try out" a deck and then decide if I like it or not. I can sync with Ankiweb, download the deck, try it out as much as I want, and then, if I decide I don't like it, check the "On next sync, force changes in one direction" button and download the remote (aka anki web) to my desktop. This works, by the way, weather or not you also have another device besides your desktop. However, I only know how to force the changes on the desktop, not on my phone (which has Ankidroid).

[PBolchover]

The sync looks at each card individually, so if you have studied on both your computer and your mobile device, then it will take look at whichever side the card has been modified, and use that.  If a card has been studied on both devices, then it will store both sets of results in the card's history, and use the "next time study" from the latest time that the card has been studied.

 

Certain actions (e.g. editing fields in a note type, or changing a note from one type to another) will force a "full sync".  This will overwrite any changes from other devices, so please make sure that you have everything in sync beforehand, and that you correctly sync in the right direction afterwards to all devices.