A Couple of Questions and Concerns About the 2.1 Beta Scheduler

Scheduling
1

Hi everyone, I’m a bit of an Anki noob. I’ve been using it for a while now with a pretty basic understanding to aid in my language learning. Recently I’ve been wanting to mix up my review cards for my two different decks (kanji and a sentence-based vocab deck) to help ensure that my ability to recall doesn’t grow too dependent on me reviewing one before or after the other. From what I’ve read, the 2.1 Scheduler has the solution I’m looking for, but it’s raised some concerns that I was hoping to have cleared before I make the change.

The first is more a question about parent decks. Previously my two decks were their own completely unique decks, so I’m a little confused, when I review all due cards through the parent deck, do the reviewed cards follow their already established rules from their own decks? Or do they follow the parent deck’s rules? I can’t imagine them following the parent deck, but then I feel like there would be no real reason for the parent deck to have rules in the first place, especially since changes made to it say they affect all sub-decks.

My second question is about the scheduler itself. When I was looking into updating, it said that enabling it would reset any cards in learning, clear filtered decks, and change the scheduler. Does this essentially mean that it will completely reset all of my decks? I assume it wouldn’t change any factors or other deck options, but I felt like this was something I really didn’t want to take a chance on.

I apologize if these questions might seem a little dumb, but for whatever reason I’m struggling to wrap my head around it and figured I’d much rather be safe than sorry, so any help is greatly appreciated!

1 Like
2

Hi Wreavant!

I don’t have an answer for your first question, because I never had a situation where the subdecks have different options groups than the parent deck, but I should be able to clear your second concern:

  • Switching the scheduler will reset all your learning cards (the red ones), but it will not reset anything else. Your review data will be kept, only learning cards will be reset.

  • If you feel insecure about switching, consider that Anki creates backups whenever you exit the Application. You can always restore your collection if you don’t like the changes.

  • Studying from a parent deck will not mix new cards (sadly), it will only mix review cards.
    (Subdecks - New cards Randomize)

I have been using the 2.1 scheduler for almost a year, main reason being that it allows for a longer, more fine-tuned learning phase (more steps) with its introduction of the “hard” button for learning cards.
I see no reason why it shouldn’t be the default scheduler by now.

6 Likes
3

Anyone correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the only deck options that are relevant for cards in subdecks are card limits. All the other options only apply to cards directly attached to the deck.
That implicitly answers another question of yours: Parent decks are still fully functional decks with their own cards (potentially), so of course they need an option group.

If you’re referring to the red warning in the deck options dialogue, it’s not about subdecks, but option groups.

4 Likes