# Accidentally overwrote my AnkiWeb collection

**URL:** <https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidentally-overwrote-my-ankiweb-collection/71205>\
**Category:** Syncing & AnkiWeb\
**Created:** [September 24, 2026, 2:50pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidentally-overwrote-my-ankiweb-collection/71205 "2026-09-24T14:50:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![moritzloos080](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@moritzloos080](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/moritzloos080)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 2:50pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidentally-overwrote-my-ankiweb-collection/71205/1 "2026-09-24T14:50:30Z")

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Hi everyone,

I made a mistake while syncing and hope someone can tell me if there’s any way to recover my data.

What happened:

- Today I spent the whole day adding Japanese vocabulary to a deck (called something like “Japanese Vocab”) using the AnkiWeb web version. I was logged in the whole time.
- Afterwards I installed the Anki app on my [phone/tablet – add your device]. I had already used the app in the past and had some decks and cards in it, which are still there.
- When I synced for the first time, I was asked how to resolve the conflict and accidentally chose the wrong option (I believe it was the upload/overwrite option). As a result, the app’s old collection replaced the one on AnkiWeb, and all the vocabulary I added today is gone.

What I’ve already tried:

- The app’s automatic backups don’t help, since they only contain the state from before the sync, not the cards I added on the web.
- I haven’t synced again since then.

My questions:

1. Is there any way to restore the previous AnkiWeb collection (e.g. a server-side backup)?
2. Could the cards still exist somewhere, for example on another device or in a cached version?
3. Is there anything I should avoid doing right now so I don’t make it worse?

Any help would be really appreciated. Thanks in advance!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Danika\_Dakika](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/forums.ankiweb.net/danika_dakika/32/17815_2.png) [@Danika\_Dakika](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/Danika_Dakika)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 4:35pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidentally-overwrote-my-ankiweb-collection/71205/2 "2026-09-24T16:35:46Z")

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> [@moritzloos080](#):
>
> 1. Could the cards still exist somewhere, for example on another device or in a cached version?

You sync at least one other device with your account. Did you sync that new material on that device first, before you mis-synced on desktop?

If so, when you open that app, you’ll be given the one-way sync options, and you should select to “keep AnkiDroid” collection (upload to AnkiWeb). Then on desktop, receive that sync with **download from AnkiWeb**. [If you want to keep that old desktop collection too, you need to [preserve it first](https://docs.ankiweb.net/syncing.html#merging-conflicts).]

> [@moritzloos080](#):
>
> 1. Is there any way to restore the previous AnkiWeb collection (e.g. a server-side backup)?

If the only place that material existed was in your AnkiWeb account – probably not. Server-side backups are made much less frequently than local device backups – so you don’t get a lot of choice in what gets restored.

I’m looking at the AnkiWeb account connected to the email address you used to post here. It was just created a few days ago. The only server-side backup of your account was made on/at [[click for timestamp in your local time zone]](https://dateful.com/convert/utc?t=612am&d=2026-09-23) – which was probably before you added that material, since you said that was “today.”