# Accidently overwrote collections.media folder in anki and synced **URL:** \ **Category:** Syncing & AnkiWeb\ **Created:** [September 13, 2026, 12:31pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidently-overwrote-collections-media-folder-in-anki-and-synced/71018 "2026-09-13T12:31:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joshwu1230](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@joshwu1230](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/joshwu1230)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2026, 12:31pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidently-overwrote-collections-media-folder-in-anki-and-synced/71018/1 "2026-09-13T12:31:06Z")
I recently was trying to add media to my deck but I overwrote my collection.media folder instead. Now a bunch of my self-made image occlusion and other images from pre–made decks are missing. I also synced it to ankiweb because I didn’t notice that the media was missing so now I fear that there’s no way for me to get the images back by myself. I was told that the Anki staff maintain server-side backup snapshots of user media and can potentially manually restore the deleted media files directly onto my cloud account. If possible, I would love if you could restore my media images that I overwrote and are now missing. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/anki2/original/3X/4/e/4e8ee2a0a37ad85f15959f5f2cf6fbb4d18b2582.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![joshwu1230](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@joshwu1230](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/joshwu1230)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2026, 12:36pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidently-overwrote-collections-media-folder-in-anki-and-synced/71018/2 "2026-09-13T12:36:52Z")
I’ve also tried all of these things you listed in a previous post but it didn’t work: _Try all of these things first –_ 1. _If you deleted the folder/files from outside Anki – have you already checked your system’s “recycle bin” or wherever deleted files go?_ 2. _If you deleted the files from inside Anki – have you already checked your `media.trash` folder_ 3. _Since you have other devices synced to your account, you can also recover the media from there._ ---
**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 13, 2026, 5:12pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidently-overwrote-collections-media-folder-in-anki-and-synced/71018/3 "2026-09-13T17:12:29Z")
> [@joshwu1230](#): > > Since you have other devices synced to your account, you can also recover the media from there. > … > Go to `Settings/Preferences > Syncing` – log out of AnkiWeb. Then click Sync and log in again. That should rescan your media and restore anything that was deleted. Prompting a rescan of media from your other device should have worked – as long as that media still existed on your other device. What happened when you tried that? ---
**Author:** ![joshwu1230](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@joshwu1230](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/joshwu1230)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2026, 5:44pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidently-overwrote-collections-media-folder-in-anki-and-synced/71018/4 "2026-09-13T17:44:46Z")
Hi, thank you for the response. I logged out and synced but the old media images still didn’t show up. For both of my devices, I already synced to ankiweb with the overwritten (the one with not all the images) collection.media folder so when I log out and sync and log in again, it just checks all the media but it doesn’t add my old media. ---
**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 13, 2026, 6:09pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidently-overwrote-collections-media-folder-in-anki-and-synced/71018/5 "2026-09-13T18:09:34Z")
> [@joshwu1230](#): > > For both of my devices, I already synced to ankiweb with the overwritten (the one with not all the images) collection.media folder That’s the piece you didn’t mention. Yes, the rescan will only help if you haven’t synced the deletion to the device yet, and the media is still on that device. I’m looking at the AnkiWeb account connected to the email address you used to post here, and there were _at least_ 10K restorable media files deleted in the past day. That’s as high as my counter goes, but I’ll be able to tell you exactly how many once they are restored. It’s best if you don’t try to sync during the restore process. _ **Confirm that this is the correct AnkiWeb account, and that you’re ready for me to start restoring the files** _, and I’ll report back when it’s done. ---
**Author:** ![joshwu1230](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@joshwu1230](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/joshwu1230)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2026, 6:10pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidently-overwrote-collections-media-folder-in-anki-and-synced/71018/6 "2026-09-13T18:10:57Z")
That is correct, and I’ll try to refrain from syncing until you tell me it is good to do so. Thank you so much! ---
**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 13, 2026, 7:07pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidently-overwrote-collections-media-folder-in-anki-and-synced/71018/7 "2026-09-13T19:07:06Z")
I’m starting the restoration now. ---
**Author:** ![joshwu1230](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@joshwu1230](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/joshwu1230)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2026, 7:15pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidently-overwrote-collections-media-folder-in-anki-and-synced/71018/8 "2026-09-13T19:15:17Z")
Sounds good, do you have an estimate on how long the restoration will take? ---
**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 13, 2026, 7:27pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidently-overwrote-collections-media-folder-in-anki-and-synced/71018/9 "2026-09-13T19:27:05Z")
Approximately _this_ long. 😉 The process finished and restored 43665 files – just over 4 GB of additional media. When you sync again, that will start downloading, but it’s unlikely to finish in the first sync. Media may continue syncing in the background, or you can continue running Sync until you have it all. Use `Tools > Check Media` after each sync to see the “Missing” number change. When that’s done, you’ll need to do the same on all of your other devices. After you have all devices fully in sync – now is a great chance for you to clean up unnecessary media that you’ve been storing and syncing. Even after what you deleted, you can see in your screenshot above that you still had over 7K files that you weren’t using. Run `Tools > Check Media > Delete Unused Media`. At this first step, the files will just be [moved to another folder](https://docs.ankiweb.net/media.html#checking-media), so it’s completely safe and reversible. Syncing after that will delete those files from the server and your other devices. You can wait until you’re confident that was media you didn’t need before going back to run the second step, `Empty Trash`. ---
**Author:** ![joshwu1230](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@joshwu1230](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/joshwu1230)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2026, 7:40pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidently-overwrote-collections-media-folder-in-anki-and-synced/71018/10 "2026-09-13T19:40:31Z")
I clicked sync multiple times and also exited and restarted anki but I dont see the missing files number change. There is also no pop up showing any media being added. It just quickly syncs and says collection sync completed… ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/anki2/original/3X/5/7/576d493109e4cf5bd9435186eaa834e0e76a3f26.png) ---
**Author:** ![joshwu1230](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@joshwu1230](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/joshwu1230)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2026, 10:04pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidently-overwrote-collections-media-folder-in-anki-and-synced/71018/11 "2026-09-13T22:04:50Z")
Turns out I just needed to wait like an hour and a half and the media started to return. However, I still have 9478 missing files. Is there a way for you to know on the backend when this process will finish? and why it sporadically just updates media - will it continue doing so randomly? But in general, thank you so much for restoring my media! ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/anki2/original/3X/1/9/19d4a069abd4c8360b90cd0e5e611c2112b772b7.png) ---
**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 13, 2026, 11:12pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidently-overwrote-collections-media-folder-in-anki-and-synced/71018/12 "2026-09-13T23:12:18Z")
> [@joshwu1230](#): > > Is there a way for you to know on the backend when this process will finish? There isn’t a way I can tell, but you should be able to tell by looking at the size of your `collection.media`. Compare – - On [AnkiWeb](https://ankiweb.net/decks), at the bottom of the screen, you can see how much “Media” is currently stored on the server – ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/anki2/original/3X/5/5/55dc369c483594ed8d35b7b17f0a09e702a7b657.png) - On [your computer](https://docs.ankiweb.net/files.html#user-data), in your `Anki2` data folder, find the folder for your profile (“User 1” or whatever you changed the name to), and you can see how much media is currently stored in your `collection.media` folder. When those match (give or take rounding), you’ll know it’s done. > [@joshwu1230](#): > > why it sporadically just updates media - will it continue doing so randomly? Anki tries to not overload a single sync with a huge load of new files, so the default setting is to “Periodically sync media” – [Preferences - Anki Manual](https://docs.ankiweb.net/preferences.html#syncing) . It will usually at least _start_ downloading the first time you sync, but here it needs to also rescan the entire 12GB+ of media you have in your collection to figure out what is there and what isn’t there, so it can download what you’re missing. That’s a process. > [@joshwu1230](#): > > I still have 9478 missing files. If you haven’t tended to your media very often (or ever), that could mean a lot of things. Those files might have been missing for a long time, or they might never have been added to your collection. From my side, I can tell you that there isn’t anything left that was recently deleted from the server. When you’re sure you have everything downloaded, use “Tag Missing” in that window to apply a tag to those notes, and then search up `tag:missing-media` to browse around and see if that looks like something you should be concerned about. ---
**Author:** ![joshwu1230](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@joshwu1230](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/joshwu1230)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 11:40am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidently-overwrote-collections-media-folder-in-anki-and-synced/71018/13 "2026-09-14T11:40:04Z")
It seems like everything is back to normal. Thank you so much for your help! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/anki2/original/1X/8f1279ababc5879d54e4838989f606cfe55af8c7.jpeg) [@system](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 11:40am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/accidently-overwrote-collections-media-folder-in-anki-and-synced/71018/14 "2026-10-14T11:40:43Z")
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