[BUG] Anki does not detect empty cards with {{^Deck}}{{/Deck}}

Anki Help
1

Steps to reproduce

  1. Replace the front template of the “Basic (and reversed)” note type’s second card type with {{^Deck}}{{Back}}{{/Deck}}.
  2. Observe from the previewers that the second card is empty.
  3. Run “Check” → “Empty cards”.

Expected behavior

It shows the empty cards.

Actual behavior

It says that there are no empty cards (if you don’t have other empty cards).

Debug info

Anki 25.09.2 (3890e12c) (ao)
Python 3.13.5 Qt 6.9.1 PyQt 6.9.1
Platform: Windows-10-10.0.19045-SP0

===Add-ons (active)===
(add-on provided name [Add-on folder, installed at, version, is config changed])
Advanced Copy Fields ['1898445115', 2024-01-08T20:01, 'v0.4.01', '']
AnkiConnect ['2055492159', 2025-11-09T22:40, 'None', mod]
AnkiWebView Inspector ['31746032', 2023-06-27T22:26, 'None', '']
Disconnected Review-Log Cleaner ['1067771610', 2025-06-10T16:28, 'None', '']
Local Audio Server for Yomichan ['1045800357', 2023-06-19T06:57, 'None', '']
The KING of Button Add-ons ['374005964', 2025-01-28T01:26, 'None', mod]

===IDs of active AnkiWeb add-ons===
1045800357 1067771610 1898445115 2055492159 31746032 374005964

===Add-ons (inactive)===
(add-on provided name [Add-on folder, installed at, version, is config changed])
No Distractions Full Screen Fixed by Shige ['1370336700', 2024-08-26T08:08, 'None', mod]

Extra

I didn’t test all the other special field replacements, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they suffer from the same issue.

2

I’d hope at least {{Tags}} works, since that’s given as an example for using Conditional Replacement – Card Generation - Anki Manual .

Looking at the others – I find myself wondering if Special Fields are meant to be used this way. There might be a justification for treating {{Tags}} differently – since it’s more like an actual field – while the rest are a way to display something that is definitely not a field.

3

It has a weird behavior (tested on AnkiDroid):

  • If we use {{#Tags}}{{Back}}{{/Tags}} then adding a note with or without tags creates only one card, despite the second being nonempty in the preview. In this case, the empty cards tool does find the empty cards (if there were any card 2’s before changing the template).
  • If we use {{^Tags}}{{Back}}{{/Tags}}, then a second card will be created regardless of having tags or not. The empty cards tool fails to spot these cards.

It’s probably assuming that the note has no tags when creating cards or checking for empty ones.

I see your point, but it’d be a handy way to disable card types and wouldn’t hurt the average user.

4
5

Actually, the tag thing is an issue I already reported a while ago, and it has been fixed (not released yet).