Displayed number of due cards, doesn't match how many I actually do

[JasonAUS]

On the main Anki Page, each deck displays the number of due cards, for instance, 218.

When I start doing the deck, I will click ‘good’ on one card, and the due number drops by 10 cards.

Overall I will finish a deck that should have had 220 cards, and only have done around 50-100.

I have recently switched to FSRS and have the Helper Add on. I also have been away for 1 month so there is a backlog.

I was unable to find any similar problems on this forum, and I want to make sure the cards aren’t vanishing, its very strange.

Thank you so much for your help!

[Danika_Dakika]

@JasonAUS

On the main Anki Page, each deck displays the number of due cards, for instance, 218.

• What does it say on the Study page for that particular deck – also 218? Studying - Anki Manual

• Do you have sibling burying enabled for this deck? Studying - Anki Manual

• Do you have any add-ons that impact scheduling or burying, or are you using any FSRS Helper features that happen “on review”?

Did you post about this on Reddit today too? The wording there is different enough I can’t be sure, and I just don’t want you to be getting contradictory answers!

[JasonAUS]

Hey Danika, thanks for your response.

• Yes, the study page displays the same number!

• YES, I have the ‘Auto disperse siblings on review’ through the FSRS helper enabled (I originally thought this might be the cause, but too many seemed to vanish, ie about 75% of the expected cards)
  

  

I didn’t post on Reddit, but that post does look very similar!

I used the FSRS feature to ‘Disperse all siblings’ which reduced the cards in each deck by 10%, but the problem still persists. I’ll give an example below:

I clicked on this deck

I clicked ‘good’ on two cards, and then:

Somehow 14 cards have vanished!

I also, just tried to update something and lost about 4000 cards:

These had 3000 cards with subdecks this morning, but on browse I find nothing.

That literally just happened, do you think they are related? like some sort of bug, because I have never had problems before. But the two recent changes where downloading the new version of anki, and adding the FSRS helper add on.

Sorry for having so many things go wrong, but thanks so much for your help!
Jason

[Danika_Dakika]

@JasonAUS

Yes, the study page displays the same number!

That probably means it’s not related to built-in burying functionality – but you didn’t answer about your burying settings.

@JasonAUS

YES, I have the ‘Auto disperse siblings on review’ through the FSRS helper enabled (I originally thought this might be the cause, but too many seemed to vanish, ie about 75% of the expected cards)
…
I clicked ‘good’ on two cards, and then …
Somehow 14 cards have vanished!

I could see Disperse, especially in conjunction with the new smarter fuzz factor and load balancing, moving a lot more cards than you expect. But that seems like a bit much, unless you have a highly “sibling-ed” deck (your notes have a lot of siblings).

I think the first thing to check is if you are seeing the same behavior with add-ons disabled. See Troubleshooting #2 - restart in safe mode.

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@JasonAUS

I also, just tried to update something and lost about 4000 cards:

These had 3000 cards with subdecks this morning, but on browse I find nothing.

That literally just happened, do you think they are related?
…
the two recent changes where downloading the new version of anki, and adding the FSRS helper add on.

I don’t think the cards have vanished, but off the top of my head – here’s a list of things that could be –

1. Did you update from a recent Anki version or an older one – such as one still using the v2 scheduler?
2. You don’t say what the “something” was that you “tried to update” – so it could obviously be related to that.
3. You said you ran a “Disperse all siblings” – so it could obviously be related to that.
4. After you updated Anki versions, did you re-Optimize your parameters? Did you change your Desired Retention? Did you reschedule cards?
5. Lots of things can impact the counts on the main Decks screen – you don’t say if those 4000 or 3000 cards were New or Review.
6. If you’re not able to find the cards in Browse, how are you searching for them?

[JasonAUS]

Hey again,
Thanks again for your help. I apologise for my lack of specificity. I will try and be very clear with this response.

@Danika_Dakika

I don’t think the cards have vanished, but off the top of my head – here’s a list of things that could be –

I was able to fix this with the ‘Check database’ function. For reference (Likely no longer relevant as it is solved), I did two things before it happened: one, redownloaded anki 24.11 and secondly, I synced with my Ipad for the first time. I believe it was the latter that caused the issue.

@Danika_Dakika

That probably means it’s not related to built-in burying functionality – but you didn’t answer about your burying settings.

My apologies, The three burying options are all deselected and have always been

@Danika_Dakika

I think the first thing to check is if you are seeing the same behavior with add-ons disabled. See [Troubleshooting] #2 - restart in safe mode.

This seems to solve the issue!! With the ‘FSRS helper’ add on not active, I no longer have the problem of 75% of my cards vanishing when I work through each deck.

NEXT PROBLEM:
Given the FSRS helper add-on, seemed to cause the problem, I don’t want to add it back. However, for reference, this morning the add on failed on start up.

ONE FINAL QUESTION AND ONE FINAL IDEA:

First, my idea on what could have led to the problem. Half my decks have ‘Default settings’ and Half have ‘Recommended settings’ (designed by me years ago to optimise the SM-2 algorithm). I thought I had ‘activated’ the FSRS scheduler for both of these options, but this morning the FSRS was not active, I have now activated it: (Note, I was confident I had turned it on previously, and its possible in all the redownloading etc over the last two days it reset. But I’m unsure)

My thought is, I had the ‘FSRS helper’ add on activated, but maybe not the FSRS scheuduler selected. Could this maybe messed with the algorithm and lead to my problems?

Finally, I have a question. To optimise the algorithm, while not using the ‘FSRS helper add on’ do you think I should activate the ‘Bury sibling’ options?

I apologise for the long post, but I hope it has the appropriate level of detail to make sense.
Thank you again for all your help!!!
Jason

[Danika_Dakika]

@JasonAUS

Given the FSRS helper add-on, seemed to cause the problem, I don’t want to add it back.

You can still use the add-on – it’s great for a lot of its other features. It’s just that now you know you don’t like the behavior “disperse on review” feature. [FWIW, I didn’t like it either, because it constantly rebuilt my study queue and interfered with my display order settings.]

As far as the startup error – did you disable the add-on, or delete it while it was still enabled? Does that error keep happening? It looks like it’s related to browser columns, so you can try turning off the FSRS-related ones for a restart, and see if that helps.

@JasonAUS

I thought I had ‘activated’ the FSRS scheduler for both of these options, but this morning the FSRS was not active
…
My thought is, I had the ‘FSRS helper’ add on activated, but maybe not the FSRS scheuduler selected. Could this maybe messed with the algorithm and lead to my problems?

It’s a global setting, so turning it on anywhere in Anki affects everything in your collection/profile. But if you’ve been restoring from backups or one-way syncing, that could easily switch it off.

I don’t think it would cause problems unless you were doing card-scheduling-related actions. Then you’d see a reminder pop-up –

@JasonAUS

To optimise the algorithm, while not using the ‘FSRS helper add on’ do you think I should activate the ‘Bury sibling’ options?

Yes. To be clear – I’m quite biased, because I am personally a big fan of sibling burying. But if you have multiple-card notes, and you want to avoid studying sibs on the same day – that’s the way.

@JasonAUS

I apologise for the long post

Not accepted! I never mind a long post that is well-organized and informative.