Error message: Importing an Anki Deck

Anki Help
1

Hi,

I am trying to import a premade deck and keep getting this error message.

Import failed. Debugging info:

Traceback (most recent call last):

File “aqt/importing.py”, line 404, in on_done

File “concurrent/futures/_base.py”, line 432, in result

File “concurrent/futures/_base.py”, line 388, in __get_result

File “concurrent/futures/thread.py”, line 57, in run

File “anki/importing/apkg.py”, line 37, in run

UnicodeDecodeError: ‘utf-8’ codec can’t decode byte 0xb5 in position 1: invalid start byte

2

If you search the Forum for other posts with that error – Search results for 'UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xb5 in position 1: invalid start byte order:latest' - Anki Forums – you’ll find several that mention using very old versions of Anki. Are you trying to import this into 2.1.35?

3

ok thanks. Yes, I am.

4

should I try and update first? I have tried that before and lost a lot of cards so I am worried that could happen again

5

Yes.

That shouldn’t happen. Maybe you looked at the wrong place for your cards? Anki updates don’t modify your sqlite database, so what you’re describing is quite odd.

To make sure, you can just export your entire collection and save it to a safe place, though. And if the cards actually do seem to disappear again after the update, then feel free to open a topic here on the forums and we can have a look.

7

when trying to import a new deck, this is the error message I receive:

Import failed. Debugging info:

Traceback (most recent call last):

File “aqt/importing.py”, line 404, in on_done

File “concurrent/futures/_base.py”, line 432, in result

File “concurrent/futures/_base.py”, line 388, in __get_result

File “concurrent/futures/thread.py”, line 57, in run

File “anki/importing/apkg.py”, line 37, in run

UnicodeDecodeError: ‘utf-8’ codec can’t decode byte 0xb5 in position 1: invalid start byte

9

You got the same error a few months ago. Is this the same deck that you never got working then – or a different deck?

10

It’s the same deck but I tried re-downloading Anki and it still didn’t work

11

Does “re-downloading” mean you updated Anki like we suggested? What version are you using now? Help/Anki > About > Copy Debug Info – and paste that here.

12

Image_260319_110703.jpeg4032×3024 1.4 MB

This is what it is showing me when I tried to update Anki. Is that correct? I did not check on what version I had until I clicked on update so I am not sure how old the version is.

13

Actually, I think the old version was 2.1.35

14

Image_260319_111938.jpeg4032×3024 1.77 MB

I can’t open Anki anymore. Now when I try to open it, this screen comes up.

15

Image_260319_112332.jpeg4032×3024 1.99 MB

16

This is the launcher doing a one-time download of the files it needs. This is expected and you need to let it finish.

Yes, that is very old. Updating is the best next step.

17

It worked! Thanks so much.