I’d like to propose the addition of a native “Skip” function, as this would enhance both the flexibility and effectiveness of the learning process. While similar functionality is available in the Advanced Review Bottom Bar add-on, unfortunately it is not accessible on mobile devices, leaving a significant gap for users who rely on Anki across several platforms.
Here’s why I believe a native “Skip” feature would be beneficial:
Delayed Retrieval
A “Skip” function aligns with research in memory and learning, particularly in the essence of delayed retrieval. When a user encounters a card they cannot immediately recall but feel they know the answer, skipping the card and returning to it later can leverage this mechanism and further consolidate the memory.
Potential Reduction in Review Time
A native “Skip” function could help reduce overall review time by allowing users to defer difficult cards temporarily, giving them another opportunity to recall the information later in the session. This approach allows users to revisit cards when delayed retrieval could take place and avoid the card to enter the relearning phase, reducing time spent on individual cards and making the overall study process more efficient.
Current Workaround Limitations
The existing bury/unbury method is cumbersome if you’re trying to skip cards during review. Unburying cards you intended to skip risks unintentionally unburying sibling cards afterwards, disrupting spaced repetition scheduling.
Improved Workflow
A native Skip button or hotkey would allow users to temporarily defer cards during reviews without affecting their scheduling or impacting sibling cards. Skipped cards could reappear later in the session or during a designated deferred review period, based on user preferences.
Thank you for reading this request! I’d love to hear thoughts from the community and the development team on this feasibility of this idea.
The existing Bury/Unbury functionality handles this use case quite well. It seems like you’re drawing distinctions between it and your proposed Skip where there actually aren’t any.
It seems neither more or less cumbersome than clicking/shortcutting a Skip function.
I don’t understand what you mean here by “unintentionally unburying siblings,” and I don’t see how Skip would be any less disruptive to scheduling than Bury/Unbury.
Comparing these possibilities directly:
If you Bury a single card, its siblings are not buried and might still show up for study if they are due/overdue today.
Skipping a single card would have the same result. Siblings are not subject to automatic burying until the review of the first card is graded, so simply Skipping a card won’t bury anything.
Burying the entire note avoids that issue, because the siblings are buried too.
Skipping the entire note seems like it would have to be an option, for the same reason, but again – it’s the exact same result.
Unburying the manually-buried cards does unbury all the siblings, but then the same gather/sort options would apply as they did the first time around, and the same card should be offered.
Presumably, since you’d likely need to Skip the entire note, the gather/sort options will also choose the same card after a Skip.
The only thing that Skip would save you here is the Unbury step, but that is a negligible time savings, isn’t it?
See a card that I can’t answer, but feel like I should know the answer
Leave Anki for a minute or two to focus on something else
Return to Anki and immediately know the answer
Yup, that happens with me too. I remember Barbara Oakley talking about this in her famous Mind for Numbers book. Might be particularly helpful for math etc.
I actually think I’ve seen a different app having this “Skip” button and it was meant to be an alternative for Anki.
I was trying to say that when you unbury all cards from the deck you’ve just finished reviewing (e.g., clicking at “One or more cards where buried, and will be shown tomorrow. You can unbury them if you wish to see them immediately.”) you end up unburying the manually buried cards you tried to skip until later and the siblings of other cards that were buried automatically.
I just saw @sorata response is:buried-manually and I think it could work as a solution (especially when reviewing cards in mobile).
Although it might seem like a minor enhancement, I still think a native skip button could be useful. As mentioned in the responses, it would provide a more straightforward option compared to the bury/unbury function. It would also address situations where you have manually buried a card for a different purpose than skipping and don’t necessarily want to unbury it. For instance, you might bury a card after accidentally glimpsing the answer to ensure it reappears the next day for proper recall, or when notes with similar content are shown on the same day, and you bury one to space them out (among other scenarios).
I understand it might be seen as a small quality-of-life improvement, but I believe it could still play a valuable role in enhancing the overall experience!
