Identical template error when renaming note type

Anki Help
1

Steps to reproduce

  1. Go to manage note types.
  2. Click on the basic note type then cards.
  3. Add a card type with front template {{Front}}{{Back}}.
  4. Save, click on fields, and delete the back field.
  5. Try to rename the note type to Basic2.

Expected behavior

The note type is renamed successfully.

Actual behavior

You get an error message:

Card template <U+2068>2<U+2069> in note type '<U+2068>Basic2<U+2069>' has a problem.<br>The front side is identical to card template <U+2068>1<U+2069>.

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]
2

It works fine for me.

Version

Anki 25.09.2 (3890e12c) (ao)
Python 3.13.5 Qt 6.9.1 PyQt 6.9.1
Platform: Linux-6.12.41+deb13-amd64-x86_64-with-glibc2.41

===Add-ons (active)===
(add-on provided name [Add-on folder, installed at, version, is config changed])
'' ['Convert_ODS_to_CSV_then_import', 0, 'None', '']
'' ['myaddon', 0, 'None', '']
AnkiWebView Inspector ['31746032', 2023-06-27T21:26, 'None', '']
Image Occlusion Enhanced ['1374772155', 2022-04-09T09:15, 'None', '']
Modern Stats Dashboard ['1063901297', 2025-06-28T21:14, 'None', '']
Review Heatmap ['1771074083', 2022-06-30T03:43, 'None', '']
Search Stats Extended ['1613056169', 2026-01-17T19:00, 'None', mod]
Simple Forvo Audio Downloader ['560814150', 2024-09-08T15:03, 'None', mod]
Study Time Stats ['1247171202', 2024-02-24T17:59, 'None', '']
Wrapper meta-addon ['396502676', 2025-07-09T17:27, 'None', '']

===IDs of active AnkiWeb add-ons===
1063901297 1247171202 1374772155 1613056169 1771074083 31746032 396502676 560814150

===Add-ons (inactive)===
(add-on provided name [Add-on folder, installed at, version, is config changed])
Study Time Stats ['_______1247171202', 2024-02-24T17:59, 'None', '']
3

Actually, I reproduced your issue.

It does not happen with the Basic note type as you described. But I can reproduce it with Basic (and reversed card). That makes sense since Basic only has one Card Type (by default), whereas Basic (and reversed card) has two.

2 Likes
4

Oh wow thanks, I totally forgot to include that step!

I edited the post.

1 Like
5

Is that the expected behavior though? You’ve used the field-deletion to create a conflict in your card types (identical front templates). You shouldn’t be able to do anything with that note type before you fix that problem.

1 Like
6

Preventing the user from renaming the note type isn’t going to stop them from continuing to use it.

So maybe the expected behavior should be to stop the user from deleting such a field in the first place.

7

Template issues are not reported when doing changes in the Fields dialog. This was changed to fix issues in old collections: Need to handle old collections with colon in field names ¡ Issue #2605 ¡ ankitects/anki ¡ GitHub

Will probably be revisited in the future when the dialog gets reworked.

2 Likes