Import function no longer remembers deck import settings

Upgraded to 2.1.57 from 2.1.54.
I love the undo function for import. That being I’ve run into usability issues.

The import function used to remember, for each deck:

  • the delimiter
  • the note type
  • field allocation

Now this has to be set every time.
For someone like me who imports several times a day, this is incredibly error-prone. Can we please go back to remembering the import settings for each deck?

In other words, before, all of the following was correctly pre-filled, it was remembered. Having to re-select it is not only time-consuming but really dangerous for the collection as it would be easy to import the wrong fields or into the wrong type.

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While the heuristic for presetting import options has indeed changed, I don’t think it ever rememberd deck-specific options.
Anyway, you can now include file headers for a more robust and powerful workflow.

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I import at least three separate decks a day, and each time Anki remembers the type, the separator and all the other details.

This is fantastic and extremely intriguing. Really happy about this.
Before I reinstall 2.1.57, let me make sure I understand.

  1. I don’t see a header for “Update existing notes when first field matches”, which is what I use. Is that the default?
  2. Does #html:true stand for “Allow HTML in fields”? That’s what I’m understanding from the manual, but not sure.
  3. My last field is for tags. Is it correct to specify it like so?
    #columns:ID;Front;Back;Tags
  4. Or should I remove tags from the above definition, and define it like this?
    #tags column:4
    (Is this a correct key:value definition? The space in tags column is throwing me off.)

Here’s a draft header, wondering if I’m on the right track.

#separator:Semicolon
#html:true
#deck:Türkçe::Assimil
#notetype:Assimil_Turkish
#columns:ID;Front;Back;Tags
#tags column:4

I don’t think we support specifying the update behaviour in the header yet, but that might be nice to add. I think #2 is correct; will let Rumo answer the other two.

  1. The preset value is simply what you used last time.
  2. Yes.
  3. It doesn’t hurt, but it’s not required.
  4. This is the correct header. There’s nothing special about spaces.

Regarding 1., I think we’ve discussed that before and didn’t include a header for it because this information is not exactly related to the contents of the file. But that is not to say we can’t still add one.

Terrific. Thank you.
Interested in 1. (a header for “Update existing notes when first field matches”) in the future in order to minimize the number of clicks.

Regarding things that are “simply what you used last time”, which are wonderful, to save the work of navigating to different folders when importing into different decks, I’d like to put in a suggestion for prepopulating the file name (or even just the folder name) that was used last time when the deck was imported. Just in case it makes sense to you and seems straightforward to implement. (I wince as I write those words, having lost many days of my life to things that seemed “straightforward to implement”.)

Thank you very much for educating me about the headers. And all the rest. Anki keeps getting stronger. I’ve sent loads of people there through decks I’ve made, but still wonder how come it’s not used by every student on the planet. :slight_smile:

I must have forgotten about that. It does seem like a reasonable argument, and if we’re remembering the last setting, doesn’t seem too pressing to change.

I’m not sure what you mean here. When I use File>Import, it opens to the directory that was used last time. Do you mean something different?

Hi Damien,

You’re right that it remembers the last directory that was used during the import function, but not the last directory that was used for the specific deck into which a file is being imported. So if you’re importing into five decks that reside in five distinct folders, you’re constantly having to navigate to the right directory. It would be sweet if Anki could remember the last import directory for each deck.

Then you would first have to specify the deck you want to import into, which requires only slightly less effort at best.
But above all, most users probably don’t have complex folder structures corresponding to their decks. For them it would be more work and less intuitive if the import dialog didn’t remember the last location unconditionally.

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Hi Rumo, thank you for your reply.
I’m not sure I fully understand your message.

Then you would first have to specify the deck you want to import into, which requires only slightly less effort at best.

In my daily imports, I do select each deck I want to import into prior to importing. I do this by clicking on the deck then pressing D to return to the list of decks: the deck I clicked on is now highlighted. When I then press Ctrl + I to import, the deck into which the file will be imported is preselected, which is wonderful. The work lies in then navigating for the correct file for each deck.

For them it would be more work and less intuitive if the import dialog didn’t remember the last location unconditionally.

I’m having a hard time following your reasoning. If Anki correctly remembers the last folder from which the selected deck was imported, how will users get confused? I must be missing something. But please don’t feel you need to explain, you have more important things to do.

Wishing you and Damien a beautiful day.

Hi guys,

As I understood it and that is how is my experience, Anki remembers the path from the last import. I do an upload from one and the same source directory into my 5 decks. So I’m very happy how it is working right now. To do 5 times a Ctrl + D and Ctrl + I for each import is a littlebit awkward and time consuming for me.

If you want to do something in order to support ankylosis, is there a possibility to put a maintainable path directory in „Options“ and if not populated then the last used path will be taken.

Out of this I assume both sides are happy.

Best Regards,
Martin

Hi Martin,

Thank you for explaining your workflow. Nice to meet another “importer”. :slight_smile:
I appreciate and respect your needs, but I really don’t see how setting a per-deck memorized last-used import folder would change the situation for you in any way. If the selected deck has never been imported into, then the last directory (of any import) can just be used.

I’m confused as to why this would need to be an “either / or” thing.
Thank you for considering my use case, by the way.

I do understand that this question is unimportant in the greater scheme of things and that Damien and Rumo no doubt have more important things to do. :slight_smile:

I’m afraid per-deck default folders sounds like a bit of a niche feature, but I’ll keep an eye on demand for this.

Thank you, Damien.

For the record, we got talking about folder, but my original (perhaps niche) wish is for Anki to remember the list file that was imported into a specific deck. (Or to have a field in the deck’s options to specify the path to the default file to be imported.)

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