Importing only some columns with GUID

Anki Help
1

Hello, I’m doing a small test to understand importing, before changing my larger decks.

From researching, I understood that you can use the “(Nothing)” field mappings to import only some columns, but it looks like the first column can’t use “(Nothing)”. So I’m not sure I understand the purpose of “#guid column” - I’d appreciate some advice :folded_hands:

Here is the test deck exported to get the GUID. Test_Note_Type has 4 fields called A,B,C,D - none of these are meant to be an ID number, just data.

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Here is the import text file (I created in LibreOffice). I want to update only fields B & D, and for A & C to stay unchanged.

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(aside - I guess I shouldn’t use a string delimiter when creating this file to avoid the triple quotes?)

When I import the text file, I’m forced to map one of the columns from the import text file to field A in the deck. I expected to be able to choose “(Nothing)” and the GUID would be matched “behind the scenes” because “#guid column: 1”. Does 1 in this case refer to the text file - why would it expect this to be field A in the deck?

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Result is that column A is overwritten with the GUID and B & D are changed. C is not changed. (And an extra note gets created because of the triple quotes).

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Is there any way to change the instructions at the top of the import text file so column A doesn’t change too?

(And can I safely not use a string delimiter to create the import text file in most cases?)

Thank you!

2

You should provide your sample export and import files as text in a preformatted text/code block, so folks can have a closer look.

Also go to Help > About – click Copy Debug Info – and paste that entire result in your response.

3

Hi. The 1 in #guid column:1 is a column in your text file, not a field in the note. That part you read right. What trips you up is that the importer won’t let the first field (A here) be (Nothing), so whatever column you map to A gets written into A. You mapped the GUID column, so A became the GUID.

The fix is to keep A in the file. Export with the GUID included, change only B and D in the spreadsheet, and leave A and C exactly as they came out. Then map each column back to its own field. On import the GUID still finds the note, and A gets overwritten with the same value it already had, so nothing really changes. C can stay on (Nothing) like you already did.

On the string delimiter: you can leave it off only if no field contains your separator, a ", or a line break. If one does, the field needs quotes, and any " inside it gets doubled (""). The manual covers this under “Importing > Text Files”. The triple quotes usually mean the text was quoted twice: once in Anki’s export, then again by LibreOffice on save. It’s also worth opening the saved file in a plain text editor and checking that the # header lines at the top are still bare.