Installing new deck that requires updated version not opening

Anki Help
1

I’m trying to import a new deck but I keep getting this error message: “unable to read file. it probably requires a newer version of Anki to import. try unchecking ‘legacy import/export handling’ under Preferences > Editing > Import/Export and see if the problem persists.”

However, I do have the newest version of Anki (Version ⁨24.11 (87ccd24e) Python 3.9.18 Qt 6.6.2 PyQt 6.6.1). Does anyone know how to fix this? Thanks!

2

I disabled Special Fields and it only imported 11 notes and didn’t import 2.3k notes. What do i do?

3

Some things to check –

  1. Have you tried importing with all of your add-ons disabled (including Special Fields, which is known to cause this issue)? See: safe mode.
  2. Do you have Tools > Preferences > Editing > Legacy import/export – turned off? [It is possible this switch was removed in 24.11, so let me know if you don’t see it]
  3. Do you know the source of the deck? For instance, did the person have add-ons disabled when they exported? Did they have Legacy import/export turned off? Did they select “Support older versions” during export?
  4. Do you get the same error when you import it in AnkiMobile?
  1. What reasons did you get in the post-import report for why the others weren’t imported?
4

So I imported using a different profile and it was able to work – I think the issue was the duplicate cards. Do you know how I can import a deck that already has some duplicate cards as existing decks?

5

You’re importing notes – and based on their note type, Anki is making cards from them. The notes are being seen as matches because they have the same note type and (at least) the same first field. [They might also have underlying matching note IDs/GUIDs.]

Ordinarily, you wouldn’t need to duplicate your notes. The typical options are (a) use that new deck to update the fields of your existing notes, or (b) preserve your existing notes by skipping the notes that match. Are you trying to do something different than that?

6

So I have Deck A and Deck B already imported. this new deck (Deck C) merges cards from Deck A and Deck B into 1 deck, and it accounts for the information included in Deck B that isn’t found in Deck A (although none of the cards in A or B are identical, some just have the same overlapping content)

7

That is very confusing. You need to think of these as notes – a note has a note type and a first field, and that’s how Anki is going to determine what is a duplicate and what isn’t.

What do you want to have happen when there is a Deck C note that matches a note in Deck A or Deck B?

8

Hmm ok, I’d like for all the notes to still be present (i.e. Deck A and B notes remain in my anki unchanged, and Deck C gets added)

9

Why? Is that because you plan on studying the duplicate cards in the future? And splitting your review history between them (which I hope you can tell is a bad idea)? Or is there some other reason?

Because as I said above, you’ll generally want to avoid that –

10

In that case I think I’ll just stick to my 2 separate decks then, but thank you so much for your help!