Is it possible to retrieve a stored deck?

Hi,
I’m really sorry if this is answered elsewhere or if it’s a really stupid question. Im not very tech savvy and am struggling to figure out what to do next. I had an ANKI deck under Tahnipyke@hotmail.com but I can’t seem to find it anywhere. I’ve looked on my mobile (ankidroid), which is where I had accessed it previously, and on ankiweb, which is where it was backed up to. If there is any way of recovering/ restoring this i would be really appreciative.
Thanks,
Tahni

You can just sync or restore from a backup.

Yes, the data was removed from your account in June 2023, after it had been inactive for at least 6 months. We delete the data from accounts in our system that aren’t being used for syncing or studying, so AnkiWeb isn’t suitable for long-term storage of your inactive collection – AnkiWeb account removal - Anki FAQs .

However that policy only affects the data on our servers. If you still have a local copy of your collection on any devices where you used Anki / AnkiMobile / AnkiDroid, you can upload your collection to AnkiWeb and resume syncing. You should really check all of your devices, because your collection should still be on any mobile device where you haven’t uninstalled the app – and on any desktop device, even if you did uninstall the app.

Generally when data is removed from an account, that includes the server-side backups. However there is one that was retained in your account – from December 2022. [Just like a local automatic backup, that does not include any media attached to your collection.] I expect that version of your collection is older than whatever you have on your device(s), but if you want me to restore it to your AnkiWeb account, please confirm.


Other things you can do right now –

  • Make sure the email address you’re using for your AnkiWeb account is one that you have permanent access to. If you lose touch with that email, you won’t get important emails from us – like notification that your data is pending deletion. And if you can’t re-verify your email address annually, you might not be able to access AnkiWeb at all.

  • If you know you’re going to take a long break from studying, you can create your own COLPKG backup of your collection and store that in a separate place (e.g., another device, a cloud storage account).

Hi, thankyou for your reply. If you could please restore the backup you have that would be great thankyou. I unfortunately don’t think I have any of my old devices but will definitely check. Thanks for your help, Tahni

It appears that you already have a collection in your AnkiWeb account. If I restore the old 2022 version, it will overwrite whatever is there now. Make sure you have that preserved somewhere, so you can merge the collections after syncing. Please confirm once you’ve done that.

Thankyou. Happy for you to restore. Thankyou

I’ve restored that 2022 version to your account. On your next sync, you will need to select download from AnkiWeb.