For the past month, whenever I would close anki, it would say
“Please use the Check Database function, then sync again. If problems persist, please force full sync in the preference screen.”
I didn’t think much of it, but today I decided to do force changes in one direction on the next sync to make the popup go away. This in turn deleted all my flashcards from the last month, and they’re nowhere to be found, not even in my backups. Is there any way to get these flashcards back?
I guess you chose “Download” when doing a full sync?
Anki should take a backup before doing a full sync, but some older versions failed to do so due to a bug. The issue was fixed in Anki 2.1.40
Yes you’re right, I chose download without thinking. I am on version 2.1.40 though, so does that mean there should be a backup?
I think so. Not sure why you didn’t find it though. Check the setting in Tools > Preferences > Backups and make sure it’s set to a reasonable value. If the value is low, maybe the backup made when syncing was replaced by a new one after you closed Anki.
THe number of actions that don[t have any confirmation is staggering.
That’s not the case here though. Anki asks the user whether to download or upload when doing a full sync. It’s just that Koolkuba chose download without thinking here, which is a common thing to do unfortunately.