Prevent your decks from being deleted?

[sync2000]

Hi!
Yesterday I received the e-mail “Deletion of your AnkiWeb decks” with the text “Account Expiry… need to delete data from accounts that have not been used in 6 months …”.
Is it enough just to sign in on ankiweb.net in your account to prevent your decks from being deleted?
How many days does one normally have to solve the problem before this deletion?
Best Regards

[sorata]

Read this:

Syncing with AnkiWeb - Anki Manual

Each time you visit ankiweb.net, or use the synchronization feature in Anki, AnkiMobile or AnkiDroid, your account will automatically be marked as active.

[sync2000]

sorata, thank you for the answer.

In the e-mail “Deletion of your AnkiWeb decks” is the phrase: “please visit ankiweb.net and review one or more cards”.
Is this part “review one or more cards” mandatory in this case?
I can’t review a card there. If I click on any chapter in my desk I become “Scheduler Upgrade Required
To study on AnkiWeb, your collection needs to be updated to the V3 scheduler.”
As far as I understand I can’t update to the V3 scheduler. My desktop Anki is on Windows 8 and my AnkiDroid is 2.16.5 (Android 6).
I am afraid they are too old and not compatible with “Anki v3 Scheduler”.
Apart from that, on my devices “v3 Scheduler” is marked as “Beta”, which would be too dangerous for the desk collection.
AnkiDroid: “UNSTABLE. Do not use on a collection you care about. NOT reverted on app close.”

I can’t sync at the moment because of sync error.

[sorata]

@sync2000

Is this part “review one or more cards” mandatory in this case?

I am not sure, let’s see if someone else can tell you this. In whatever case, your local collection is safe and as long as that’s true, you can reuse your account later.

@sync2000

AnkiDroid: “UNSTABLE. Do not use on a collection you care about. NOT reverted on app close.”

I never used v3 on that version of AD, but I knew people who did, so it might not be as dangerous as that message is making it out to be. I’ll not recommend this from my side though.

@sync2000

I can’t sync at the moment because of sync error.

Is that related to the v3 upgrade requirement or something else?

[Danika_Dakika]

@sync2000

Is this part “review one or more cards” mandatory in this case?

Yes. To re-activate your account, you need to follow the instructions in the email you received. There are at least 2 ways to do that.

@sync2000

How many days does one normally have to solve the problem before this deletion?

30 days. As it says in the email.

@sync2000

I am afraid they are too old and not compatible with “Anki v3 Scheduler”.

The v3 scheduler has been included in Anki builds since 2021.

The AnkiDroid version that you’re using came out in 2023 – and in fact was the last version before AnkiDroid switched to v3 enabled by default. You’re smart to be cautious of those warnings, but I can vouch that I personally used that version for many months with the new backend and v3 enabled, and had no problems.

Your desktop Anki version is a bit older than that – but it should be fine to enable v3 there as well (in Preferences).

[sync2000]

@sorata

Is that related to the v3 upgrade requirement or something else?

Thank you for your answers, sorata!
The reason, why I can’t sync at the moment, is that I had already sync error with AnkiWeb some months ago, the problem hasn’t been solved yet: “Sync error with AnkiWeb: many media files added for no reason” [I can’t post a link to this thread, the forum system doesn’t allow me to post any links.]
That sync error was about 5 months ago, that’s why I wonder, why the system wants to delete my account now. I thought it should happen after 6 months of not using Anki (inkl. not syncing).

[sorata]

@sync2000

I thought it should happen after 6 months of not using Anki (inkl. not syncing).

The email comes some time before the actual deletion so it adds up.

Your other thread: Sync error with AnkiWeb: many media files added for no reason

[sync2000]

Thank you for the help, Danika_Dakika!

@Danika_Dakika

The AnkiDroid version that you’re using came out in 2023 – and in fact was the last version before AnkiDroid switched to v3 enabled by default. You’re smart to be cautious of those warnings, but “I can vouch that I personally used that version” (forums. ankiweb. net / t / v3-scheduler-popup/ 39929 / 19) for many months with the new backend and v3 enabled, and had no problems.

You said there, you used V3 scheduler on AnkiDroid 2.16.5 for over 6m with no issues. How old was your mobile phone? My phone isn’ really working good now, with Android 6.

I suppose, I must solve the problem with the sync error first (sorata gives the link in the above message), before I try V3.

[sorata]

@sync2000

You said there, you used V3 scheduler on AnkiDroid 2.16.5 for over 6m with no issues. How old was your mobile phone? My phone isn’ really working good now, with Android 6.

Your Android version shouldn’t be much of an issue.

[Danika_Dakika]

@sync2000

How old was your mobile phone? My phone isn’ really working good now, with Android 6.

If AnkiDroid runs on it, Android version shouldn’t be an issue – the v3 scheduler isn’t like a different version of the app. To answer your question, my tablet has always had (a version of) Android 9.

@sync2000

That sync error was about 5 months ago, that’s why I wonder, why the system wants to delete my account now.

As I said above – the email comes 30 days before the 6-month deadline.

[sync2000]

How can I be sure that I did enough to prevent my decks from being deleted?
Would I receive one more email from the system if something is still not ok and the system still wants to delete my files?

[Danika_Dakika]

No, there’s no follow-up email. If you’re still not able to sync any of your devices, did you go to the https://ankiweb.net/decks site and study (and grade) at least 1 card? That’s all you need to do.

[But resolving your sync issues is in your best interest so that you’ll have a local copy of your collection and you won’t have to worry about your account being inactive.]