Recover anki deck after factory rest (no account)

[setarad42]

Hi Anki team,

I’m relatively new to the app so I did not realise there was a sign up option prior. Unfortunately my laptop was not working so it has had a full factory reset and I had to redownload anki. When I opened anki, my decks were no longer there. I attempted to sync to ankiweb however, because I didn’t have an account, nothing showed up. I have now signed up and created an account but I am afraid it may be too late. Is there any possible way to recover my anki decks ? Also for future reference, does creating an ankiweb account automatically save my data (i.e. if I get a new laptop/ delete the app, will I be able to recover it?).

Thank you for reading this!

[suiyuan]

I don’t think you car recover your collection now, since all your local backups must have been deleted when restoring your laptop. If local files were not deleted, you can try to get a backup from File - Switch Profile - Open Backup...

Regarding saving your collection int the future future, yes, having an ankiweb account will keep a copy of your progress on the cloud. You should sync regularly or, alternatively, you can go to Tools - Preferences - Syncing and check Automatically sync on profile open/close.