Request to restore an older AnkiWeb server backup after accidental overwrite

Anki Syncing & AnkiWeb
1

Hi,

I’m hoping you can help me recover an older version of my Anki collection.

I recently had to completely reset my Mac after a security issue. Before resetting it, I backed up my local Anki2 folder to a USB drive.

Unfortunately, before I realized there was a problem, my AnkiWeb collection had already been overwritten by an incorrect/newer version of my collection. I later discovered that the USB backup I made also appears to contain the post-overwrite version.

I have checked:

  • My local collection.anki2

  • The collection.anki2-wal file

  • The automatic backups on the USB

  • Older .apkg and .colpkg files

  • iCloud Drive

None of these contain the correct pre-overwrite collection.

Would you please check whether there are any server-side AnkiWeb backups from before the accidental overwrite that could be restored?

The version I am trying to recover should contain my original decks along with my previous review history, scheduling, intervals, and card progress.

I have stopped syncing for now so I do not overwrite anything further.

Please let me know what information you need from me to identify my AnkiWeb account or locate the appropriate backup.

Thank you very much for your help.

3

If you’ve got your Anki2 folder, you’ve got literally dozens of backups of your collection, going back days/weeks/months. If you had something in your collection so briefly that wasn’t captured in any of those, there’s very little chance it was captured on AnkiWeb. Look for the backup made closest in time to whatever action overwrote your collection. If you’re not sure when it was, check the one before that, and the one before that, etc.

You also sync your account with another device, and that device has its own set of dozens of backups as well.

Perhaps it would help us find solutions for you if you provided more detail about what happened to overwrite your collection, and where the newer version of your collection came from.

If you can’t find anything among your own local backups, you’ll have to give me some sort of time frame for when “before” the overwrite was.

If your account isn’t the one attached to the email address you used to post here, you’ll have to tell me more so I can locate it. You can add the correct email address to your Forums profile here, as a secondary/alternate email address.