Request to Restore Deleted Decks After Period of Inactivity

Anki Syncing & AnkiWeb
1

Hi,

My Anki decks were deleted due to inactivity. Unfortunately, I no longer have access to a backup since I recently changed my laptop’s SSD.

I would like to kindly ask for help in retrieving my decks. These are highly valuable to me, as I have spent a significant amount of time and effort creating and organizing them. I was also planning on sharing them with my fellow students to help them with their studies.

Thank you so much.

2

I’m looking at the AnkiWeb account connected to the email address you used to post here.

The data was removed from this account in September 2025, 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 Docs .

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 March 2025. [Just like a local automatic backup, that does not include any media attached to your collection.] 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).

3

Yes, please restore the March 2025 backup to my AnkiWeb account.

Thank you!

4

I’ve restored that. On your next sync, select download from AnkiWeb.

5

Hi!

I’ve gotten access to my Anki decks. Thank you very much for your help!

6

Hi,

I noticed that the cards containing images are not working. Is there a way to retrieve the media folder as well?

7

No, media is not preserved in server-side backups.