# Showing new cards in random order

**URL:** <https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/showing-new-cards-in-random-order/4463>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [October 20, 2020, 9:53am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/showing-new-cards-in-random-order/4463 "2020-10-20T09:53:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mtylek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@mtylek](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/mtylek)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 9:53am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/showing-new-cards-in-random-order/4463/1 "2020-10-20T09:53:19Z")

</div>

Is there any chance or plans to introduce real random order for new cards?  
There is an option to show new cards in random order but it seems to not works as the title says.  
Example assumptions:

- New card limit set to 30 per day
- Added 150 new card which means 5 next days
- The last 30 added cards are shown as first. The order is indeed random but the whole group of presented card consist of latest added cards. Not the whole queue.

If we add another 100 cards before we exhaust the current queue then the first added cards will not be presented at all.

Probably the Reposition function within the browser is the answer but it is counterintuitive. “show new cards in random order” option should be a real full random order that involves the whole queue of new cards.

Basically the same should be when we think about due cards. They should be presented in a totally random order. Now I have a feeling that they are presented similarly to their add date order.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![abdo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/forums.ankiweb.net/abdo/32/654_2.png) [@abdo](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/abdo)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 10:12am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/showing-new-cards-in-random-order/4463/2 "2020-10-20T10:12:15Z")

</div>

You can also change the deck setting to ordered mode and back to random mode to resort the cards.

> [@Randomizing Anki cards](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/randomizing-anki-cards/3939/2):
>
> From the [manual](https://docs.ankiweb.net/#/deck-options?id=new-cards): Order controls whether Anki should add new cards into the deck randomly, or in order. When you change this option, Anki will re-sort the decks using the current option group. One caveat with random order mode: if you review many of your new cards and then add more new cards, the newly added material is statistically more likely to appear than the previously remaining cards. To correct this, you can change the order to ordered mode and back again to force a re-sort. So the “s…

I guess what you want would require recalculating order each time you add a new card, which could be bad for performance.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mtylek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@mtylek](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/mtylek)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 10:38am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/showing-new-cards-in-random-order/4463/3 "2020-10-20T10:38:00Z")

</div>

> [@abdo](#):
>
> I guess what you want would require recalculating order each time you add a new card, which could be bad for performance.

Exactly. Your suggestion gives the expected results. Thank you!  
There is another problem which is siblings cards.  
Now when we answer one card the second is buried until the next day.  
It would be great if the second card was buried for a random period, not exact one day.  
The trick that you mentioned seems to do the job this time also.

However, the original question is still valid. Can we have a real random option without any tricks? @dae

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dae](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/forums.ankiweb.net/dae/32/65_2.png) [@dae](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/dae)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 11:15am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/showing-new-cards-in-random-order/4463/4 "2020-10-20T11:15:13Z")

</div>

Maybe in the future - abdo is right in that it works the way it works for performance reasons.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mtylek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@mtylek](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/mtylek)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 11:55am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/showing-new-cards-in-random-order/4463/5 "2020-10-20T11:55:05Z")

</div>

I assume it is because Anki sets an order number to each card and this number is used to present the card in a specific moment.  
Maybe is it possible to use simple 1 to TotalNumberOfCards numeration and use the random function (during the study) to choose which card should be presented?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/anki2/original/1X/8f1279ababc5879d54e4838989f606cfe55af8c7.jpeg) [@system](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/system)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 5:26am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/showing-new-cards-in-random-order/4463/6 "2023-05-01T05:26:11Z")

</div>


