I have been using Anki for 55 days. A few weeks ago, I started experimenting with using filtered decks for the first time for an exam I had coming up. I believe it is working as desired, as far as pulling in all the cards I want it to, but there’s an issue on the stats page. I noticed this issue then, but I was too tight on time to study for the exam so I didn’t get it resolved. Now I’m starting to study for another exam, and the issue has reappeared since I started using a filtered deck again.
The issue: every time I rebuild the filtered deck to pull in new cards that have become due, it will say there is some number of cards in the filtered deck that are VERY over due. Far longer than I’ve been using Anki. I’m talking thousands of days over due. Sometimes, it eventually resolves itself, presumably when it gives me the cards in question to review. If I delete the filtered deck, the problem disappears, without having reviewed the cards in question, however it’ll immediately reappear if I make a new filtered deck using the same search terms.
I am not using any add ons. I have read the “when problems occur” FAQ and tried all the suggestions in there. I am using version 2.1.49, which is the version I originally downloaded. I did not check the box for the v3 scheduler since it said it was beta and being totally new to Anki I didn’t want to mess with something potentially unstable when I installed the program. But since I thought it might be related, I have tried switching it on and off a few times, and it doesn’t seem to make any difference to this issue.
I have restarted both Anki and my computer numerous times since I first noticed this, and it doesn’t help. I ran the “check database” option. Nothing helps.
I’ve never used the browser before. I had already made an account there, so I logged in. But I don’t see where/how to do that in the browser? By browser, you mean the ankiweb site, right?
EDIT:
After thinking about this more, I realized you likely meant to use the “browse” button in the desktop version. So I did that. But all cards in the filtered deck list their due date as (filtered) so I don’t know that there’s anything to learn from that. Unless there’s a way to make it show the due date even while the card is in a filtered deck, but I can’t figure out how.
I can go into the stats page, click on the bar in the “future due” graph (with the backlog button checked so it’s showing those), and it’ll bring me to the “browse” interface showing the cards that are showing up as extremely overdue. However, despite the stats page graph showing that they are 19,001-19,074 days overdue, in the “browse” interface, the due column still just says (filtered).
It might be worth noting that I’m very very much struggling to keep up in this course. So many of these cards are several days overdue, and also many are still in the learning phase. I don’t think that “should” cause this issue. But it’s probably a different experience than most Anki users have, so that might explain why I am seeing what is apparently an uncommon behavior.
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The pros might have a crafty way to do that, but I use the following sledgehammer technique.
In the Decks list, click on the filtered deck.
Click Options
For safety, in the Search field, highlight the search string, copy-paste to a note or text file.
Click Cancel to return to the deck.
Read the note below about “Empty”, then click Empty
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The “Empty” button in the study overview moves all cards in the filtered deck back to their home deck, but does not delete the empty filtered deck. This can be useful if you want to fill it again later (using the Rebuild button).
Now you can see all the cards from the filtered deck. Are there any cards with strange Due dates ?
I didn’t even know there was an empty button. But I found it, and I get the same behavior as I do if I just delete & remake the deck. While the cards are in the filtered deck, crazy due dates show up on the stats page. When the cards are returned to their home deck, the due dates are appropriate.
Anki uses temporary due dates to control the order the filtered deck is shown in. We should probably be looking at the original due date instead in that case.
But I found it, and I get the same behavior as I do if I just delete & remake the deck. While the cards are in the filtered deck, crazy due dates show up on the stats page. When the cards are returned to their home deck, the due dates are appropriate.