Suggestion for Built-in Card Organization in Anki Browser Based on Custom Order (Again...)

[Leukocytte]

When I create cards in Anki, they follow a specific order based on the creation time. For example, in the image where you see cards listed as 1, 2, 3, 4… the order is displayed according to their Due date, which reflects the sequence of card creation.

However, once I start reviewing the cards, the original order is lost when I look at them in the browser. In the second image, the order appears as 2, 1, 4, 3… which messes up the previous organization.

This behavior becomes problematic when trying to organize already created cards. In this example, it’s just numbers, but imagine if I needed to organize a set of cards to ensure I covered all topics of a certain subject in a logical sequence. For instance, I may want cards for a specific disease to appear in the order of Definition, Epidemiology, Risk Factors, Clinical Features, Diagnosis, etc, ON THE BROWSER.

To be clear, I’m not asking to change the order for reviewing (which is managed by Anki’s algorithm), but I want to modify the order in the Browser to help visualize cards systematically.

To address this, I developed an add-on that maps a custom number called Deck ID to each card. It uses the deck name and number, so I can maintain a specific card order in the browser (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…), without altering their review sequence.

Additionally, the add-on includes a “Show Deck IDs and Visible Fronts” option, allowing me to manually reorder cards based on their Deck ID in the browser, which doesn’t interfere with the spaced repetition algorithm.

Currently, I’m using a workaround by storing the Deck ID in a custom field for each card. But wouldn’t it be great if Anki had this feature built-in? This would be particularly useful for organizing large decks without relying on complicated workflows. For example, cards about treatment can be placed next to each other, keeping related content organized.

Could this be implemented using card metadata? It seems like a simple yet powerful way to help users organize their decks more efficiently without affecting the review process…

[Aleksej]

Advanced Browser can sort by any field, and you can add your sort orders. But it does not have anything to move cards.

[Leukocytte]

Yeah, I’m using it (the Advanced Browser) by organizing the cards with the Deck ID. But what I’m suggesting is that this could be a built-in functionality in Anki: associating each card with a variable in the metadata that could be modified (move the cards). So, instead of using a field, it would utilize metadata, which would be exported along with it, and there would be an option to organize the cards based on this metadata.

[Danika_Dakika]

@Leukocytte

When I create cards in Anki, they follow a specific order based on the creation time.
…
However, once I start reviewing the cards, the original order is lost when I look at them in the browser.

If you want to see them in the order they were created instead of the order they are due, you can sort by “Creation” instead of “Due Date.”

[Leukocytte]

But once they’re created, I can’t change it (the position) without deleting the card and all cards after it and creating it again in a exactly order, right? That’s the problem. I can’t think of any way to create a custom order in Anki today that works like the add-on I created.

[Aleksej]

Making it metadata would hide the data unnecessarily. What if you want multiple different orders?

There have been ways to show multiple fields in an editor row. The best of them was Multi-column note editor. Now there is CSS Injector - Change default editor styles; I don’t know if it can be used for specific fields.

[dae]

@Leukocytte

But once they’re created, I can’t change it (the position) without deleting the card and all cards after it and creating it again in a exactly order, right?

The Reposition tool can be used to update the position of cards. And in the upcoming release, there is a Position column you can use, to view the original order once cards have been reviewed.

[Leukocytte]

Do you think that it will work exactly as my add-on?

Because I have one doubt. If a create a new card inside a deck, the new position will be the highest number + 1 using all cards as references or the highest value inside a deck? I guess the first option.

What if a user create a card inside a deck, another in another deck, and so on, and thereafter wants to organize them. Wouldn’t be it extremely difficult?

Couldn’t you make the number of the card reference the name of the deck? As long as it is the case, the user can organize inside a deck.

I’m not at all against the view that it can work, but why don’t simplify?

I don’t know how difficult it is, but why not create a variable of the card that says its position inside a deck?