# Syncing first time from Anki desktop to Ankiweb on iPhone **URL:** \ **Category:** Help\ **Created:** [March 5, 2024, 3:55am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-first-time-from-anki-desktop-to-ankiweb-on-iphone/41991 "2024-03-05T03:55:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ixnorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dec6dc/32.png) [@ixnorm](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/ixnorm)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 3:55am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-first-time-from-anki-desktop-to-ankiweb-on-iphone/41991/1 "2024-03-05T03:55:25Z")
New user. I had Ankiweb on my iPhone first. One deck. 4 cards. I added the Anki app to my Windows laptop. I wanted to sync with my iPhone. The first time I synced, Anki asked me upload or download from device (or something to that effect). I chose to go from iPhone to Laptop. It added those 4 cards to my new laptop deck. Then I added several cards to the desktop deck and synced. The app did not ask about upload or download. It just overwrote by desktop deck with the 4 cards from the iPhone. 🤦🏽‍♀️ How do I change the direction of the sync to go from desktop to iPhone? I searched in the forum and didn’t find this problem. Thank you for your help. Linda ---
**Author:** ![Danika\_Dakika](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/forums.ankiweb.net/danika_dakika/32/17815_2.png) [@Danika\_Dakika](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/Danika_Dakika)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 6:17am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-first-time-from-anki-desktop-to-ankiweb-on-iphone/41991/2 "2024-03-05T06:17:56Z")
> [@ixnorm](#): > > The first time I synced, Anki asked me upload or download from device (or something to that effect). Yes, initial sync is always forced in one direction. [Syncing with AnkiWeb - Anki Manual](https://docs.ankiweb.net/syncing.html) > [@ixnorm](#): > > The app did not ask about upload or download. It just overwrote by desktop deck with the 4 cards from the iPhone. > > How do I change the direction of the sync to go from desktop to iPhone? Sync won’t be forced in one direction unless there is an irreconcilable conflict. You don’t need to do anything to merge the 2 collections together. Anki will manage that, and it will tell you if that’s not possible – because then you’ll have some decisions to make. It’s very unlikely that Anki overwrote your info. That would mean that Anki recognized them as identical – same type, same first field, same ID numbers – and you would have already gotten a Duplicate warning for that. Not to mention, Anki wouldn’t overwrite newer info with older info. Respectfully, a more likely explanation is that when you created those _Notes_ [you enter Notes, Anki makes as many Cards as you want from each of them – [Getting Started - Anki Manual](https://docs.ankiweb.net/getting-started.html#key-concepts)], their Cards didn’t go into the decks you thought they did. They aren’t gone, they just wandered off. 😉 If your whole collection is just 8 cards now, go to the Browse window, empty out the search bar, and press Enter – ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/anki2/original/3X/f/9/f9b705fba47daf77c949f780d76fe3498ac2ef3b.png) I expect you’ll see everything there – and just have some rearranging to do (look for “Change Deck” in the manual). If I’m wrong, and Anki has gone rogue, it’s a great time for you to get familiar with the backup system – [Restoring an Automatic Backup (Recovering from Data Loss) - Frequently Asked Questions](https://faqs.ankiweb.net/restoring-an-automatic-backup-recovering-from-data-loss.html). You can likely restore anything that was lost. ---
**Author:** ![ixnorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dec6dc/32.png) [@ixnorm](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/ixnorm)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 8:04am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-first-time-from-anki-desktop-to-ankiweb-on-iphone/41991/3 "2024-03-05T08:04:25Z")
Yes! I see them in the search! 🥳 Okay. I’ll read in the manual how to put them in a deck. Thank you! I was concerned about repeating the same error. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/anki2/original/1X/8f1279ababc5879d54e4838989f606cfe55af8c7.jpeg) [@system](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 8:04am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-first-time-from-anki-desktop-to-ankiweb-on-iphone/41991/4 "2024-04-04T08:04:29Z")
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