# Syncing problem last few days **URL:** \ **Category:** Syncing & AnkiWeb\ **Created:** [January 4, 2026, 10:05am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-problem-last-few-days/68082 "2026-01-04T10:05:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b2d939/32.png) [@jenzo](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/jenzo)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 10:05am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-problem-last-few-days/68082/1 "2026-01-04T10:05:15Z")
Hi there, Last few days am getting the following message ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/anki2/original/3X/2/f/2f8358072420aadc518fc06649a4d3efd360509b.png) Prior to this message it does pop up that the sync is complete ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/anki2/original/3X/5/f/5f10fe2ea940196194497c7430c5c114ea733186.png) And when I check anki on other devices it seems to sync with no issues, although im not certain whether all the media files are synced. No issues syncing with other devices. Ive tried hotspotting and restarting the computer but seems to be an ongoing issue. Would appreciate any help possible, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![ZornHadNoChoice](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/forums.ankiweb.net/zornhadnochoice/32/28874_2.png) [@ZornHadNoChoice](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/ZornHadNoChoice)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 10:12am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-problem-last-few-days/68082/2 "2026-01-04T10:12:35Z")
This seems related to [Can't sync since 1/1/2026](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/cant-sync-since-1-1-2026/68040). The solution there was to increase the timeout in the settings. ---
**Author:** ![jenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b2d939/32.png) [@jenzo](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/jenzo)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 10:39am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-problem-last-few-days/68082/3 "2026-01-04T10:39:56Z")
Thanks for that, unfortunately just tried this trick and no change. Even tried increasing the timeout to 50s and retried hotspot ---
**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:** [January 4, 2026, 3:25pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-problem-last-few-days/68082/4 "2026-01-04T15:25:56Z")
If you are syncing successfully and still getting the timeout message, it’s likely related to your media – which syncs in the background after your collection database is completed. Have you run `Tools > Check Media` lately? Does it find any oversized files, or unused media you can clean up? ---
**Author:** ![jenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b2d939/32.png) [@jenzo](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/jenzo)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 9:40pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-problem-last-few-days/68082/5 "2026-01-04T21:40:17Z")
Thanks for your help. It seems i have a lot of unused files 2164. Im not sure how to check if these are part of my notes, would it be safe to delete them? ---
**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:** [January 5, 2026, 2:03am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-problem-last-few-days/68082/6 "2026-01-05T02:03:35Z")
There are (at least) 2 reasons it is safe to delete them. - They show up in this scan as “unused” specifically because Anki hasn’t found them mentioned in the fields of your notes. [Media - Anki Manual](https://docs.ankiweb.net/media.html#checking-media) - Deleting them through this interface only moves them as far as the `media.trash` folder – which means they won’t be synced anymore, and Anki on this device won’t use them. But if you notice images are missing in the next few days, you’ll still be able to recover them from there. If you’ve imported decks with media in the past and later deleted them, it’s very normal to have unused files. If you want, you can “View Files” to start looking at some of those and see if they look like something you need. Or you can search your collection for those filenames. But that’s probably being overly cautious. ---
**Author:** ![jenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b2d939/32.png) [@jenzo](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/jenzo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 11:17am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-problem-last-few-days/68082/7 "2026-01-05T11:17:41Z")
Thanks for explaining, unfortunately still the same issue happening. Ive been tracking my recent edits and the media files are not being uploaded - on another computer they’ve come up as missing images. Things seem to sync on other devices fine just this desktop but unfortunately it is much easier to use my desktop make flashcards compared to the laptop. ---
**Author:** ![jenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b2d939/32.png) [@jenzo](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/jenzo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 11:35am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-problem-last-few-days/68082/8 "2026-01-05T11:35:01Z")
Update - have to tried add in those missing images (15 images) on my laptop and now getting the same messages there ---
**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:** [January 5, 2026, 9:02pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-problem-last-few-days/68082/9 "2026-01-05T21:02:23Z")
> [@jenzo](#): > > the media files are not being uploaded - on another computer they’ve come up as missing images. Yes, that’s because your media sync is timing out. - Have you run Check Media on each device to see what the differences are (in missing/unused files)? - Do you have media syncing enabled on all of your devices? - Are these missing files particularly large? ---
**Author:** ![jenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b2d939/32.png) [@jenzo](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/jenzo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 7:09am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-problem-last-few-days/68082/10 "2026-01-06T07:09:46Z")
I’ve deleted all unused images on all 4 of my devices. Medial syncing enabled on all devices. I dont think the missing files are particularly large. Have previously added much larger or higher number of images with no issues. Unfortunately same problem ☹ ---
**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:** [January 6, 2026, 7:35am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-problem-last-few-days/68082/11 "2026-01-06T07:35:02Z")
If your devices weren’t all fully in sync (including media) when you deleted the unnecessary media, it’s likely that Anki will be (helpfully) restoring it for you as you sync. So you might keep seeing the same problem. Try choosing just one device – log out of AnkiWeb in Preferences, and then click sync and log in again. That will cause sync to rescan through all of your media. Once that device is fully and successfully synced (which might take several tries, because you have over 5 GB of media in your account), you can try that with the next device too. ---
**Author:** ![jenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b2d939/32.png) [@jenzo](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/jenzo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 8:30am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-problem-last-few-days/68082/12 "2026-01-06T08:30:14Z")
Thank you, it works now! Turns out some of my images were too big! Back to study! ---
**Author:** ![jenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b2d939/32.png) [@jenzo](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/jenzo)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 1:42am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-problem-last-few-days/68082/13 "2026-01-16T01:42:54Z")
Hi again, Since this has happened, I’ve noticed that I can’t upload as many photos as I used to on anki. I’ve been cautious to not use large files but still keep getting the timed out message from time to time and then have to end up deleting my media file. I’m wondering if there is a maximum amount of media or storage and how to avoid getting the timed out message when uploading images? Thank you! ---
**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:** [January 16, 2026, 6:59am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-problem-last-few-days/68082/14 "2026-01-16T06:59:52Z")
There’s an individual-file size ilimt – [Are there limits on file sizes on AnkiWeb? - Anki FAQs](https://faqs.ankiweb.net/are-there-limits-on-file-sizes-on-ankiweb.html) – are you hitting that? Have you run Check Media again, since getting your devices in sync? If you deleted the media when you devices were out-of-sync, Anki may have “helpfully” restored that for you. Make sure your devices are fully in sync, then delete that media again. Looking at your AnkiWeb account, you’ve got a reasonably sized collection database – 18 MB – but a huge amount of media – over 5 GB. You can use the [Note Size add-on](https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1188705668) to figure out what notes in your collection are using the largest files. Once that’s installed and you restart, you can display the “Size (files)” column in the Browse window, and sort by it. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/anki2/original/1X/8f1279ababc5879d54e4838989f606cfe55af8c7.jpeg) [@system](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2026, 7:00am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/syncing-problem-last-few-days/68082/15 "2026-02-15T07:00:09Z")
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