Update from 2.1.40 to 2.1.49 - don't want to lose my cards again!

Syncing & AnkiWeb
1

ANKI on Mac,
Last month I randomly lost all of my ANKI decks (around 3000 cards).
I managed to re-download them from the backup file on my computer - all the cards came back but none of the media came with it.
Majoirty of my cards have images of screenshots for the back of the card - so without the media the cards are unusable.
I managed to get the media back - however I don’t actually know how I did it.

Since then I have been syncing everytime I close ANKI to ANKI web.
Recently I have been getting a pop-up to update my ANKI to 2.1.49. And when I go on ANKI web I can’t use it unless I update.
I’m worried if I press update that I will loose my cards again or loose the media on them.

What do I need to do to make sure this doesn’t happen.

Please find attached -

Thank you in advcance for your help :slight_smile:

2

Updating Anki will not affect your media files, but you can still create a backup of your profile’s collection.media folder if you want.

On Mac computers, recent Anki versions store all their files in the ~/Library/Application Support/Anki2 folder. The Library folder is hidden by default, but can be revealed in Finder by holding down the option key while clicking on the Go menu. If you’re on an older Anki version, your Anki files will be in your Documents/Anki folder.
Source: Managing Files - Anki Manual

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Hi ! thank you so much for your response.
Is there any chance I could lose my cards when I update my Anki ?
And is there anything I need to make sure I do before I press update ?

Also is there anything else I should be doing other than syncing my cards to Anki web, to make sure I never lose my cards ?

Sorry I know I have alot of questions :slight_smile:

4

In addition to what kleinerpirat said, you can also do a manual backup of all your data, including media files:
https://docs.ankiweb.net/backups.html#manual-colpkg-backups

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I clicked on the link you attached, but I only seem to find instructions on how to manually backup on Anki 2.1.50. I think I only have 2.1.49 at the moment ?
Is that a problem ?

6

It shouldn’t be a problem.

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I’ve just checked when my last automatic backup was - 25.03.22
Why are there no recent backups ?

8

Ummm… It seems you’re mixing problems :slight_smile:

Did file > export > .colpkg (included media) work?

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I’ve just done it now I think
Do i need to do this every day then to make sure i don’t every lose my cards ?

10

Syncing to ankiweb and the automatic backup feature should be enough in most of the cases.

However, doing a manual backup of all your collection from time to time (specially after adding a lot of new cards) is highly recommend.

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Thank you so much for your help.
Just to clarify -

  • If I was to lose my cards and I had a manual backup I would just need to import the file ?
  • If I imported from ankiweb (as this is probably where the most up-to-date version is) would this include all the media as well ?

Again thank you so much for your help, I’ve had anki since September but for some reason I still don’t understand it all :slight_smile:

12

Yes and yes :slight_smile:

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