Updated Note Type - Deck Import now fails

Anki Help
1

I use Anki on Widows 11. Anki is up to date.

Deck / Import File has been working. My master file is on Excel.

I updated my Note Type (FWD and REV) / Fields to add a field.
Before:
1 - UniqueID
2 - Article
3 - Spanish
4 - English

After:
1 - UniqueID
2 - Type
3 - Article
4 - Spanish
5 - English

I updated my Note Type / Cards to display Type on its own line both Front and Back.

My master file now contains a column for Type that is non-blank. I added Type to #columns: in my txt file.

When I do an Import File, in the popup…
“File” shows 6 fields, instead of the 5 identified in #columns: …
1 - GUID
This is a unique row identifier that I generate.
It is non-blank and the first field in my master file.
2 - Type
3 -
I don’t know where this is coming from. It is not in my master file.
4 - Article (actual data shows under 3)
5 - Spanish (actual data shows under 4)
6 - English (actual data shows under 5, and 6 is empty)
“Import options” shows the correct Deck, but the wrong Note Type. That’s easily changed.
“Field mapping” shows…
GUID 1: GUID
Type 2: Type
Article 4: Article
Spanish 5: Spanish
English 6: English
Tags (nothing)

I stop at this point because the data is misaligned.

I don’t know where field 3 is coming from or how to get rid of it. Do you have any ideas?

Jack

2

Can you post the following – as text –
```

each in a preformatted/code-block (by putting backticks above and below it).

```

  1. Post the header rows and first few rows of the CSV you are importing.
  2. Make a fresh export (as plain text) of a few notes that use this note type. Post the header rows and first few rows of that exported CSV.
3

Here are the first few rows of my input txt file

#separator:Tab
#columns:GUID	Type		Article	Spanish	English
dcfbc82a-894a-5fcd-2e9d-0547ecae29b8	Phrase		…se me/te/le/nos/os/les da/dan bien/fatal	I'm good/bad at 
4573045b-fa65-f727-65cd-adf99fdb91bc	Phrase		100 y más de 100	100 and more than 100
8b6c691f-1865-63b6-8adc-83d55b3b6fa9	Abbreviation		A	"A, ampere"
8b19f35d-37bc-6b74-e0b3-0b7213f53c59	Noun	la	a	"a, A"
d890e6ae-ec57-4067-c1e3-22db52173fa1	Preposition		a	"to, at, per, every, in the, for a, over a"
fd3b429c-c0df-bcf6-cf5f-631d2af34a4c	Phrase		a buenas horas	"late, too late, with much delay (ironic expression - NOT ""at the right time"")"
4215a0a8-7f36-01f6-0aba-058592d8efea	Preposition		a cargo de	"in charge of, responsible for, in the care of"
11f24817-7320-2466-0322-a507a8dc4d4c	Phrase		a ciegas	"blindly, in the dark"

My deck is currently empty

4

Here is my Fields definition

image
image574Ă—473 12.5 KB

Here is my Front side Card definition

image
image1036Ă—679 20.1 KB

Here is the Back side

image
image1034Ă—676 20.5 KB

5

It’s a bit confusing here. Try a code-block like this:

```
The text should be pasted in between the backticks.
```

Have you checked the correct syntax on Text Files - Anki Manual?

6

Danika -

I updated my Forum post.

Jack

7

Here’s what I see when I try “Import file”

image
image803Ă—469 18.9 KB

image
image802Ă—472 16.2 KB

image
image791Ă—468 15.8 KB

The txt file was created by:
1 - SaveAs the xlsx file to Unitcode Text
2 - Re-opening the txt file in Notepad and saving with UTF-8 encoding.
3 - Editing the two # lines at the top

8

A quick way to find these issues yourself is to create a dummy note and output a CSV. Then you’ll know for sure what it should look like.

  1. You’ve got an inconsistent number of separators in your #columns header – which results in that unlabeled 3rd filed/column, and everything else shifting over after that.
    image
    image657Ă—152 6.41 KB
  1. You’re not specifying the Deck or the Note type in your file headers, so Anki won’t know which ones you want to use until you select them in the import options. That it shows the correct deck is a coincidence.
1 Like
9

Yes, “#columns:” had a one-character tab that should not have been there.

Unfortunately, correcting the tabs did not solve the problem.

The first data record was, correctly, blank in the Article field. I put an “x” in that first data record and Import file worked fine after selecting the correct Import Options.

I’ve added the “x” to my master file. That data record is likely to remain my first record for some time.

Of the fields in my Note Type, Article is the only one that is correctly blank (on almost half of the data records). My master file has over 13,000 rows at this time and is slowly growing.

Thank you.

10

Once the separators were fixed, it certainly should have lined up just fine. But it you got it working nonetheless and that doesn’t bother you, I guess there’s no reason to keep messing with it.

There’s really no need to maintain 13K notes in your text file. There’s no specific limit, but the longer that file gets, the longer importing will take each time while Anki checks all of your notes. You also increase the risk of running into issues – and gain no advantage from it.

11

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.