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What Is Backed Up, How, and How to Recover

If Anki matters to you, backups are not optional.

1. Why Backups Matter in Anki (More Than You Think)

Anki decks represent:

  • Thousands of hours of thinking
  • Carefully designed notes
  • Personalized scheduling history

Losing an Anki collection means:

  • Losing intervals
  • Losing learning progress
  • Losing the state of your memory

Anki backups protect far more than card text.

2. What Exactly Needs to Be Backed Up

Anki data consists of three layers:

2.1 Content

  • Notes
  • Fields
  • Tags
  • Deck structure

2.2 Scheduling State

  • Review history
  • Intervals
  • Ease factors
  • Due dates

2.3 Media

  • Images
  • Audio
  • Screenshots
  • Diagrams

A good backup strategy covers all three.

3. Anki’s Built-In Automatic Backups

3.1 How Auto Backups Work

Every time you:

  • Open Anki
  • Close Anki
  • Sync

Anki silently creates a backup of:

  • Your entire collection database

These are stored locally.

3.2 What Is Included

Included:

  • All decks
  • All notes
  • All scheduling data

Not included:

  • Media files (images/audio)

This distinction is critical.

3.3 Where Auto Backups Are Stored

Typical locations:

  • macOS ~/Library/Application Support/Anki2/<Profile>/backups/
  • Windows %APPDATA%\Anki2\<Profile>\backups\
  • Linux ~/.local/share/Anki2/<Profile>/backups/

Files look like:

collection-2026-02-08-09-30.colpkg

They are timestamped snapshots.

3.4 How Many Backups Are Kept

Default:

  • Last 50 backups

Oldest backups are deleted automatically.

You can change this in:

Preferences → Backups

4. Restoring from an Automatic Backup

4.1 When to Restore

Common cases:

  • Accidental mass deletion
  • Bad add-on behavior
  • Sync conflict resolution mistake
  • Corrupted collection

4.2 Restore Process (Desktop)

  1. Open Anki
  2. File → Switch Profile
  3. Click Open Backup
  4. Choose a backup by timestamp
  5. Confirm restore

This replaces your current collection.

⚠️ Restore before syncing again.

5. AnkiWeb Sync Is NOT a Backup

This is a very common misconception.

5.1 What Sync Does

  • Keeps devices consistent
  • Mirrors changes everywhere

5.2 What Sync Does NOT Do

  • No version history
  • No undo
  • No protection from mistakes

If you delete something and sync:

  • It is deleted everywhere

👉 Sync = replication, not backup.

6. Full Export Backups (Manual)

6.1 Why Manual Exports Matter

Manual exports:

  • Include media files
  • Are portable
  • Can be stored offline

Use them as milestones:

  • Monthly
  • Before major edits
  • Before add-on experiments

6.2 How to Export Properly

  1. Select All Decks
  2. File → Export
  3. Choose:
    • Format: Anki Deck Package (*.apkg)
    • ✔️ Include media
    • ✔️ Include scheduling information

This creates a self-contained archive.

6.3 What an .apkg Contains

  • All notes
  • All cards
  • Scheduling state
  • All media files

This is the gold standard backup.

7. Media Folder Backup (Often Forgotten)

Media files live separately from the database.

Folder:

collection.media/

Problems if not backed up:

  • Missing images
  • Broken audio
  • Blank cards

Best practice:

  • Back up the entire Anki2 folder, not just files inside it.

8. Profiles and Backups

Each profile has:

  • Separate collection
  • Separate backups
  • Separate media

If you use multiple profiles:

  • Back them all up
  • Restore carefully to the correct profile

9.1 The 3-Layer Model

  1. Anki auto backups (short-term safety)
  2. Manual .apkg exports (medium-term safety)
  3. System-level backups (long-term safety)

Examples:

  • Time Machine (macOS)
  • Cloud storage
  • External disk

9.2 When to Create Manual Backups

Always do it before:

  • Installing new add-ons
  • Bulk editing notes
  • Changing note types
  • Importing large decks

10. Recovering from Common Disaster Scenarios

Scenario 1: Accidental Deletion

→ Restore from auto backup

Scenario 2: Broken Media

→ Restore collection.media from system backup

Scenario 3: Sync Conflict Gone Wrong

→ Restore backup, then force upload

Scenario 4: Add-on Corruption

→ Restore backup made before installation

11. Things Backups Cannot Save You From

  • Poor card design
  • Overloaded decks
  • Burnout from too many reviews

Backups protect data — not decisions.

12. Golden Rules to Remember

  1. Sync is not backup
  2. Auto backups don’t include media
  3. Manual exports are your lifeline
  4. Never sync after a mistake before restoring
  5. Back up before experimenting

Final Mental Model

Anki backups preserve not just information, but time.

Your decks represent:

  • Past effort
  • Future efficiency

Protect them like source code.