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How to Reset Anki Deck (Complete Guide for Desktop, Web, and Mobile)
How to Reset Anki Deck (Complete Guide for Desktop, Web, and Mobile)
- 1 The Reset button lives on desktop only. AnkiMobile, AnkiDroid, and most AnkiWeb sessions do not expose it --- start the reset in the Anki desktop app, then sync to other devices.
- 2 Three commands, one action. Reset, Forget, and Reschedule → Place at end of new card queue do the same thing; Reset is the modern label in Anki 2.1.50+, Forget is the older one.
- 3 Reset keeps your review history. Only the due date, interval, and queue position are cleared. To also wipe the FSRS difficulty and stability counters, install the Reset Card Scheduling add-on (or remove the history entirely with the Remove card history add-on).
- 4 Do not reset because of a backlog. The official Anki FAQ is explicit: lowering the daily review limit and turning off new cards is faster and preserves your memory. Reset only when the card content has truly changed.
- 5 Pair with PDNob for scanned textbooks. Run OCR on image-only PDFs first (Tools → OCR → Convert to Word), then paste the cleaned text into Anki as cloze deletions or basic cards. Free tier covers 120 pages and 15 MB.
Anki now has desktop app, the AnkiWeb app, or the Anki mobile app (AnkiMobile on iPhone / iPad, AnkiDroid on Android), the steps to Reset Anki deck differ slightly through different versions. Sometimes you may not fine correct access to reset the deckes if you are using latest version but only to find guide from forums posts for older versions. This guide walks you through every platform, plus when you should and should not hit reset, and what to do if you change your mind.
Before you start: back up your collection once. On the desktop app, go to File → Create Backup and save the .colpkg file somewhere safe. If anything goes wrong, that single file can restore your entire setup.
Part 1. How to Reset Anki Deck on Desktop (Windows / Mac / Linux)
The Anki desktop app (Windows, macOS, Linux) and AnkiWeb share the same settings through 'Sync' feature, so the the desktop reset flow can update to AnkiWeb.
Step-by-step: Reset on All Anki Cards on Desktop Browse Interface
Open the Anki desktop app and click Browse at the top of the window. In the left sidebar, click the deck you want to reset. Use `Ctrl+A` (Windows / Linux) or `Cmd+A` (macOS) to select every card in that deck.
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Go to the Cards menu and choose Reset. In older versions of Anki (2.1.49 and below), the option is labeled Forget.
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In the dialog box, choose Place at the end of the new card queue and click OK.
Step-by-step:How to Reset a Single Anki Card on Study Interface
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Open the Anki desktop app and turn to your cards. Click Study Now to turn to the card interface.
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Click 'More' button, then 'Reset' card button to reset, or hotkey 'Ctrl+Alt+N' to reset.
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Choose your reset mode, then click OK.
That is it. The cards return to the "new" state and reappear in your review queue as if you had just imported them. If you click Info on any card afterward, you will still see the previous review history, but it no longer affects scheduling.
Part 2.How to Reset Cards on AnkiWeb
In 2025 there is no a direct access to reset card in Anki web. You are supposed to reset it in desktop. The AnkiWeb is only supposed to serve as an easy access to decks rather than a dedicated setting tool.
Sync direction. After resetting on AnkiWeb, the change uploads to your account. If another device has unsynced changes, opening it first and hitting sync can silently overwrite your reset. Always sync other devices before you reset.
Part 3. How to Reset Anki Deck on Mobile (iPhone / Android)
AnkiMobile (iPhone / iPad) and AnkiDroid (Android) do not have a built-in Reset button. This is the single most common source of confusion. The mobile apps expose the deck list, study screen, and a few add-on hooks, but the Cards → Reset command lives only in the desktop app and AnkiWeb. Any reset you want on a phone has to be initiated on a computer and synced back.
Reset on iPhone (AnkiMobile)
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On your computer, open the Anki desktop app. Follow Part 1 above to reset the deck.
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Sync the desktop side first (the green up-arrow icon at the top right) so the reset state uploads to AnkiWeb.
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Open AnkiMobile on your iPhone or iPad. Pull down on the deck list to trigger a sync, or tap the sync icon in the top-right corner.
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When prompted, choose Download from AnkiWeb, not Upload. The deck should now show its reset state.
Reset on Android (AnkiDroid)
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On your computer, reset the deck via the desktop app (see Part 1).
Sync the desktop side first.
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Open AnkiDroid, tap the hamburger menu (top-left), and choose Sync. Confirm Download from server.
Wait for the success message. The deck now reflects the reset.
Tip: Sync after reset on mobile
After resetting on Desktop, open AnkiMobile or AnkiDroid and tap the sync icon (top-right). Choose "Download from AnkiWeb" --- never "Upload", or you'll overwrite your reset. Wait for the green checkmark. Still seeing old data? Force-quit and reopen, or check your AnkiWeb login.
Part 4. Reset vs Forget vs Reschedule --- What's the Difference
In modern Anki (2.1.50+), Reset, Forget, and Reschedule → Place at the end of a new card queue are three names for the same action: move the selected cards to the end of the new queue, treat them as fresh, and keep the review history intact. The difference is mostly the menu path you happen to click.
In older Anki (2.1.49 and below) the labels were split: Forget lived in the Cards menu, Reschedule lived in the Edit menu, and both produced the same result. The official FAQ still lists Edit → Reschedule as the canonical path because it was the first one documented, but the current code path is the same.
How to Tell Which Mode You Actually Need
- If you want the card to behave like new again, then use Reset / Forget / Reschedule (three names, same result).
- If you want to control exactly which day the card is due, then use Set Due Date.
- If you want to re-order new cards but keep their scheduling, then use Reposition.
- If you want to hide a card for a while without changing its data , then use Suspend.
Quick comparison table
Please swipe to view
Why this confusion exists
Older Anki tutorials (and the Anki FAQ) were written when Forget and Reschedule were separate commands in different menus.
As the desktop app evolved, the Anki team merged them into a single Reset action in version 2.1.50, but the documentation, add-on descriptions, sometimes forum posts still mix the three names.
Anki used to have a single Reschedule action, but in 2021 it was split into Set Due Date and Forget. Forget was later renamed to Reset in version 2.1.5. So the old Reschedule is really the equivalent of today's Set Due Date plus Reset. See the original commit: ankitects/anki@704b5e5.
Part 5. Tips on Resetting Anki Deck
The reset button is powerful, and power is easy to misuse. The tips below come from the official Anki FAQ, the FSRS documentation, and recurring mistakes that show up in user forums.
How to Reset an Entire Deck to Brand New
If you want a true factory reset --- no interval, no due date, no counters, no history --- the cleanest path is to export without scheduling and re-import. On the desktop app, go to File → Export, select Anki Deck Package (.apkg), and uncheck "Include Scheduling Information". Save the file, then delete the deck from your collection (right-click → Delete). Finally, File → Import the .apkg you just saved. The deck comes back identical in content but with every card sitting in the new queue.
How to Restart a Deck from Scratch
"From scratch" usually means the same as "brand new", but it can also mean "I want to relearn this with the FSRS algorithm reset". For that case, use the Reset Card Scheduling add-on, then run a small study session to let FSRS rebuild its parameters. If you have a few hundred cards, expect the algorithm to need 50--100 reviews before its predictions stabilize again.
When You Should NOT Reset
The official FAQ is blunt: do not reset because you have a backlog. You will still remember many of those cards, and resetting erases that knowledge. Better options for backlog recovery: lower your Maximum reviews / day in deck options, turn off new cards until you catch up, and let the scheduler catch up naturally.
FSRS User Warning
If you are using the FSRS scheduler, every reset wipes the per-card difficulty and stability estimates that the algorithm has spent weeks accumulating. For a single deck of a few hundred cards, that is annoying but recoverable. For a mature collection of several thousand cards, repeated resets effectively train a new FSRS model from scratch and noticeably hurt retention predictions. Reset only when the card content has genuinely changed.
How to Undo a Reset
Press `Ctrl+Z` (or `Cmd+Z` on macOS) on the desktop app, and the reset reverts. The undo window is short: it works as long as you have not closed thef app, deleted anything else, or synced. If you already synced the reset to AnkiWeb, you have to manually re-reset the affected cards on the desktop app --- the undo will not reach back into the cloud.
Part 6. How to Edit Your PDFs Before Importing to Anki
Scanned textbooks, photocopy notes, and image-only PDFs are a constant pain for Anki users --- you can see the words, but you cannot copy them into cards. The fastest path from paper to Anki deck is a desktop PDF OCR tool like PDNob that handles mixed-language layouts and outputs editable text.
PDNob PDF Editor is a desktop-based PDF editor built for fast response and AI high-precision OCR. It opens documents instantly and recognizes text accurately across languages and layouts, perfect for Anki users handling scanned textbooks, lecture notes, or image-only PDFs who can't afford slow load times. Best for individual learners, language students, and medical / law school users who need accurate OCR and fast PDF editing across desktop and cloud workflows. Moreover, PDNob supports smooth PDF editing workflow for high efficiency PDF processing.
A Clean Anki workflow with PDNob:
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Open the scanned PDF in PDNob. Go to Tool Bar → OCR and pick the page range and language (English, Chinese, or mixed).
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Use Convert to Editable Text to export the OCR PDF as editable text .docx, or Convert to Text for plain text.
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You can also consider batch tool if you have a batch of PDF needed to be recognized.
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You can then use tools like Schoarly.io or StudyPDF to convert the recognized PDF for flashcards.
Conclusion
Knowing how to reset Anki deck properly saves you from losing real progress. Use the desktop app — AnkiWeb's Reset button is unreliable, and mobile apps have none. Choose Cards → Reset (2.1.50+) or Cards → Forget (2.1.49 and below), then sync before doing anything else. Reset only when the card content has truly changed; for backlogs, lower your daily review limit instead. Undo with Ctrl+Z if you act too fast, but know that the undo window closes the moment you sync. With those rules, your deck stays predictable and your FSRS parameters stay calibrated.
FAQ
Q1. Is it possible to convert PDF file into an ANKI file?
A1: Yes---Anki cannot import a PDF directly, but you can convert it into an Anki-compatible .apkg deck using an AI PDF-to-Anki tool such as StudyPDF, 2anki, or AnkiBrain. For scanned PDFs, run OCR first so the text can be extracted.
Q2. Can I reset an Anki deck on my iPhone?
A2: Not directly. AnkiMobile has no Reset button. Reset on desktop or AnkiWeb, then sync the change down to your iPhone.
Q3. How to reset a deck on Anki Mobile app?
A3: Use the desktop app or AnkiWeb, then sync. On iPhone open AnkiMobile and pull down to sync; on Android open AnkiDroid's menu and tap Sync. Always choose Download from AnkiWeb.
Q4. How to undo a reset in Anki?
A4: Press `Ctrl+Z` on the desktop app before you sync. After sync, the undo button no longer reaches the cloud and you have to redo the reset manually.
Q5. Reset vs Forget vs Reschedule --- what is the difference?
A5: In Anki 2.1.50 and later, Reset and Forget are the same command. Reschedule → Place at end of new card queue is the older wording for the same action. All three move the card to the new queue while preserving the review history.
Q6. How to reset a deck without losing review history?
A6: That is the default behavior of Cards → Reset. Your history is still visible in Card Info and FSRS can still read its difficulty estimates from it.
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Rachel has spent the last 5 years testing and writing about AI-powered tools across writing, design, and research workflows. She focuses on practical AI tool usage, helping knowledge workers turn generative AI into everyday productivity.
