What Survives When You Migrate Flashcards?

What survives an Anki migration?

What survives an Anki migration depends on the field, the source export and the destination importer. Card content, scheduling, FSRS memory and review history can travel together, while media, templates, settings and exit formats need their own checks. StudyDaily lets you test that boundary on a copy before moving your collection.

Short answer

• A package can carry cards, notes, note types, media and scheduling, but export options decide what enters the file.
• The destination still has to understand each field. A file opening successfully does not certify every card behavior.
• StudyDaily's verified importer test preserved state, due date, interval, FSRS memory, review events, reps, lapses, suspended cards and buried cards.
• The safest five-minute check is a small import, three card comparisons and an export back out before you move the full collection.

A migration is a field-by-field transfer

Migration sounds like one action because the file has one name. Your collection does not. It contains note fields, card templates, media references, scheduler state and a review log. Each layer can survive independently.

The useful distinction is between source-file capacity and destination support. A source format may store a field, but the receiving application must parse, map and display it. A package can be valid while an image, preset or custom template still needs attention.

The matrix changes the question from “Did migration work?” to “Which fields moved, and which fields did the destination interpret?”

The quickest way to test the destination is in the browser: open StudyDaily with a small copy — nothing to install, and reviewing does not require an account.

What the source file can carry

The official Anki manual describes a packaged deck as a file containing cards, notes, note types and bundled sounds or images. It also separates deck packages from collection packages. An .apkg is the focused deck path, while a .colpkg represents the full collection path.

I checked the Anki manual on exporting on April 20, 2026. Its export options make the important boundaries explicit: scheduling information can include review history, and media enters the package only when the media option is enabled. A collection package includes the collection's scheduling, while a deck package can include scheduling when you choose it.

That explains many failed moves. A package with clean cards cannot provide a due date. A package without local media cannot recreate audio from a filename. The destination can support a field and still have nothing to read.

The same logic applies to templates and settings. The source format may have room for note types, templates or presets. The destination may use different names, different defaults or a different scheduler. The file's capacity is evidence about the input, not a promise about the output.

The official Anki manual on packaged-deck imports also describes an import option that removes learning progress. In other words, the export and import sides can each change the result. Keep both sides visible in your test notes.

What StudyDaily preserves in the importer test

I built StudyDaily's importer around the fields that decide whether tomorrow's review queue still makes sense. In the verified collection-exchange test, it reads each imported card's state, due date, interval, reps, lapses, suspended state, buried state and FSRS memory. It then replays the complete review log into review events, retaining each rating, interval and review duration.

The test used a card with stability: 12.5, difficulty: 4.2, reps: 9 and lapses: 2. Its due date came through, and three review events remained present after import. When I exported the card again, its FSRS data still included {"s":12.5,"d":4.2}.

That is first-person evidence about StudyDaily's importer, not a claim that every destination interprets every package the same way. The source still has to include the data, and the import has to create the cards that receive it.

Two details matter before you run the test. StudyDaily applies imported scheduling to cards created by the import; importing over cards that already exist does not rewrite their local progress. The scheduling option is checked by default, and you can uncheck it when you want clean cards instead.

What survives, field by field

Card content and formatting

Card content is the most portable layer. Fields, front-and-back text, tags and ordinary formatting give the destination something concrete to map. StudyDaily's .apkg importer brings cards in with their formatting intact, so a plain card and a styled card are useful first checks.

Do not stop at one familiar card. Open a card with a long answer, a tag, a line break and any field you rely on daily. You are checking the rendered result, not just the fact that the note count looks correct.

Media

Media has two separate failure points. The source export must include the local files, and the destination must resolve the references inside the package. An image that was never included cannot survive the move. A file that was included can still need a rendering check.

Use one image and one audio card in the test collection if your deck contains them. Open both after import. This catches missing files, broken paths and a destination that reads the note but cannot play the attached asset.

StudyDaily's product contract says imported .apkg cards retain their formatting. Check real media separately; formatting support does not cover every custom path or external resource.

Scheduling, FSRS memory and revlog

These three fields are related, but they are not interchangeable. A current due date tells you where a card is queued. An interval describes its current spacing. FSRS memory describes what the scheduler has learned about that card. The revlog records how the card reached that state.

A migration that copies only the due date can look convincing for one session. A migration that also carries state, intervals, memory and review events gives the destination a much stronger basis for the next schedule. The verified StudyDaily test covers those layers on cards created by the import.

Compare three known cards against the source. Record their state, due date, interval and review count. Then inspect the imported FSRS values where the destination exposes them. The round-trip export is a useful final check because it tests whether the values remain attached to the card after the first import.

Cloze cards

Cloze cards are content with a structure, not merely text with brackets. The destination must know which parts are hidden, which answers belong to each deletion and how the resulting cards are reviewed.

StudyDaily supports cloze on text. Include one cloze note with more than one deletion in your sample, then review each resulting prompt. A card count alone cannot show whether the deletions still behave as intended.

Image occlusion

Image occlusion adds a second structure: the image plus the masks that hide regions during review. An export can carry that representation, but the destination still needs to render the masks and turn them into reviewable prompts.

Imported image occlusions display and review correctly in StudyDaily. StudyDaily does not include an image-occlusion editor, so create those cards in a tool that supports authoring, then verify the imported result here. That is a destination capability boundary, not a reason to treat the entire migration as failed.

Templates and styles

Templates determine how fields become cards. Custom CSS, unusual note types and scripts can make a card look different even when every field arrived. The source package may contain the template definition, but the destination's renderer decides what it can interpret.

Check the front, back, answer styling and any field that is hidden by a template. Rebuild a small style rule if needed. Keep the original package so you can compare the source and destination without guessing which layer changed.

Settings and scheduler presets

Settings sit beside the cards rather than inside their content. Daily limits, learning steps, new-card order, deck presets and custom scheduler behavior can influence tomorrow's queue without changing a single note.

Treat these as destination configuration. Compare the limits and learning steps you actually use, then recreate them deliberately. A source export may carry presets, but the receiving application must have a matching concept before those values can affect its schedule.

Choose the right exit format

Use .apkg when you need a focused package for selected decks. Use .colpkg when you are moving the collection-level state and the destination accepts that scope. A collection import can replace the destination collection, so test it against a copy before putting your only working collection at risk.

The practical choice is explained in choose between APKG and COLPKG. The decision is about scope first, then field coverage. A focused deck is easier to inspect. A collection package is closer to a full environment move.

CSV is a different kind of exit. It is useful when readable fields matter more than scheduler state, media, templates or review history. Use it as a text path, not as a promise that a complete learning state will fit into a row of fields.

StudyDaily exports .apkg and CSV at any time. That matters because an application should give you a route out as clearly as it gives you an import button. You can keep the package export for a structured move and the CSV for readable field-level recovery.

Run a five-minute migration audit

You can answer most of the practical risk before moving the full collection. Start with a small copy and keep the source untouched. A short audit is more useful than a large import you cannot compare.

1. Choose a small deck with one ordinary card, one scheduled card and one card with media, cloze or image occlusion.
2. Use make a verified backup before changing the source.
3. Export with scheduling and media enabled when those options exist.
4. Import into a clean test collection and note the card count.
5. Compare three cards: content and formatting, due date and interval, then the real media or structure.
6. Check FSRS memory or its visible destination equivalent, then export the result back out.

Keep the original export until the returned file opens and the sample cards still make sense. If one field fails, you have isolated the field rather than losing the entire migration path.

For the complete sequence from backup through final move, use the full migration workflow. The field matrix in this article is the inspection layer inside that larger process.

The boundary that still matters

A source format can hold a field without the destination supporting it. That boundary is the reason to test media, templates, settings and custom card types separately from content and scheduling.

StudyDaily has no multi-device sync; moving between installations uses .apkg or CSV. The export remains available as the practical bridge, and the same bridge lets you leave with your collection when your setup changes.

The conclusion is neither “migration is unsafe” nor “every field transfers automatically.” A successful move is a verified mapping: the fields you need are present, interpreted and still readable on export.

Questions people ask

What survives an Anki migration?

Cards, fields and formatting are usually the first layer to inspect. Scheduling, FSRS memory and review history can also travel when the source export includes them and the destination importer reads them. Media, cloze structures, image occlusion, templates and settings need separate checks because each depends on both file content and destination support. The five-minute audit above gives you a representative sample before you move the full collection.

Does an APKG keep scheduling and review history?

It can. The export must include scheduling, which is where review history enters the package. The importer must then apply that information to the cards it creates. StudyDaily's verified importer test preserved state, due date, interval, reps, lapses, FSRS stability and difficulty, plus the complete review events. A clean shared package may contain no scheduling because that information was removed before export.

Do media, cloze cards and image occlusion survive?

They survive when the source includes the relevant data and the destination supports the structure. Export media with the package, then open one image and one audio card. Review a cloze card with multiple deletions. Imported image occlusions display and review correctly in StudyDaily, while StudyDaily does not provide an editor for creating new image occlusions.

Should I export APKG, COLPKG or CSV?

Choose .apkg for selected decks, .colpkg for collection-level transfer and CSV for readable text fields. Use a copy when testing a collection package because its scope can replace a collection at import. StudyDaily accepts .apkg and modern COLPKG imports, and exports .apkg and CSV at any time, so you can test the destination without giving up the route out.

Anki is a registered trademark of its respective owner. StudyDaily is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anki. Product names are used here only to describe compatibility and to compare features.