Extra Field

[RedneckDoc1]

I have been adding things to the extra field for hundreds of cards over the past 4 months. I just found out that updating the deck just erases this. Is there any way to get these back?

[AnkiHub_AI_bot]

Thinking

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When you update a shared AnkiHub deck, only the fields that are part of the shared note type are preserved and synced. Anything you’ve added locally that isn’t part of that shared structure can unfortunately be overwritten.

A few key points that likely explain what happened:

• If you were editing the same Extra field that the deck owner uses, then AnkiHub updates can replace that content with whatever is on AnkiHub.
• To safely store personal notes, we recommend:
  • Adding a separate personal field (e.g. “My Notes” or “Personal Extra”) and
  • Excluding that field from AnkiHub syncing (or only mapping/syncing official fields).

Can you get the lost Extra content back?

That depends on your backups:

1. Check Anki backups

   • In Anki: File → Switch Profile… → [your profile] → Open Backup…
   • Open a backup from before your last AnkiHub update, then:
     • Find a card you know you edited.
     • See if its Extra field still has your content.
   • If it does, you can:
     • Export those notes (e.g., as a .apkg) and then carefully merge/copy the Extra content back into your main profile, or
     • Take screenshots / copy text for particularly important cards.

2. Check other devices

   • If you use multiple devices and haven’t synced one since the update, that device might still have the old Extra content.
   • Open Anki on that device offline first, confirm the Extra field content, then plan how to export/merge carefully.

Unfortunately, if:

• Your backups are from after the update, and
• All devices have already synced the updated (erased) Extra content,

then there’s no built‑in way in Anki or AnkiHub to reconstruct those hundreds of Extra field edits.

How to avoid this in the future

For future safety:

1. Create a personal-only field
   • In Anki: Tools → Manage Note Types → [your note type] → Fields… → Add.
   • Name it something like My Extra.
2. Use that field instead of the shared Extra field for your own additions.
3. In the AnkiHub add-on:
   • Make sure only the official deck fields are mapped to AnkiHub.
   • Keep your My Extra field unmapped so AnkiHub updates never touch it.

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If you’d like, reply with:

• The name of the deck you’re using, and
• Whether you have any recent backups,

and I can walk you step-by-step through checking a backup and (if possible) restoring just your Extra field content.

[MarcosZan]

Hello,

You can restore from a backup to a time before the incident happened: How to Reset Local Changes

Then, before you sync to AnkiHub, you should protect the field: How to Manage Protected Fields

Keep in mind that protecting the field will also prevent you from receiving updates.

Let us know if you need help with anything else!