Restoring Cards from a Sub-Deck to the Main Deck

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1

What if I moved cards from their main deck into a sub-deck that I made manually, and then I wanted to put the cards back to their original site? How do I do that?Is that even possible?

2
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Found 0 results for ā€˜tags:official restoring cards from a sub-deck to the main deck category::person_raising_hand: Support order:latest_topic max_posts:5 status:openā€™

Yes, itā€™s possible, and itā€™s quite simple in Anki.

If you only changed the deck (moved the cards into a subdeck) and didnā€™t change their note type or anything else, you can just move them back:

  1. Go to the sub-deck you created.
  2. Click Browse (or press B).
  3. In the browserā€™s left sidebar, select that sub-deck so only those cards show.
  4. Select all the cards:
    • Ctrl+A (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+A (Mac).
  5. At the top, click Change Deckā€¦.
  6. Choose the original main deck and confirm.

All selected cards will now be back in the main deck.

If you donā€™t remember the exact original deck

Anki doesnā€™t store ā€œdeck history,ā€ so if you created multiple subdecks and shuffled cards around, thereā€™s no automatic way to restore each card to its exact previous deck. In that case you would need to:

  • Either move them all into a single main deck (as above), or
  • Manually divide them again if you want multiple decks.

If this is an AnkiHub shared deck and youā€™re worried about messing up the shared structure, let me know:

  • Which shared deck it is (e.g. AnKing MCAT, Step 1, etc.)
  • Whether you changed deck names or just moved cards

and I can suggest the safest way to get back to the ā€œstandardā€ deck layout used on AnkiHub.

3

it is AnKing and I just moved them

4
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Reading: Restoring Cards from a Sub-Deck to the Main Deck

Since itā€™s the AnKing deck and you only moved cards into a subdeck, you can safely move them back to the standard AnKing deck structure.

Hereā€™s the cleanest way:

  1. Open the Browser

    • From the main screen, click Browse (or press B).

  2. Select your custom subdeck

    • In the left sidebar, under Decks, click the subdeck you created (the one you moved cards into).
    • Now only those cards should appear in the card list.

  3. Select all cards in that subdeck

    • Click in the card list and press Ctrl+A (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+A (Mac).

  4. Move them back to the correct AnKing deck

    • At the top, click Change Deckā€¦.
    • In the deck list, choose the appropriate AnKing subdeck (for example:
      • AnKing::Step 1::Zanki Pharmacology
      • AnKing::Step 1::Zanki Cardiology, etc.
    • Click OK.

Because AnKing uses a hierarchy of subdecks, youā€™ll want to move the cards into the specific AnKing subdeck they originally belonged to, not just the top-level ā€œAnKingā€ deck (unless youā€™re sure thatā€™s where they came from).

If youā€™re not sure which AnKing subdeck they came from

Anki doesnā€™t store the old deck automatically, so you canā€™t ā€œrestore previous deckā€ in one click. But you can still often figure it out:

  • Look at the tags on those cards in the Browser (right panel).
    • For AnKing, tags often include things like the source (e.g. AnKing::Block::Cardio, etc.), which can hint at which AnKing subdeck they belong to.
  • Then move groups of cards (filtered by tag) into the matching AnKing subdeck using Change Deckā€¦.

If you like, you can post a screenshot of:

  • One of the moved cards (showing its tags and current deck), and
  • Your AnKing deck tree on the main screen,

and I can suggest exactly which deck to move them into.

5

will I still getting updates on the cards in that subdeck ?

6

Updates should continue to work normally.