when im studying for my microbiology sketchy cards. the cards are not showing the anki pictures. i tried to unprotect the sketchy but its still not working. i can only see text as answers not the actual sketch of sketchy
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This usually means the image files (media) for those Sketchy cards are not present in your Anki profile, not that the cards are âprotected.â
Here are the most common causes and how to check/fix them:
1. Confirm itâs not just a field/layout issue
- Open one of the problem cards in Anki:
- Browse â find the Sketchy microbiology deck â select a card â click CardsâŚ
- On the Back Template, check if you see something like:
or another field that should contain the picture.{{Sketchy Image}} - Then click Fields⌠and:
- Find that field (e.g. âSketchy Imageâ, âImageâ, etc.).
- See if the field content looks like HTML/image tags (e.g.
<img src="xyz.png">) or file names, or if itâs literally just text (like a description).
If the field only has plain text and no <img> or file names, then your deck copy likely doesnât have the actual Sketchy images embedded (common for legal/copyright reasons). In that case:
- Anki will never show the Sketchy picture, only the text.
- âUnprotectingâ the note type wonât change this.
In that situation, youâd need to add your own images (from your own legal access to Sketchy) into that image field or use a version of the deck that is designed to be used alongside your Sketchy subscription (usually instructions are in the deck description or on the AnKing site/YouTube).
2. If the fields clearly reference images, but nothing appears
Then the media files are missing from your device.
Please check:
- In Anki Desktop go to Tools â Check Media.
- If it reports many missing files (e.g.
.png,.jpg) for this deck, that confirms it.
- If it reports many missing files (e.g.
- Make sure you:
- Fully downloaded the original Sketchy media that those cards rely on (often distributed separately from the public decks).
- Put those files into your Anki collection:
- In Anki Desktop: Tools â Open backup folder â open
collection.mediaand copy the image files into that folder.
- In Anki Desktop: Tools â Open backup folder â open
- Then sync and try again.
AnkiHub itself currently only supports public-domain / licensed replacement images in official decks (see this post), not the original Sketchy art. So if youâre expecting to see the actual Sketchy drawings, those wonât come from AnkiHub directly for copyright reasons; you still need your own Sketchy media.
3. Check which exact deck youâre using
Please reply with:
- The exact deck name (as shown in Anki).
- Whether itâs an AnkiHub deck (subscribed via the AnkiHub addâon) or a local/imported deck.
- Whether youâre on Anki Desktop, AnkiMobile, or AnkiDroid.
With that info, I can give you more specific, stepâbyâstep instructions (and, if itâs an AnkiHub official deck, link the correct setup instructions).
Hello,
Please follow these steps:
-
Open the AnkiHub add-on menu in Anki. Check what the media sync status says:
- If it shows âDownloadingâ: your media is still being downloaded, just wait until it says âIdleâ
- If it shows âIdleâ: the media sync should be complete
-
Please make sure the field is unprotected (the box needs to be unchecked). Here is a tutorial: How to Manage Protected Fields
-
Reset local changes. Here is a tutorial: How to Reset Local Changes
If the issue continues, please provide screenshots so I can better understand the problem!
Let me know how it goes. ![]()

