You choose a card’s kind when you add it, and it can’t change afterwards. Every side of a card can have text, an image, or both.
Basic
A front and a back. You’re shown the front and recall the back. Use it for questions and answers, definitions and terms.
Turn on Both ways to also be asked the other way round, with the back shown and the front to recall. That’s what you usually want for vocabulary: “der Hund” for “the dog” and “the dog” for “der Hund”. Each way is remembered and scheduled on its own. Once a card is saved asking both ways, it stays that way, so nothing you’ve learned the other way round is lost.
Cloze
A text with gaps, such as “Photosynthesis turns light, water and carbon dioxide into glucose and oxygen”, with “glucose” and “oxygen” as gaps. While studying, the gaps are revealed one after another, and you can give a gap a hint that shows in its place. Use it for facts in context, formulas with a missing part, or sentences in a language.
Steps
A front and 2 to 30 steps, revealed one at a time, in order. You see only the number of the next step until you reveal it. Use it for processes, proofs, procedures, timelines and anything else where the order matters.
Image occlusion
An image with parts hidden, and an optional prompt. While studying, the hidden areas are revealed one after another. Use it for labeled diagrams, maps, anatomy and charts. See Image occlusion cards.
Cards from the assistant
The assistant writes basic, cloze and steps cards for you, asked both ways where that helps, such as for vocabulary. It doesn’t make image occlusion cards. See Making cards with the assistant.
Tips for good cards
- Ask one thing per card. Small cards are quicker to answer and easier to remember.
- Use cloze for a fact you’d otherwise copy word for word onto a basic card.
- If a card keeps coming up as missed, it’s often worth rewriting or splitting it. The end of every session shows the cards you missed most.