Deck help
Help and explanations for Deck. Search above, or scroll down.
Finding your words
Where do my words come from?
From what you read and hear. When a word is new to you, or a phrase is used in a way you wouldn’t have thought of, add it to a deck.
Finding your words
Learning from what you read
Read things you mostly understand. Note the words you had to guess and the phrases that surprised you, and add them to a deck.
Finding your words
Writing your own cards
When you want to say something and the word isn’t there, write it down and add it later. Words you needed are the ones worth learning.
Finding your words
Which way round?
Put the language you know on side A and the one you’re learning on side B, and study A → B. Seeing “dog” and typing “perro” is harder than recognising “perro”, and that effort is what makes it stick.
Finding your words
Ready-made decks
Browse decks, in the library, lists decks anyone can copy. Study this adds a copy to your decks, with fresh progress. They’re a starting point; your own words will mean more.
Getting started
Creating a deck
In the library, type a name and press New deck. A deck is a list of word pairs: side A and side B.
Getting started
Adding cards
On a computer, type in the empty row at the top of the table: side A, side B, then Enter. On a phone, tap Add card. New cards go to the top.
Getting started
Importing a list
Import CSV reads a spreadsheet saved as CSV: the first column becomes side A, the second side B. Pairs already in the deck are skipped. Lines that can’t be read are listed, and you can download them to fix.
Getting started
Saving a spreadsheet as CSV
In Excel or Numbers, use Save as or Export and choose CSV. In Google Sheets, File → Download → CSV. Commas, semicolons and tabs all work.
Getting started
Exporting
Export as CSV saves the words of a deck, without progress. With rows selected, only those are exported. From the library you can export a deck without opening it.
Getting started
Renaming and deleting decks
Use Rename or Delete next to a deck in the library. Deleting asks first, and can’t be undone.
Getting started
How big can a deck be?
Up to 5,000 cards.
Studying
Starting a session
Press Start, then choose Study or Review. A session ends at its time or card limit, or when you press Esc or ✕.
Studying
Study or Review?
Study brings in new words and drills the ones you’re weak on. Review shows only the words due today, timed to come back just before you’d forget them. When nothing is due, Review is greyed out and shows the date of the next one.
Studying
New words
A word’s first appearance shows both sides, marked “New word · remember it”. Continue, and you’ll be asked for it soon after.
Studying
Excluding a word
On a new word, Exclude this card leaves it out of studying: because you know it, it’s too hard, or it needs fixing. Include it again any time from the table.
Studying
Answering by typing
Type the answer and press Enter. A right answer moves straight on. A wrong one shows the correct answer and what you typed; press Enter, or tap, to continue. Enter with nothing typed shows the answer.
Studying
Close enough
With small typos or accents forgiven, a near miss counts as right, and the letters you got wrong are shown in brackets: c[a]sa. Each word is forgiven less as you get it right.
Studying
Answering by flipping
Choose Flipping under Answer by in Settings. Tap to see the answer, then tap the left half if you forgot, the right half if you remembered. It’s quicker; typing helps you remember more.
Studying
How Deck grades you
There are no buttons to rate yourself. Deck times how long you take to start answering: quicker right answers count as easier. A wrong answer, or Forgot, starts the word again.
Studying
Session length
A session ends at 25 minutes or 100 cards, whichever comes first. Change either in Settings, or switch one off.
Studying
End of session
The summary shows how many words you studied, your mistakes, and the hardest words of the session.
Studying
Keyboard shortcuts
Ready screen: 1 Study, 2 Review. Typing: Enter answers and continues. Flipping: Space shows the answer, 1 Forgot, 2 Remembered. New words: Enter continues, Space excludes. Esc ends the session. In the table, Ctrl+Z (⌘Z on a Mac) undoes.
The spreadsheet
Side A, side B and direction
Each card has two sides. The A → B switch in the sidebar sets which side you’re shown. Progress is kept separately for each direction.
The spreadsheet
The Progress column
View, in Settings, picks what it shows. Study: how many times in a row you’ve got the word right. Review: where the word is in your memory, from New and Learning to Young and Mature, with Due when it’s ready.
The spreadsheet
Sorting and moving rows
▲ and ▼ next to Progress sort the deck by it. Selected rows can be moved up, down, to the top or to the bottom. With random order off, new words come in from the top of the table down.
The spreadsheet
Editing cards
Click a word in the table to change it; on a phone, tap it. You can also fix a card during a session with Edit card.
The spreadsheet
Selecting rows
Tick rows to act on them: Delete, Exclude, Include, Reset progress, Swap sides, or move them. The menu above the ticks selects all, none, included, excluded, new or seen words.
The spreadsheet
Include and exclude
Excluded cards stay in the deck but aren’t studied in that direction. Include brings them back.
The spreadsheet
Reset progress
Sends the selected cards back to new, in the current direction only. The words stay; the progress goes. They come back a few at a time.
The spreadsheet
Swap sides
Swaps side A and side B of the selected cards, for a list that was imported the wrong way round.
The spreadsheet
Remove duplicates
Finds cards with the same two sides and keeps one of each. With rows selected, it only looks at those.
The spreadsheet
Searching the table
Type in Search to show only the matching cards. Sorting and moving are paused while a search is on.
The spreadsheet
Undo
Ctrl+Z (⌘Z on a Mac) undoes the last change in the table, a whole import included. On phones and tablets, tap Undo in the message bar. Only the last change can be undone.
Settings
Where are the settings?
In the sidebar, or the ☰ menu on phones and tablets. They save as you change them. Most belong to the deck and the current direction; Answer by belongs to the device.
Settings
New words and random order
New words sets how often Study brings in a word you haven’t seen. With random order on they come in shuffled; with it off, from the top of the table down.
Settings
Capital letters, accents and typos
Match capital letters makes case count. Accents: Exact must match, Forgiving lets a wrong accent pass while you learn, Ignore never checks. Forgive small typos lets near misses pass, stricter as you learn.
Settings
Light and dark
Theme: Light, Dark, or Auto to follow your device.
Devices and saving
Saving
Deck saves as you go: every few seconds while you work, and straight away when a session ends or you leave the deck. There’s no save button.
Devices and saving
Using more than one device
Your decks are in your account, so you can open them anywhere. A deck is open in one place at a time: opening it on your phone moves it there, and your computer steps aside with everything saved.
Devices and saving
Studying offline
If the connection drops, keep going. Deck keeps your changes on the device and saves them when you’re back online. Don’t open the deck elsewhere until then.
Devices and saving
Changed on two devices
If a deck was changed on another device while this one was offline, Deck asks which version to keep. If the other device only looked, it doesn’t ask. Changes left offline for over a day are dropped.
Devices and saving
On a phone
Everything works on a phone. The table shows just the words; switch on Show progress in the ☰ menu to see progress too.
Your account
Invite codes
Deck is invite-only for now. Ask for a code at [email protected]. You only need it once.
Your account
Signing in
Use Google, or an email and password. Sign out, in the sidebar, signs you out of this browser only.
Your account
Deleting your account
Account, in the sidebar, deletes your account and all your decks, offering to export them first. It can’t be undone.
Your account
Your data
Your decks are kept in your account and never sold. The details are in the Privacy Policy.
No cards match
Try another word, or ask at [email protected].