Anki Playlists: Study Subdecks in Order (to study Sketchy, Pixorize, etc)

Study big decks one subdeck at a time, in the order you choose. Anki Playlists turns decks like Sketchy, Pixorize and Pepper (one subdeck per video) into playlists. It runs your session video by video: it loads one video's cards, takes you through them a few times (rounds), then moves to the next video on its own. No more opening subdeck after subdeck, and no more studying the whole parent deck with every video shuffled together before you know any of them.

It works on any deck with subdecks: languages, anatomy, pharm, biochem, textbook chapters.

📖 Step-by-step guide with screenshots (start here if you're new)

One click to continue · Works with any deck that has subdecks · Won't mess up your schedule · Needs Anki 23.12+

How to use it

1. Tools → Anki Playlists… → ＋ New playlist and give it a name (like "Bacilli").
2. Pick the parent deck → Add all its videos. You can add videos from more than one parent deck.
3. Untick anything you want to skip, and drag the rest into your order.
4. Set Rounds (default 3), the order (round by round is recommended), and optionally Today: 1 round, then stop. Tick the priming round if you want a preview before you watch.
5. Press ▶ Save & start playlist. (Press Save at the top instead to keep it for later.)

In a hurry? ⚡ Quick start makes a playlist from a whole deck and starts it right away.

Next time, just press Continue next to your playlist on the Anki home screen. It picks up where you stopped, even in the middle of a round. To go back to an old playlist, pick it from the drop-down at the top of the window and press ▶ Start.

Screenshots for every step

What it does

• Runs the session for you. It picks the next video in your playlist, loads only that video's cards (in a temporary filtered deck it builds and cleans up for you), takes you through them, replays the ones you missed, gives you a short recall break, then moves to the next video.
• Repeats each video a few times (rounds), either spaced out (A1 B1 C1, then A2 B2 C2) or one video at a time (A1 A2, then B1 B2).
• Keeps track of everything: which videos you've done, which round each one is on, and exactly where you stopped.
• Only the first round is a normal Anki review. Later rounds are practice that doesn't touch your schedule.
• Lives on your home screen. A small Playlists box shows your recent playlists with a round meter and a one-click Continue button.

Features

• Playlists: your videos, your order. One per topic, each with its own progress.
• Round by round or video by video: space your repeats out, or lock one video in before the next.
• "Today: 1 round, then stop": round 1 today, round 2 tomorrow. It stops on its own and tells you to come back later. (Round by round only.)
• ★ Priming round: for videos you haven't started yet, flip through their new cards before you watch. Nothing is counted and your schedule isn't touched. When it's done, it tells you to go watch the videos.
• Recall break: after each round, retell the video from memory, then the picture appears so you can check yourself. It uses the "Entire Sketch" field (Sketchy-style decks) or a picture in the Extra fields (Pixorize). No picture in the deck? You still get the retell part. Type it, say it, sketch it on paper, or look at the picture first, with a timer or without.
• Remote-friendly: the recall break and the "Nice work" screen between rounds move on with Space, Enter or 2/3/4, just like answering a card. Your Anki remote works the whole way through, no mouse needed.
• Redo round: the cards you pressed Again on get a quick replay at the end of each round (practice only).
• Extra-round suggestion: miss more than half of a video's cards on its last round, and it offers one more round.
• "1 video" button: for low-energy days. One round of the next video, then it stops.
• Mix ready videos: once videos have finished all their rounds, one click shuffles their due cards together. Those count as normal reviews. Turn on Preview mix to shuffle all their cards as extra practice instead.
• Home-screen box: your 3 most recent playlists, with a round meter ("Round 2 of 3 · 4 / 10 videos") and Continue / Start / Mix buttons. ⋯ lets you edit, retire (hide it but keep your progress, and restore it any time from the main window) or delete a playlist.
• Works with Onigiri: I use Onigiri too, so the Playlists box is built to fit right into its home screen. To add it: Onigiri settings → Main Menu → Widgets → Add Widgets, then scroll down to External Widgets and add "Anki Playlists". Place it wherever you like. It resizes to fit the space, in light or dark mode.
• Syncs between computers: playlists and progress are saved in your Anki collection, so they come with you when you sync.
• Survives deck updates: if your subdecks get renamed or moved, your playlists keep working.
• Customizable: rounds, order, recall style and timer, study-bar colors, text size, how many playlists show on the home screen, and more. Light and dark mode. Shortcuts: Ctrl+Alt+O to open, Ctrl+Alt+S to continue (Cmd+Option on a Mac).

When a playlist is finished, do whatever works for you: press Mix to study the finished videos together, go back to studying the parent deck like normal, retire the playlist (hides it, keeps your progress), or delete it. Your cards are never deleted.

Will this mess up my scheduling?

No. Round 1 is your normal review, so you can do just that and stop there. If you're like me and need to see things a few more times to really lock them in, the other rounds are practice only. They don't touch your reviews or your schedule.

• Round 1: the video's new cards (no daily limit) + any due reviews. Changes your schedule? Yes, it's your normal Anki review.
• Rounds 2, 3…: every card in the video, in the order they were added. Changes your schedule? No, practice only.
• Priming / redo: a preview of new cards / the cards you missed. Changes your schedule? No, practice only.
• Mix: due cards from your finished videos, shuffled. Changes your schedule? Yes, normal reviews.
• Preview mix: all cards from your finished videos, shuffled. Changes your schedule? No, practice only.

In practice rounds, the answer buttons say "(end)", which just means you're done with that card for this round. If a video has nothing new or due (you've already learned it), its first round is practice too.

Who it's for

• Sketchy, Pixorize or Pepper users, or any deck where each video or topic is its own subdeck.
• Any parent deck you want to learn in order: pharm by drug class, anatomy by region, a B&B section, a rotation shelf, a language course.
• Anyone who learns better by locking in one topic before mixing, or who finds clicking through subdecks tedious enough to skip it.

Why I made this

I'm a med student, and I couldn't find anything like this, so I built it.

With Sketchy-style decks, your choices in Anki are either to open a subdeck, finish it, scroll, find the next one and repeat, every single time, while trying to remember what you've done, or to study the whole parent deck and have every video shuffled together before you know any of them.

Whenever I asked about this, Reddit said the same thing: "you don't need that, mixing is better for retention, just make a filtered deck." Mixing is great, once you know the material. My brain needs to learn a video properly, one at a time, a few times over, before it's ready to be mixed in. And building and rebuilding filtered decks by hand for every video, every day, wasn't happening. So now the add-on does it for me, and the mixing comes at the end, when it actually helps.

The science behind it

• Priming / pretesting: seeing or guessing at questions before learning improves later memory, even when you get them wrong (Richland et al., 2009). → priming round
• Retrieval practice: pulling information out of your head beats re-reading it (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006). → answering cards, and retelling the video before you see the picture
• Spacing: the same material spread over days is remembered longer than crammed (Cepeda et al., 2006). → round by round, and "Today: 1 round"
• Interleaving: mixing similar topics helps you tell them apart, even though it feels harder (Kornell & Bjork, 2008). → Mix ready videos
• Learn first, then mix: in practice, mixing works best once each topic has been learned on its own. → study in order first, mix later

Compatibility and privacy

• Anki 23.12 or newer, desktop (tested on 25.02 and 26.09). Phones don't run add-ons, but the reviews you do in round 1 sync like any others.
• While you study, the current video's cards sit in a temporary filtered deck called "Anki Playlists". They go back to their own decks as soon as you stop, finish, switch profiles or close Anki.
• It never changes your cards' content, and nothing leaves your computer except through Anki's normal sync.
• Onigiri (and similar theme add-ons): fully supported. Onigiri builds its own home screen, so add the box yourself: Onigiri settings → Main Menu → Widgets → Add Widgets, scroll down to External Widgets, and add "Anki Playlists".

FAQ

Can I stop in the middle? Yes. Close Anki any time and press Continue later. Your cards go back to their decks automatically, and a practice round picks up after the cards you already did.

Why does it say "(end)" on the buttons? You're in a practice round. "(end)" means you're done with that card for this round.

Does it work with my Anki remote? Yes. Everything between cards (the recall break and the "Nice work" screen) moves on with Space, Enter or 2/3/4, so you can stay hands-off the whole session.

I use Onigiri and don't see the Playlists box. Onigiri builds its own home screen, so other add-ons' boxes only show once you add them. Go to Onigiri settings → Main Menu → Widgets → Add Widgets, scroll down to External Widgets, and add "Anki Playlists".

Do I have to use Sketchy or Pixorize? No. Any parent deck with subdecks works.

I installed it from a file before. Do I lose my playlists? No. Install this version from AnkiWeb and it switches off the old copy and keeps everything.

Can I go back to normal Anki? Any time. Your decks stay exactly as they were.

Something not working? The troubleshooting section of the guide covers the common ones.

Changelog

• 1.0: first AnkiWeb release.

I'm a student too, so if something breaks or you want a feature, pls tell me. I'm sharing this in case it helps someone else drowning in decks for videos they need to memorize.