# Anki for dummies? Or alternative...?
**URL:** https://community.wanikani.com/t/anki-for-dummies-or-alternative/31175
**Category:** Japanese Language
**Created:** [May 29, 2018, 7:04pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/anki-for-dummies-or-alternative/31175 "2018-05-29T19:04:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@thespookyfish](https://community.wanikani.com/u/thespookyfish)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2018, 7:04pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/anki-for-dummies-or-alternative/31175/1 "2018-05-29T19:04:08Z")
Okay, so I’ve Googled. I’ve looked through the forums here (though it’s possible I could have missed something). And I’m getting a little bit frustrated.
I just can’t find an easy way to get Anki set up for my needs. I want to start building my own vocab/kanji decks, and I can’t seem to figure out how to make it work right? The card types, all the coding, trying to get typed input to work right, it’s all just so confusing to me. But I really need to figure out custom vocab.
I’ve been through some threads here and YouTube tutorials, but a lot of the technical things about card types and templates and coding and things go over my head.
I looking for something as close to WK format as possible (or easily configurable to be such) that allows for custom vocab, isn’t userscripting INTO WK, and doesn’t cost me more money.
Does this even exist? Or do I really have to just keep wrestling with Anki? Is there anyone that can help me?
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### Author:  [@Leebo](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Leebo)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2018, 7:06pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/anki-for-dummies-or-alternative/31175/2 "2018-05-29T19:06:28Z")
Houhou is the closest free alternative to the WK style that has a friendly user interface, but it doesn’t have mobile, and (I think) is only on Windows?
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### Author:  [@thespookyfish](https://community.wanikani.com/u/thespookyfish)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2018, 7:09pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/anki-for-dummies-or-alternative/31175/3 "2018-05-29T19:09:05Z")
Alright. I’ll put that on the list of things to look into. Thanks for the suggestion!
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### Author:  [@Kumirei](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Kumirei)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2018, 7:09pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/anki-for-dummies-or-alternative/31175/4 "2018-05-29T19:09:33Z")
Did you find the WK template for Anki?
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### Author:  [@thespookyfish](https://community.wanikani.com/u/thespookyfish)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2018, 7:10pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/anki-for-dummies-or-alternative/31175/5 "2018-05-29T19:10:38Z")
I think? Maybe? But I couldn’t figure out how to implement anything, and people were talking about custom algorithms and having to make sure to press certain buttons or things would revert to Anki or something…
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### Author:  [@hinekidori](https://community.wanikani.com/u/hinekidori)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2018, 7:16pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/anki-for-dummies-or-alternative/31175/6 "2018-05-29T19:16:11Z")
I made a few Anki tutorials that may help you.
[[Anki Tutorials](https://community.wanikani.com/t/anki-tutorials/12126)]
I would recommend starting with the “Basic Styling Walkthrough” and “Activating and Styling the Input Box” videos first.
If you have any questions feel free to ask. I can assist if you wish.
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### Author:  [@Kumirei](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Kumirei)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2018, 7:17pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/anki-for-dummies-or-alternative/31175/7 "2018-05-29T19:17:40Z")
^^^resident Anki guru
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### Author:  [@thespookyfish](https://community.wanikani.com/u/thespookyfish)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2018, 7:18pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/anki-for-dummies-or-alternative/31175/8 "2018-05-29T19:18:51Z")
Any assistance you can give me would be GREATLY appreciated. I’ll take a peek at those videos. Can I get back to you here? Or is there a better way to communicate?
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### Author:  [@hinekidori](https://community.wanikani.com/u/hinekidori)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2018, 7:23pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/anki-for-dummies-or-alternative/31175/9 "2018-05-29T19:23:26Z")
I hang out in Discord. If that’s more comfortable you can hit me up there.
My username is hinekidori#5041
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### Author:  [@thespookyfish](https://community.wanikani.com/u/thespookyfish)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2018, 7:26pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/anki-for-dummies-or-alternative/31175/10 "2018-05-29T19:26:25Z")
Request sent, thank you so much.
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### Author:  [@inusagi-chan](https://community.wanikani.com/u/inusagi-chan)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2018, 7:29pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/anki-for-dummies-or-alternative/31175/11 "2018-05-29T19:29:40Z")
Be sure to check out [wanikanitoanki.com](https://wanikanitoanki.com/). I also found anki to be very confusing but I followed the instructions on WaniKani to Anki step by step and everything worked as expected. Now I use my API key to add new items to my anki deck at the beginning of each WaniKani level and I use the browse/suspend feature to trim the deck as necessary. It’s a great system, at least for my needs. I don’t have the greatest memory so if I want to learn new kanji and vocab at a reasonable pace I really need to see the information about four times as often as I would using WaniKani alone.
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### Author:  [@inusagi-chan](https://community.wanikani.com/u/inusagi-chan)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2018, 7:34pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/anki-for-dummies-or-alternative/31175/12 "2018-05-29T19:34:38Z")
Also once you’ve successfully imported your WaniKani items to anki read [this](http://www.jonkenpo.net/anki-settings-japanese-study/) very helpful article on adjusting your anki settings.
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### Author:  [@thespookyfish](https://community.wanikani.com/u/thespookyfish)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2018, 7:36pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/anki-for-dummies-or-alternative/31175/13 "2018-05-29T19:36:33Z")
Thanks very much for the info, Erie. Mostly what I wanna do is just follow along with my Textbook’s vocab, but I want to do everything myself, because I don’t like the way Anki works by default and I’d have to edit all the cards from pre-made decks anyway.
But yeah, I’m only doing things that come up in my book, or from my list or words I wanna study that don’t show up already in WK.
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### Author:  [@s1212z](https://community.wanikani.com/u/s1212z)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2018, 6:19pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/anki-for-dummies-or-alternative/31175/14 "2018-05-31T18:19:15Z")
Good topic…thank you!
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.wanikani.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/anki-for-dummies-or-alternative/31175/15 "2019-05-31T18:19:19Z")
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