How to Convert Quizlet to Anki (Step by Step, and When Not to Bother)
I rechecked the steps against Quizlet's and Anki's help pages, added source links, and added that Quizlet only lets you export sets you created.
TL;DR: If you created the Quizlet set, you can move it into Anki by exporting it as text on the Quizlet website, then importing that text into Anki and mapping it to a Basic card. Text and definitions survive. Images, audio, and diagrams do not. Sets you copied from someone else can't be exported at all. For a small, image-heavy, or borrowed set, rebuilding it, or regenerating it from your original notes with an app like Imprimo, which I build, is usually faster than the conversion dance.
People search for this for one of two reasons. Either Quizlet started charging for something that used to be free and they want their sets somewhere else, or they want a scheduler they can see and tune, and Quizlet's spaced repetition option only works on its website and doesn't say which algorithm it uses. Either way, they want Anki's scheduling without retyping everything.
Both are fair. The conversion is doable. It is also fiddlier than it sounds, and for some sets it is not worth the trouble. I checked the steps below against Quizlet's and Anki's help pages on October 25, 2026. Here is the honest version, including the part where I tell you not to bother.
What actually transfers, and what does not
Before you spend twenty minutes on this, know what you are getting. Quizlet's export is plain text, and Quizlet's help center says only a set's creator can export it. If you copied a set from someone else, you can't export it at all.
| Content on the Quizlet card | Survives the move to Anki? |
|---|---|
| Term (front text) | Yes |
| Definition (back text) | Yes |
| Line breaks inside a definition | Check by hand (see step 3) |
| Images on a card | No |
| Audio | No |
| Diagrams and labelled images | No |
| Star or progress data | No |
If your set is all text, the conversion is clean. If it leans on images, like the labelled anatomy diagrams a lot of medical sets use, the text export strips out the part you cared about: Quizlet says image exports aren't available because of copyright restrictions. Keep that in mind before you start, because no amount of careful importing puts the pictures back.
Step 1: Export the set from Quizlet
Quizlet says export is only available on the website, so open quizlet.com in a browser and log in.
- Go to Your library, then Flashcard sets, and open a set you created.
- Select the three-dot (more) menu.
- Choose Export.
- For the separator between term and definition, pick Tab.
- For the separator between rows, pick New line.
- Select Copy text.
Tab and New line are the safe choices because definitions often contain commas and semicolons. If you separate fields with a comma and your definitions are full of commas, the import will split them in the wrong places. Tab almost never shows up inside a definition, so it makes a clean divider.
Paste the copied text into a plain text file and save it with UTF-8 encoding, which Anki's manual asks for. You'll import that file in step three.
Step 2: Set up Anki to receive the cards
Open Anki on your computer. The text import in Anki's manual is part of the computer version, so do this step there rather than on your phone.
- Pick or create the deck you want the cards to land in. Make a new deck if you do not want them mixed into existing reviews.
- Decide the note type. For a straight term and definition set, Basic is right. If you want to be quizzed in both directions, choose Basic (and reversed card) so each row makes two cards.
That is all the prep you need. Anki reads the structure from the file you import in the next step.
Step 3: Import the text into Anki
- In Anki, go to File, then Import.
- Select the .txt file you saved in step one.
- Anki shows an import preview. It guesses the field separator, so check that it says Tab and change it if not.
- Check that column one maps to Front and column two maps to Back.
- Choose the deck and note type you set up in step two.
- Import.
Anki tells you how many notes it added. Open the deck and spot-check a handful of cards to make sure the front and back landed in the right place. If every card looks shifted or merged, the separator did not match. Go back, confirm you used Tab in both the export and the import, and try again.
Watch for definitions that had line breaks in Quizlet. Anki's manual says a field can only hold a new line if it's wrapped in quotes or written as an HTML line break, so a bare line break may split one card into two broken ones. Fix those by hand after the import.
Step 4: Clean up after the import
A raw import is rarely review-ready. Two passes save you a lot of annoyance later.
First, fix anything that imported oddly. Quizlet definitions are sometimes long and wordy because nothing pushed you to keep them short. In Anki, where you will see these cards for years, long cards are worth tightening. The guide to writing flashcards that actually work covers how short a good card should be.
Second, turn on the modern scheduler. Anki still ships with SM-2 as the default, which its manual calls the legacy algorithm, and FSRS is an opt-in setting in the deck options. If you went to the trouble of moving to Anki, enabling FSRS is the upgrade that makes the move worthwhile: the FSRS project says its simulations show 20-30% fewer reviews than SM-2 for the same retention. The FSRS vs SM-2 article walks through why and how.
When you should not bother converting
Here is the part most tutorials skip. Conversion is not always the right move.
If you didn't make the set, Quizlet won't let you export it, so rebuilding it or regenerating it from the source is the only way into Anki.
If the set is small, rebuilding it by hand is faster than exporting, importing, and fixing field mappings. My rough rule of thumb is that forty cards take about fifteen minutes to retype, and you reinforce the material while you do it.
If the set is image-heavy, the text export throws away the images, so you are not really converting the set. You are converting half of it and rebuilding the rest. At that point, starting fresh is cleaner.
If you only left Quizlet because of the paywall, ask whether Anki is actually where you want to land. Anki is free and powerful, but the interface puts a lot of people off, which is the whole reason the best Quizlet alternatives and best Anki alternatives guides exist. You might be jumping from a tool you found annoying to one you find harder.
If you still have the original source, the PDF, the lecture notes, or the textbook chapter the set came from, regenerating cards from that source is often the fastest path of all. An app with AI card generation drafts a fresh deck from your material, which skips the export entirely and gives you cleaner cards than a Quizlet set usually contains. That is how Imprimo, the app I build, handles it: point it at the source, get a draft, then trim. It's a paid iPhone and iPad app with no free tier, so it isn't a free swap for Anki. The how to make flashcards from a PDF guide shows the workflow.
A note on the "automatic" converters
Search results are full of browser extensions and websites promising one-click Quizlet to Anki conversion. Be careful with these.
They break whenever Quizlet changes its page structure, so the one you find today may not work next month. More importantly, the ones that ask you to log in are asking for your Quizlet account, and handing your login to an unofficial third party is a real risk for a few minutes saved. The manual export is slower, but it never asks you to trust a stranger's website with your account.
The honest bottom line
If you have a text-based Quizlet set and you want Anki's scheduling, the export-and-import path works. Use Tab as your separator, map the fields carefully, enable FSRS once the cards are in, and tighten the long ones.
But the conversion is a means to an end, and the end is reviewing on a scheduler that respects your time. If your set is small, image-heavy, or still sitting in an original PDF, you may get there faster by rebuilding than by converting. And if Quizlet's pricing is what pushed you out, it is worth deciding where you actually want to study before you commit to moving everything. Medical and language learners especially tend to outgrow Quizlet fast, which is why there are dedicated guides for flashcards for medical students and language learners.
Frequently asked questions
Can you convert a Quizlet set to Anki?
Yes, if you made the set. Quizlet only lets a set's creator export it, on its website, as plain text. You save that text as a .txt file, import it into Anki, and map the columns to a Basic note. Text-only sets come through cleanly. Images don't, because Quizlet doesn't export them.
How do I export a set from Quizlet?
Use quizlet.com in a browser, because export isn't in the apps. Open a set you created, select the three-dot menu, then Export. Put a tab between each term and definition and a new line between rows, then select Copy text. Sets you copied from someone else can't be exported.
Why do images not transfer from Quizlet to Anki?
Quizlet doesn't export them. Its help center says image exports aren't available because of copyright restrictions, and the export covers only terms and definitions. In Anki you get the words on each card as a Basic note and have to add pictures and audio back by hand, so image-heavy sets lose most of their value.
Is there an easier alternative to converting Quizlet to Anki?
Often, yes. A small set is quicker to retype than to export, import, and fix. If you still have the PDF or notes behind the set, an app with AI card generation can draft a fresh deck from them. And if the paywall is your only reason to leave Quizlet, check that Anki is where you want to land.
Can you turn a Quizlet set into Anki automatically?
There's no official one-click Quizlet to Anki button. Some browser extensions and third-party sites claim to do it, but they break often when Quizlet changes its pages, and logging in to an unofficial tool puts your account at risk. The manual export is slower, but it never hands your login to anyone.
