PDF to Anki: Anki Flashcard Generator and Anki Card Maker

Line or question type	Front of the card	Back of the card
Header lines	#separator:tab	#html:true
Single choice	The question, then options a) to d) on their own lines	The correct letter and option, then the explanation in italics
Multiple answer	The question and all four lettered options	Every correct option, one per line, plus the explanation
True or false	The statement with a) True and b) False	The right one and why
Fill in the blank	The sentence with the gap	The missing term
Matching	The prompt	Each pair on its own line, left item then its match
Open ended	The question only, no options	The model answer

Why making Anki cards from a PDF takes so long by hand

Anki is excellent at one thing: showing you a card right before you would forget it. It does nothing to help you write the card. A 60 slide pharmacology lecture holds somewhere around 80 to 150 testable facts, and writing a clean front and back for each one is two to three hours of work per lecture. Multiply that by four lectures a day in a block and card writing, not reviewing, becomes the bottleneck.

That is why shared decks are popular, and also why they frustrate people. A shared deck follows someone else's course. Your professor's slide on beta blockers stresses different drugs than the deck does, and the exam is written from the slides. Cards built from your own PDF test what your course actually covers.

So the job splits cleanly. The AI reads the full document, picks the facts, mechanisms and definitions worth a card, and phrases each as a question with one clear answer. You spend ten minutes deleting the obvious ones and tightening any card that asks two things at once. Then Anki schedules the reviews for the rest of the semester. If you also want a timed practice run before the exam, the same upload doubles as a practice test from your PDF with a separate answer key.

How to turn a PDF into an Anki deck in five steps

1

Upload the PDF

One lecture or chapter per deck works best. Scanned handouts are fine with the OCR option switched on.

2

Pick the card style

Open ended and fill in the blank for recall, single choice for board style practice, or a mix.

3

Review and edit

Delete the trivial cards, split any that test two facts, and fix wording before it hits your review queue.

4

Download Anki (.txt)

In your dashboard, open the quiz's download menu and choose Anki (.txt). The file is named after your quiz.

5

Import and sync

Anki desktop, File, Import, Basic note type, your deck. Sync to AnkiWeb and it reaches your phone.

Tool	Anki export	Pricing model	Free to try	Best for
PDFQuiz	Tab separated .txt with Anki headers, Basic cards	Subscription, see current plans	Yes, a quiz from any PDF without an account	Students who want Anki cards plus a practice test and a printable answer key from the same PDF
AnkiDecks	.apkg deck	Pro $60 a year, Ultimate $144 a year (annual billing)	4 deck generations a month, 10 page documents	Anki only workflows with image occlusion
Ankify	.apkg deck	One time packs: $9.99 for 1,000 cards, $19 for 3,000, $49 for 10,000	100 cards	Occasional users who dislike subscriptions
NovaCards	Anki add-on	Premium $9.99 a month	50 AI cards a day	Students who want cards and deck search inside Anki
Writing cards by hand	Native	Anki desktop and AnkiDroid are free; AnkiMobile is $24.99 once	Yes	Small decks where writing the card is part of learning it

Who converts PDFs into Anki decks

Medical students

Pre-clinical blocks run on lecture slides. Turn each day's slides into cards the same evening and let the schedule carry them to Step 1.

Nursing and PA students

Drug classes, lab values and care priorities from the course packet, reviewed in short sessions between clinical shifts.

Law students and bar takers

Rule statements and elements from an outline PDF, drilled daily through the bar prep summer.

Certification candidates

Study guide PDFs for CPA, CFA, AWS or CompTIA exams, turned into a deck you can review on a commute.

PDF to Anki questions people ask

How do I convert a PDF to Anki flashcards?

Upload the PDF here and generate questions, review them, then open the quiz menu in your dashboard and choose Anki (.txt). In Anki on your computer go to File, Import, pick the file, choose the Basic note type and a deck, and click Import. Each question becomes one card with the question on the front and the answer on the back.

Can Anki import a PDF directly?

No. Anki imports text files, CSV files and .apkg deck packages, but it cannot read a PDF and turn it into cards. Something has to read the document and write the questions first. That is the step this tool does, and it hands Anki a tab separated text file it already knows how to import.

Is there an AI that makes Anki cards?

Yes. Several tools read a document and write Anki cards with AI, including dedicated Anki generators such as AnkiDecks, Ankify and NovaCards, and quiz makers like PDFQuiz that also export an Anki file. They differ in export format, pricing model and whether you get anything besides the deck, which the comparison table on this page lays out.

How do I import a text file into Anki?

In Anki desktop choose File, then Import, and select the .txt file. Our file starts with two header lines, #separator:tab and #html:true, so Anki 2.1.54 and later already knows the fields are split by a tab and contain HTML. Pick the Basic note type, choose the deck, confirm Front and Back are mapped, and import.

Can I use the cards on AnkiMobile or AnkiDroid?

Yes. Import the file on Anki desktop, then sync to AnkiWeb, and the new deck shows up on AnkiMobile for iPhone and on AnkiDroid after their next sync. That is the reliable route, because the phone apps are built for reviewing and are awkward for importing text files.

Does it make cloze deletion cards?

No. Every card is a Basic front and back card: a question on the front, and the correct answer plus a short explanation on the back. Multiple choice questions keep their lettered options on the front. If you want cloze cards, a dedicated Anki generator that writes cloze notes is the better fit, so open its sample deck before you buy.

Are AI generated Anki cards good enough to study from?

They are good enough to start from, and you should still read them before you study. Cards built from your own lecture PDF match what your course actually tests, which pre-made shared decks often do not. Delete the trivial ones, fix any card that tests two facts at once, and you have a deck in minutes instead of an evening.

Which plan includes the Anki download?

The Anki (.txt) download sits next to the PDF and Word exports in the quiz menu, and full exports come with the paid plans. Generating a quiz from a PDF is free to try first, so you can check the card quality on your own lecture before you pay. The pricing page lists what each plan includes.