Someone in your class exported a Quizlet set to a CSV and dropped it in the group chat. Getting it into Anki is quick, but a two-minute cleanup of the columns is what separates clean flashcards from a deck of scrambled cards.
Quizlet does not offer a one-click export to Anki, so classmates usually share sets as a CSV or spreadsheet instead. That file works perfectly in Anki once you know two things: how to make sure the columns are clean, and how to set the field separator during import. Skip those and you get cards with the question and answer mashed together, or a deck full of garbled accents. Here is the whole process, start to finish, plus fixes for the problems that trip people up.
The Short Version
Open the CSV and confirm it has exactly two columns, the term and the definition, saved as UTF-8. In Anki on your computer, choose File, then Import, and select the CSV. Set the field separator to match the file, usually a comma, map the first column to Front and the second to Back, pick or create a deck with the Basic note type, and click Import. Check a few cards afterward. Note that CSV importing works only in Anki desktop, not on the phone apps, so import on a computer and let it sync.
Table of Contents
What you need before you start
Two things, really. First, the CSV file itself, which is what your classmate gets when they export a Quizlet set or copy it into a spreadsheet and save it. Second, the desktop version of Anki, because importing a text file is a computer-only feature. AnkiDroid and AnkiMobile cannot import a CSV directly, so if you only study on your phone, do the import on a laptop or desktop first, then sync through a free AnkiWeb account and your cards appear everywhere. Download the desktop app from the official Anki site if you do not have it yet. With the file and the app ready, the rest takes a couple of minutes.
Step 1: Clean up the CSV before you import
This is the step that prevents almost every broken-card problem, so it is worth two minutes. Open the CSV in a spreadsheet app or a plain text editor and check four things. It should have exactly two columns, the term in the first and the definition in the second, since extra columns confuse the field mapping. It should be saved with UTF-8 encoding, which keeps accented characters and symbols from turning into gibberish. If any cell contains a comma inside the text, that cell needs to be wrapped in quotation marks, or the comma will split your card in the wrong place. Finally, delete a header row like “Term, Definition” if there is one, or it will import as an extra card. Save the file and you are ready.
Step 2: Import the CSV into Anki
Open Anki on your computer, choose File, then Import, and select your cleaned CSV. Anki opens its import screen and tries to guess the settings, but confirm each one. Set the note type to Basic, which gives you a simple front-and-back card, and choose the deck you want the cards added to, creating a new one if needed. Check the field separator, which for a CSV is usually a comma; if the preview shows your term and definition jammed into a single field, the separator is wrong, so switch it to Tab or Semicolon until the preview splits them correctly. Map the first column to Front and the second to Back. If your cards contain formatting like bold or line breaks written as HTML, turn on “Allow HTML in fields” so it renders instead of showing raw tags. The preview table shows exactly how your cards will look before anything is saved, so review it, then click Import.
Step 3: Check your cards and fix the formatting
Never trust an import blindly. Open the deck and browse a handful of cards to confirm the fronts and backs landed in the right places and the special characters look right. Use the Browse window to scan the whole set quickly. One thing to expect: a CSV carries text only, so any images, audio, or diagrams from the original Quizlet set will not come across, and you will need to add those manually to the cards that need them. If most cards look correct and only a few are off, you can edit them directly in the Browse window rather than redoing the whole import. Once it looks right, sync so the deck reaches your phone.
Fixing the most common import problems
If something looks wrong, it is almost always one of these four, and each has a quick fix:
- Front and back are in one field. The field separator is wrong. Reimport and change it from comma to tab or semicolon until the preview splits the two columns.
- Accents or symbols are garbled. The file is not UTF-8. Reopen the CSV in a text editor and save it again with UTF-8 encoding, then import.
- There is a blank or junk first card. A header row got imported. Delete that row from the CSV, or just delete the single bad card in Anki.
- Cards show raw code like <br>. Enable “Allow HTML in fields” during import so the formatting renders instead of displaying as text.
What To Know
- Quizlet has no one-click Anki export, so sets are shared as CSV or spreadsheet files.
- Clean the CSV first: two columns, UTF-8 encoding, no stray header row, commas inside text quoted.
- Import on Anki desktop only, then sync through AnkiWeb to reach the phone apps.
- CSV carries text only, so images and audio from the original set must be added by hand.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I import a Quizlet CSV into Anki?
On Anki desktop, choose File, then Import, and select the CSV. Set the note type to Basic, pick a deck, set the field separator to comma, and map the first column to Front and the second to Back. Preview the cards, then click Import. Clean the file to two UTF-8 columns first for the smoothest result.
Why did my imported cards put the question and answer in one field?
The field separator is set wrong. Anki guessed a separator that does not match your file, so it treated the whole line as a single field. Reimport and change the separator, usually from comma to tab or semicolon, and watch the preview until the term and definition appear in two separate columns.
Can I import a CSV into Anki on my iPhone or Android?
Not directly. CSV and text-file importing is a desktop-only feature in Anki. Import the file on a computer using the free desktop app, then sync your collection through a free AnkiWeb account, and the new cards will appear in AnkiMobile or AnkiDroid automatically.
Will images and audio from the Quizlet set come over?
No. A CSV file contains only text, so any images, audio, or diagrams in the original set are left behind. The text on the front and back imports fine, but you will need to add media manually to the individual cards that require it after the import.
My accented characters turned into strange symbols. How do I fix it?
That is an encoding problem. Open the CSV in a plain text editor and save it again using UTF-8 encoding, which Anki expects, then delete the messed-up cards and reimport. UTF-8 preserves accents, non-Latin scripts, and special symbols that other encodings scramble.
Is it better to use an add-on to move Quizlet sets to Anki?
For a single set shared as a CSV, the built-in import is faster and needs no setup. Add-ons and converter tools can help when you are moving many sets or want to preserve media, but for a classmate’s exported file, cleaning the columns and importing directly is the simplest reliable path.
What To Do Next
Open the shared CSV, trim it to two clean UTF-8 columns, then import it into Anki desktop with the field separator matching the file and the columns mapped to Front and Back. Review a few cards, add any missing images by hand, and sync. If you want the exact behavior of every import setting, the Anki manual’s guide to importing text files is the definitive reference. For more study-tool guides, browse Visboo’s Education and Technology sections.