Anki Startup Guide

Step 1:

Step 2:

Download the Core 2K/6K deck here (it already has sounds included):

https://mega.nz/#!QIQywAAZ!g6wRM6KvDVmLxq7X5xLrvaw7HZGyYULUkT_YDtQdgfU
Download from the above link. Do not download the poorly formatted Core decks on AnkiWeb.

Step 3:

Add it to Anki (drag and drop/'Import File' button on the bottom of Anki window/Ctrl+I).

Step 4 (optional step for images):

Download media the deck uses (Card images):

http://www.mediafire.com/download/nrvpcx9a766nh1t/core2k-image.munged.rar

Step 5 (optional step for images):

Unrar the media content and paste into your Anki 'collection.media' folder (remember to paste files, not a folder with files). Every file should by default have following access path:

C:\Users\____\AppData\Roaming\Anki2\_____\collection.media

Step 6 (optional step for images):

Add the card images to the card format: Hit "Browse" -> Navigate to the Core deck on the left sidebar -> Hit the "Cards..." button -> Add {{Sentence-Image}} under the
at the bottom of the "Back Template" section.

Step 7:

Remove the review limit by going to the deck options and under the "Reviews" tab and setting "Maximum reviews/day" to 9999 (Don't be alarmed by this number, it likely won't go above 200-350 in the long run at decent retention with 20-30 new cards a day, the point is more to set it to something you'll never hit)

Step 8:

Learn. The first word in the deck should be それ. If you see a different word before that, you need to fix your settings: Go to the deck options and set the order to "Show new cards in order added".

Images aren't really required for this deck, most people don't use them so feel free to omit steps 4-6.

Retention Tips / Misc comments and common opinions (note that most of these are highly personal preference and your mileage may vary, so make up your own mind about doing any of this stuff):

Some people like doing new cards separate from reviews since it prevents a bunch of new cards from all piling up at the end of your session, and means that you're mentally 'fresh' when facing them. If you want to do this, there is an option to do new cards before (or after) reviews in Anki's preferences.
Going into the deck, hitting the "Custom Study" button, selecting "Review forgotten cards", leaving it at 1 day, and hitting okay will create a temporary deck with all of the cards you hit again on that day so you can do focused reviewing of cards that gave you trouble. This also gets cards you hit "again" on while doing new cards. You can delete the custom study deck after you're done with it and the cards will go back to their decks.
Increasing the number of steps on new cards (deck options -> changing the "1 10" under "Steps" on the "New" tab) can also help retention with new words since it makes you get the words correct more times in a row before letting them move on to the next day, but it also means new cards take longer to do. "1 1 10", "1 10 20", "1 1 10 20", etc. whatever works best to you.
Be aware of the "learn ahead" option in Anki's settings. This is what's letting you see a card you just hit "Again (10m)" on. Lowering it or even setting it to 0 could help you learn/relearn words since it forces you to wait the entire interval before letting you guess again, but it could also make doing reviews and new cards a bit more tedious and time consuming. If you have new card / relearn reviews on your decks you were recently doing but it's not letting you do them, this setting is likely why.
If you want to keep track of what kanji are in words you know, then try the kanji grid add-on.

Fixing fonts on Ankidroid

Kanji are sometimes displayed incorrectly on mobile devices. You can fix this by using a custom font. Download a .ttf font (available from the CoR or this torrent.) Then, follow the instructions in the Anki manual to install it.

Yomichan Anki integration guide

This guide assumes you have already installed Yomichan and added the JMdict dictionary to it. If you have not yet done this, see the Yomichan webpage for instructions.

Yomichan can be set up to automatically create Anki cards from the words which you hover over with it. In order to do this, it is necessary to install Yomichan's companion Anki add-on called AnkiConnect. The installation is no different from that of any other Anki add-on and there is no post-install configuration necessary. See the AnkiConnect page on the Yomichan website for instructions.

After you have installed AnkiConnect, you will need to create a deck in Anki to add the words to, assuming you have not done so already. This guide will assume you want to create a deck containing the following information:

The word written in kanji.
The word written in kana.
The word written in kanji, with accompanying furigana.
The definition of the word.
Audio of the word being spoken by a native speaker (if available).

We want 5 seperate pieces of information, so this means our deck will need 5 seperate fields to house said information. To get started, we will need to open Anki and click on the "Create Deck" button at the bottom of the window. We will then be presented with a pop-up asking us what we wish to call our deck - I will be using the name "Japanese Vocabulary", but feel free to call it whatever you want.

Once the deck has been created, click on it to select it, then press the "Add" button at the top of the screen. This will present us with a pop-up window allowing us to not only add cards to the deck, but also change various things about the deck itself. Our first order of business is creating a new note type to use for our deck. Begin by clicking the button next to the word "Type" (the button itself will most likely say "Basic"), which will open up another pop-up window. From here, our actions will involve clicking more buttons in order to open yet more pop-up windows:
Manage -> Add -> Select "Clone: Basic" and then "OK" -> Type in name (e.g. Yomi) and then click "OK" -> Close -> Select "Yomi" and then click "Choose"

Having fun yet? Now it's time to create our new fields and delete the default ones. To begin, click the "Fields..." button to open up yet another pop-up window. Our first order of business is to click the "Add" button in order to create our new fields:

Expression
Meaning
Reading
Furigana
Audio

Once done, select the default fields and click "Delete" to get rid of them, then close the pop-up to return to the original "Add" pop-up window. The final thing we need to do in Anki is edit the appearance of the cards themselves. Begin by clicking the "Cards..." button. Here's where things get subjective, but I like to keep my cards simple. If you wish to copy my formatting, then simply add the text below to the relevant sections:

Front Template
<div class=expression>{{Expression}}</div>
 
 
Styling
.card {
 font-family: TakaoPGothic;
 font-size: 20px;
 text-align: center;
 color: black;
 background-color: white;
}
 
.expression {
 font-size: 56px;
}
 
.reading {
 font-size: 42px;
}
 
 
Back Template
<div class=expression>{{Furigana}}</div>
 
<hr id=answer>
 
<div class=reading>{{Reading}}</div><br>
{{Meaning}}
 
<!--{{Audio}}-->

For the font I use, see here.

Once you've got your card formatting how you want it, simply close the window, along with any remaining pop-up windows (making sure to leave Anki itself open!).

Now that we're done with Anki, we need to make our way over to Yomichan's settings and tick the "Enable Anki integration" checkbox. Upon doing so, a bunch of new options should appear. We are interested in the options in the "Terms" section. First off, under "Deck", we want to select the deck which we just created (Japanese Vocabulary), and under "Model" we want to select the note type which we just created (Yomi). The "Terms" section should now display our newly created fields, so all that's left from here is to assign corresponding "Markers" to them (see the Yomichan webpage for a full list of options).

Expression - {expression}
Meaning - {glossary}
Reading - {reading}
Furigana - {furigana}
Audio - {audio}

Alternatively, you can use {glossary-brief} for the Meaning field. {glossary} contains information about the word, such as whether it is a noun, verb, etc. and what dictionary the definition is being taken from. {glossary-brief} contains no other information besides the definitions themselves.

Another alternative is using {furigana-plain} instead of {furigana}. {furigana} uses HTML ruby text to display the furigana, while {furigana-plain} uses the method of applying furigana provided by the "Japanese Support" Anki addon.

And with that, we're done! To test that you've set everything up properly, try hovering over the following word and clicking the green + button which should now be present in Yomichan's pop-up: 無為無能

TEMPLATES

If you're not satisfied with Yomichan's default formatting of definitions, there are alternative templates. Simply copy the contents of the linked template into the template box under the Anki Options section of Yomichan's settings (make sure you have the Show advanced options checkbox ticked), making sure to replace the existing values (and also making sure that you are using {glossary-brief} or {glossary}, as appropriate).

{glossary}: Default template
{glossary}: Give single definitions their own bullet point. Use this template. If you want space between numbered items like in the preview, add ul { margin-top:10px; margin-bottom:18px; } to your card styling.
{glossary-brief}: Default template
{glossary-brief}: Compressed like Rikai-sama. Use this template.

TROUBLESHOOTING

If you followed the instructions and it still does not work, manually add a new card to your mining deck and try again.