PDF to Anki

Turn lecture PDFs into Anki-ready flashcards

Upload slides, study guides, or lecture notes, generate a usable deck, then export it to Anki when you are ready to review. Deckio handles the conversion so you skip the tedious copy-paste-format cycle that makes Anki card creation so slow.

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Free to start — no credit card required.

Upload your PDF

Select the pages that matter instead of copying text by hand.

Generate the deck

Deckio turns the PDF into clean questions and answers in seconds.

Export and review

Keep studying in Deckio or export your deck to Anki.

How to actually use it

01Upload and select pages

Drag and drop your PDF into Deckio or click to browse. You will see a page preview for every page in the document. Select only the pages that contain material you want to study — skip title slides, bibliographies, and filler pages. Free accounts can process up to 15 pages per PDF, while Pro accounts handle up to 150 pages. Deckio extracts the text content directly from the PDF, so text-based documents work best. Scanned PDFs are supported too, though text-based files produce cleaner results.

02Configure your deck settings

Before generating, choose the card type that fits your study style. Q&A cards work well for definitions and factual recall. Cloze deletion cards (fill-in-the-blank) are great for terminology-heavy subjects. Multiple choice is useful when you want to practice recognition under exam-like conditions. Set the card density from brief (fewer, broader cards) to comprehensive (more granular cards covering finer details). You can also add custom instructions — for example, 'focus on the electron transport chain' or 'make exam-style questions only'.

03Review and edit your cards

Once Deckio generates the deck, review each card. You can edit the front or back of any card, delete cards that are too easy or off-topic, and reorder as needed. This editing step is important because even the best AI produces some cards that need a human touch. Think of the generated deck as a strong first draft.

04Export to Anki as .apkg

When you are satisfied with the deck, export it as an .apkg file — the native Anki format. Open Anki on your computer, go to File > Import, select the .apkg file, and the deck appears ready to review. All your cards, including any edits you made in Deckio, carry over. The .apkg export is available on Pro, Ultimate, and trial accounts. Free users can study inside Deckio's built-in review mode, which uses the same SM-2 spaced repetition algorithm that Anki uses.

Why converting PDFs to Anki is worth automating

Creating Anki cards manually from a PDF is one of the most time-consuming parts of studying. You open the PDF, read a section, switch to Anki, type the front, type the back, save, and repeat — hundreds of times for a single lecture. Many students spend more time making cards than actually reviewing them, which defeats the purpose of spaced repetition.

Deckio automates the bottleneck. Instead of spending 2-3 hours building a 50-card deck by hand, you upload the PDF, select the pages, and get a complete first-draft deck in under a minute. You still review and edit the cards (that step matters), but you skip the slow transcription work entirely.

The other common alternative is downloading pre-made shared decks from AnkiWeb. Those can be useful for standardized material, but they rarely match your specific professor's slides, your course outline, or the exact topics your exam will cover. Cards generated from your own lecture PDF are inherently more relevant than generic shared decks.

Who this is for

Pre-med students with dense lecture slides
Medical prerequisite courses like biochemistry and anatomy generate dozens of slide decks per week. Upload each lecture PDF to Deckio, generate cards covering the key mechanisms and terminology, then export to Anki to keep everything in one review system.
Engineering students with formula-heavy PDFs
Upload circuit analysis or thermodynamics lecture PDFs and generate cards focused on definitions, formulas, and problem-solving steps. Deckio pulls out the conceptual content so you can drill the theory alongside your practice problems.
Language learners with grammar PDFs
Upload a grammar reference or textbook chapter as PDF. Deckio generates cards for verb conjugations, grammar rules, and vocabulary in context. Export to Anki and add the deck to your daily language review rotation.

What it looks like

Input

Cell Biology Lecture 4: mitochondria, ATP production, electron transport chain, oxidative phosphorylation, proton gradient, ATP synthase.

Generated cards

What is the main role of the mitochondrion?

It produces ATP through cellular respiration.

What drives ATP synthase in oxidative phosphorylation?

The proton gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane.

Where does the electron transport chain sit?

In the inner mitochondrial membrane.

Manual Anki creation is precise but slow — most students spend 2-3 hours building a deck that Deckio generates in under a minute. Deckio gets you to a first usable deck much faster, then you can edit cards before exporting. For students who prefer Anki's desktop app for daily reviews, Deckio serves as the fastest way to get your lecture material into .apkg format.

Questions

Can I choose only part of a PDF?+

Yes. After uploading, you see a page-by-page preview and can select only the pages you want. This is useful for skipping title pages, bibliographies, or sections you have already studied.

Does Deckio export to Anki?+

Yes. Deckio exports decks as .apkg files, which is Anki's native format. Open Anki, go to File > Import, and select the file. The export feature is available on Pro, Ultimate, and 7-day trial accounts.

Is this useful for lecture slides?+

Yes. Deckio is built for lecture notes, slides, and study PDFs. Slide decks with bullet points and short text blocks tend to produce especially clean flashcards.

How many PDF pages can I process?+

Free accounts support up to 15 pages per PDF. Pro accounts handle up to 150 pages, and Ultimate accounts support up to 500 pages. You can upload multiple PDFs across separate generation sessions.

Does the export include my edits?+

Yes. Any changes you make to cards in Deckio — edits, deletions, reordering — are included in the .apkg export. What you see in the editor is what you get in Anki.

Can I generate different card types for Anki?+

Yes. Deckio supports Q&A (basic front/back), cloze deletion (fill-in-the-blank), and multiple choice cards. All types export cleanly to Anki.

Does it work with scanned PDFs?+

Scanned PDFs are supported, but text-based PDFs produce better results. If your scan is blurry or handwritten, consider using the image input mode instead, which uses OCR.

Is the .apkg export free?+

The Anki .apkg export is available on Pro ($6/month), Ultimate ($12/month), and during the free 7-day trial. Free-tier users can study inside Deckio using built-in spaced repetition, which uses the same SM-2 algorithm as Anki.

Start with your own notes

Upload a PDF, paste notes, or drop in a YouTube link. Get a first deck in under a minute.

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