Excel to Anki deck converter

Select the cells in Excel or Google Sheets, copy them, paste them here, and download a deck Anki opens with a double-click. No add-on, no upload, no account.

Paste the cells you copied from Excel

Nothing leaves your browser

Or drop one on the box. .csv, .tsv, .txt up to 5 MB.

How we read it

Separators and column roles show up here as soon as there is something to read.

Preview

No cards recognized yet

Check the separators above, or paste a couple of rows to start.

Get the file

.apkg

Map a Front and a Back to enable this

Step by step

1. Copy the cells, or save as CSV

Copying cells straight out of a spreadsheet puts tab separated text on your clipboard, which is the cleanest input this converter takes. Saving the sheet as CSV works too: use File, Save As, CSV UTF-8 in Excel, or File, Download, Comma-separated values in Google Sheets.

2. Check the columns in the preview

The first two columns become Front and Back. Point any other column at Example, Notes or Tags, or set it to Ignore so it stays out of the deck. Tick First row is a header if your sheet has one.

3. Download and import

Download the .apkg and double-click it. Your fields and tags arrive already mapped, so Anki's import dialog never has to guess.

When the import looks wrong

Accents came out as strange symbols

The sheet was saved in the local Windows encoding instead of Unicode. In Excel choose CSV UTF-8 when saving, or skip the file entirely and copy the cells straight into the box above.

A German or Polish Excel split every card wrongly

In locales that use the comma as the decimal mark, Excel writes CSV with semicolons instead. Set the column separator to semicolon and the preview lines up.

Excel turned words into dates or numbers

Autocorrect rewrites cells that look like dates, and it is not reversible after saving. Format the columns as Text before typing or pasting into them, then export.

Only part of the sheet came through

This converter reads one sheet at a time from what you paste. Copy each tab separately, or export the sheet you need on its own.

The .xlsx file did nothing

The binary .xlsx format is not read here on purpose, because parsing it in the browser would be far heavier than the job needs. Copy the cells or save the sheet as CSV or TSV first.

FAQ

Questions about this converter

Find answers to common questions.

How do I turn an Excel spreadsheet into an Anki deck?

Select the cells in Excel, copy them, and paste them into the box above: a copied selection is tab separated text, which the converter reads directly. Map the columns in the preview, name the deck, and download the .apkg. Anki imports it with a double-click, with no add-on and no import dialog to configure.

Can I upload an .xlsx file directly?

No, and that is deliberate. Reading the binary .xlsx format in the browser would be far heavier than this job deserves, so the converter takes CSV, TSV and plain text. Copying the cells is usually faster than exporting anyway.

Why did my accented characters break?

Excel saves CSV in the local Windows encoding unless you ask for Unicode, which turns accents into replacement symbols. Choose CSV UTF-8 in the Save As dialog, or copy the cells straight from the sheet, which never has this problem.

My Excel exports with semicolons instead of commas. Is that a problem?

No. That is normal in locales where the comma is the decimal mark. Set the column separator above to semicolon and the preview lines up immediately.

Is the Excel to Anki converter free?

Yes. No signup, no credit, no cap on how often you use it. Everything runs inside your browser tab.

Is my spreadsheet uploaded anywhere?

No. The rows are parsed and packaged in the browser and never reach a server, so nothing from the sheet leaves your machine.

Can I keep a column of notes or tags?

Yes. Point a column at Notes and it becomes a card field; point one at Tags and its values, separated by spaces or commas, become native Anki tags rather than visible text on the card.

No file to convert yet?

NextLang writes the cards for you: paste any text and get a deck with translations and example sentences, ready for the same import.

Generate flashcards with AI

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