Fix an e-book import that paused, stopped or partly failed
This guide picks up after you've clicked import on a Kindle or Google Play Books book. For getting the highlights out of the reader, see Import your Kindle highlights or Import your Google Play Books highlights.
Whatever happens to the rest of an import, the cards it has already added stay in the deck.
If something goes wrong
| You see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Import paused – out of credits, or Out of credits on your phone | An AI-enhanced import used up your credits partway. | Once you have credits again, click Resume import. See the section on running out of credits below. |
| "Your credits have run out. They will reset at the start of your next billing period." | Your balance is 0, and you started an AI-enhanced import or clicked Resume import or a retry. | Wait for the reset, or earn 500 by sending feedback (once a calendar month). To import now, choose Text only. |
| "Not enough AI credits. Get more" next to a failed highlight | That highlight ran out of credits. | Click it to open the feedback-for-credits form, or wait for the reset. Then click Retry failed (3) . |
| Import completed with issues | Some highlights couldn't be turned into cards. | Open Failed highlights, then click Retry failed (3) . |
| Import failed | No highlight became a card. | Click Retry failed (3) if it's there. If not, import the book again. |
| Processing is slower due to rate limiting under the progress bar | Vocards limits how many cards AI can write for you in an hour, and this import reached it. | Nothing. The import waits and carries on by itself. A long book in AI-enhanced mode can take more than an hour. |
| "You've hit a limit. Try again a bit later." | You've reached the limit of 20 an hour. See Limits below. | Wait until an hour has passed since the first of them. |
| Target deck was deleted when you click import | The deck was deleted. | The page switches to Create new deck. Fill it in, or pick another deck, and import again. |
| After Continue import, the highlights it already added aren't marked Already imported | The page didn't check the deck again. That happens when the stopped import went in through Pick any deck or an Import the remaining 400 highlights button. | Don't import from that list. Open the book again the same way you imported it, as described under You stopped the import. |
| A second card for highlights you already had | Continue import on your phone, or Import the remaining 400 highlights , brought them in again. | Delete the extra cards on the deck page. Next time, check the count first, or finish on the web. |
| No box for a paused or failed import on your phone | The app lists only an import that is still running. | Open E-book highlights on the web and click Resume import or the retry button. |
Where to find an import
- While it runs, the import page shows Importing highlights with a count and a bar. When it ends, the same page shows how it ended and what you can do next.
- If you left the page, open Import, then Highlights from your e-books. That page shows a running import as Import in progress, and each paused or failed one in a box with a button to finish it. A stopped import isn't listed.
- On iOS and Android, only the progress screen offers Resume import or a retry. Once you leave it, E-book highlights shows only an import that is still running, so finish a paused or failed import on the web, on the E-book highlights page.
The import paused because you ran out of credits
Only AI-enhanced imports use AI credits, so only they pause.
Each highlight is charged for the AI work it actually took, so there's no fixed price per highlight. When your balance runs out partway, the import stops and holds the highlights it hadn't reached. The page shows Import paused – out of credits and how many highlights are left. On iOS and Android the heading is Out of credits.
To finish it:
- Wait for credits. Every account gets 500 free every 30 days, and once a calendar month you can earn 500 more by sending feedback. Credits can't be bought, whatever "Top up your credits" on the page suggests. AI credits explains both.
- Click Resume import, on the import page or in the box on the E-book highlights page. The import carries on with the highlights it was holding, into the same deck.
Resume import is refused while your balance shows 0, with "Your credits have run out. They will reset at the start of your next billing period." There's no billing: the period is your 30-day credit cycle. If your credits run out again, the import pauses again.
Note: Resuming and retrying don't count toward the hourly limit.
Some highlights couldn't be imported
When an import ends with some highlights missing, the page shows Import completed with issues with how many were imported and how many weren't. If none were imported, it shows Import failed.
- On Import completed with issues, click Failed highlights to open the list. Each row shows the highlight and why it failed.
- Click Retry failed (3) . Only those highlights run again, into the same deck, and the progress view comes back.
On the E-book highlights page the same import shows as, for example, "3 of 120 highlights couldn't be imported" or Import didn't finish, with Retry 3 failed . Dismiss hides the box until you open the page again.
On iOS and Android the progress screen has Retry failed (3) too, but no list of which highlights failed.
You stopped the import
Stop import ends the import, and the cards added so far stay. In AI-enhanced mode Vocards asks first, and Keep importing lets it carry on. The page then shows Import stopped and how many were added.
To bring in the rest on the web:
- Still on that page: click Continue import. The list comes back with the same deck chosen. Check that the highlights already added are marked Already imported and unticked, then click import again. If they aren't, don't import from this list. Use the next option.
- After leaving or reloading the page: open the book again the same way you imported it: from the Kindle notebook or the Play Books reader, or with the same link or file. The page picks From a previous import and the same deck, and marks what's already in it. Continue import can't help here: without the book on the page, it starts over.
Note: On iOS and Android, Continue import takes you back to Import to pick the book again. The app doesn't mark highlights that are already in the deck, and it can't show which ones the stopped import added, so importing from there gives you a second card for each of them. Finish the book on the web instead: open it there and import it into the same deck.
Import the remaining highlights
When an import ends, the page can offer a button such as Import the remaining 400 highlights . It puts them into the same deck, up to 1,000 at a time, as soon as you click.
The number counts every highlight of the book you haven't imported since you opened it on this page: the ones over the 1,000 limit, and also any you unticked, hid by color, or that were marked Already imported. If you left highlights out on purpose, or the book was imported before, check the number first. If it's more than you expect, click Go to deck instead.
On iOS and Android the button also counts every highlight you left unticked, but it opens the list of them first, so you can untick what you don't want. It isn't offered after you stop an import.
The deck was deleted
Deleting a deck stops an import that is still filling it. The cards it had added go with the deck. Click Undo on the Deck deleted message to bring back the deck and those cards. The stopped import doesn't start again. To add the rest, open the book again and import it into that deck. A paused or partly failed import of that deck disappears from the E-book highlights page while the deck is deleted, and comes back with it.
Import history
Import history on the E-book highlights page has a row for each import, with the book, its highlight count and its deck. To tidy it, click the × on a row, then Remove. The row goes and the cards stay in the deck. On iOS and Android, the trash icon on a row removes it at once, without asking, and also keeps the cards.
Limits
- 1,000 highlights per import.
- 20 an hour, shared by Kindle and Google Play Books. Each import you start counts, and so does each Google Play Books link Vocards reads and each sync. A .docx upload counts twice, once to upload and once to read. Photos and files you attach to create cards with AI count too. The count starts again an hour after the first of them.
- When an upload hits the limit, the web page says only "Failed to upload file" .
- AI credits, for AI-enhanced only: 500 every 30 days. Text only uses none.