You send one link. Whoever opens it can look through the deck without an account, and anyone who signs in can copy it into their own library. Each copy is a separate deck with its own review schedule, so a whole class or a study partner can learn the same words at their own pace.

What you need

• A deck of your own, open on the web app or in the Vocards app on iPhone or Android.
• On a phone, an internet connection. The deck's buttons, including Share, are hidden while the app is offline.
• The people you share with need a Vocards account to copy the deck. They can look at it without one.

1. Open the share settings

On the web, open the deck and click the share icon in the top-right corner of the page. Its tooltip reads Share. The same Share entry is in each deck's menu in your deck list.

Note: On iOS and Android, tap the share button in the row of buttons at the top of the deck page. Screen readers announce it as Share.

2. Choose who can open the deck

Under Visibility, pick one of three options. Your choice is saved as soon as you tap it.

• Private: only you can see the deck. Every deck you create starts here.
• Anyone with link: creates the deck's link. Anyone who has the link can view the deck.
• Public: gives the same link. Its description says the deck is discoverable, but Vocards doesn't list shared decks anywhere and keeps shared deck pages out of search results. People reach a Public deck through its link, as with Anyone with link.

Switching between Anyone with link and Public keeps the same link.

3. Send the link

Once the deck isn't Private, the link appears under the options.

• Click Copy link, then paste the link into your class chat, an email or a slide.
• Or use the X, Facebook, WhatsApp or Email button to post it there. Where your browser supports it, More options opens your device's share menu.

Note: On iOS and Android, the sheet shows Copy link and a Share button that opens the phone's share sheet.

There's no QR code for a deck. In chat apps, the link preview shows the deck's title, its two languages, the number of cards and a few of its words.

4. What people see when they open it

The link opens a page for the deck. No account is needed to view it.

The page shows the deck's title and description, the number of cards, and the front and back of up to six cards under Card Preview, newest first. You appear as A Vocards user: your name and email aren't shown. The page doesn't show how many people have copied the deck, or who.

On a phone's browser, Open in app opens the same page in the Vocards app, if it's installed.

5. Copy the deck (for the person you sent it to)

1. If you aren't signed in, tap Sign in to copy. After you sign in, you come back to the same deck page, and the deck is copied for you.
2. If you were already signed in, or finished signing in on another device or browser, tap Copy to My Decks. It shows Deck copied!, and a second later the new deck opens.

The copy is in your own library, switched on for learning, and every card starts at Unseen. From here it's an ordinary deck: see Your first learning session.

What a copy contains

A copy is a snapshot of the deck at the moment someone copies it. It has no link back to your deck, so each person's answers move only their own cards.

• Copied: the deck's name, description and two languages, and each card's front, back, example sentences, Part of speech, Register and Context. A Japanese, Chinese or Cantonese card keeps its reading too.
• Not copied: your progress. Every card in the copy starts fresh.
• Cards you hid with Don't show again are copied as ordinary cards, so they come up in other people's sessions. Delete a card if nobody should get it.
• Changes you make later don't reach existing copies. New cards, fixes and deletions stay in your deck. To get your latest version, the other person copies the deck again. That makes a second, separate deck, and its cards start again from Unseen.

6. Stop sharing

Open the share settings again and pick Private.

• The link stops working. Anyone who opens it sees Deck not found.
• Copies people already made stay in their libraries.
• If you share the deck again later, it gets a new link. The old link doesn't come back, so send the new one to everyone who needs it.

Deleting the deck also stops the link.

Share a single card

To send one card, open the card's ⋯ menu (More options) in the deck and choose Share. On iOS and Android, long-press the card or open its ⋯ menu and tap Share.

• Share via link gives the card its own link. Turning it off removes the link.
• Under Card image you can save or send the card as a picture, with a light or dark theme, a square or Story shape, and an optional QR code. The QR code needs the link to be on.

A card copied from its own link keeps its details, the same as a card in a copied deck.

If something goes wrong