You'll have a card with exactly the words you chose, including example sentences that turn into gap-fill exercises. AI is there for single fields or for finishing cards in bulk, and only runs when you click it.

What you need

• A deck to add the card to.
• An internet connection. On iOS and Android, adding, editing and deleting cards is unavailable offline.
• AI credits only for the AI buttons in this guide: the wand, Suggest example, Complete, Complete backs , Complete details, and for Japanese, Chinese or Cantonese, the reading's Generate and Add readings. Typing a card yourself uses none. How AI credits work.

1. Open the manual form

On the web, click Add in the header. Under Cards, check the deck at the top, then choose Add manually. The form opens with every field empty.

You can also start from a deck: click Add Cards, stay on Single Card, type the word into Expression to learn, and click Add manually instead of Create with AI. The word you typed becomes the card's front.

On iOS and Android: open the deck and tap Add Cards (or the + at the top), then Add manually. The field names differ a little: Expression, Translation, Examples, and under Details, Part of speech, Register and Context.

2. Fill in the front and back

The card can't be saved until both the front and the back have text.

If the deck's learning language has letters your keyboard may lack, such as é, ñ or ß, a row of them appears under the front field and under each example sentence while you're typing there. Click a letter to type it, or ⇧ first for a capital.

If you don't know the translation, click the wand inside Translation. It fills the field with AI. It works once the front has text and while the back is empty.

On iOS and Android: the button inside Translation is a sparkle.

If you start from Expression to learn and the word is already in the deck, a note under the field says so and links to the existing card. You can still add it. This check looks only inside the deck. To find words you've saved in more than one deck, use the duplicate words review in Organize your decks.

3. Add example sentences

Click Add Example. Type the sentence in the first line and its translation in the second. Add more with Add Example under the list.

Note: On the web, fill in both lines of every example. If the translation is missing, the form marks it and won't save. If the deck's two languages are the same, the form doesn't ask for a translation, but an example without one is dropped when you save, and that includes examples already on the card when you edit it.

Suggest example writes one sentence and its translation with AI and adds it to the list. Type the front first, or the button stays grayed out.

On iOS and Android: tap Add example. In the Examples section, Add adds an empty example and Create writes one with AI.

4. Mark the word for gap-fill

In a gap-fill exercise, Vocards shows one of the card's example sentences with the word blanked out, and you pick the card's expression from a few options. To choose what gets blanked, wrap it in double braces in the example sentence. On the web the form reminds you: "Wrap the target word in {{double braces}} for gap-fill exercises".

• Mark the whole word as it appears in the sentence, ending included. For the card comer: Ayer {{comimos}} en casa. Marking {{com}}imos would leave the ending visible.
• Leave a preceding article outside the braces: el {{pan}}, der {{Müll}}. If the front includes the article, as in der Müll, the gap-fill hides the article too.
• Mark every part of a word that splits. A German separable verb takes two markers: Ich {{stehe}} jeden Tag früh {{auf}}. Each marked part becomes its own gap. Two marked words with only a space between them become one gap.
• Don't put braces in the translation. The translation is shown as a hint, and any braces in it are removed.

These are the same rules the AI follows when it writes examples, so sentences from Suggest example arrive already marked.

You don't always need braces:

• If no example on the card has braces, Vocards looks for the front itself in each sentence, ignoring capitals, and blanks its first match. A card casa with the example Mi casa es pequeña. works without markers.
• Once any example on the card has braces, only the examples with braces are used for gap-fill.
• A card with no usable sentence never comes up as a gap-fill.

On iOS and Android: the form doesn't show the double-braces reminder, but braces typed there work the same way.

5. Add the details (optional)

Click Details to open Part of speech, Register and Context. They're free text.

6. Save the card

• Add and close saves the card and takes you back to the deck.
• Add and create another saves it and clears the form, back at Expression to learn, for the next word.

On iOS and Android: tap Add Card. A message asks whether to Add Another or finish with Done.

Readings for Japanese, Chinese and Cantonese cards

In a deck whose learning language is Japanese, Chinese or Cantonese, a front with kanji or Chinese characters gets a Reading field under it: furigana for Japanese, pinyin for Chinese, Jyutping for Cantonese. Click Generate to have AI write it, which uses AI credits, or type how each part is read yourself. Remove clears it. In a session the reading stays hidden until you turn the card over, then it appears above the characters.

Cards that AI writes in these languages come with a reading. When a deck has cards without one, its page shows a banner such as "12 cards have no reading yet". Add readings opens a list of those cards. Pick the ones you want, let AI suggest a reading for each, then untick any you don't like. Only the ticked ones are saved, and a reading a card already has is never changed. One round takes up to 200 cards.

On iOS and Android: the Reading field and the deck banner work the same way.

Finish cards with AI

A card can reach your deck without a back, for example from a list line with no translation (Import a word list you already have) or a word saved as a blank card from the Chrome extension. Such a card shows Needs back, and it stays out of study sessions until it has a back.

Fill in missing backs

On the web, the deck shows a banner such as "3 cards need a back to be studied".

• Complete backs fills every empty back in the deck with AI, one card after another, with a counter while it runs.
• Complete on a single card fills only that one.
• Review drafts shows only the cards without a back, so you can type the backs yourself instead.

On iOS and Android: fill backs one card at a time. Tap Complete on a card marked Needs back, or open the card and type the back. The deck's banner button doesn't fill backs.

Fill in missing details

A card with a back but an empty part of speech, register, context or example list counts as missing details. On the web, a second banner offers Complete details with a count.

1. Click it. A list of those cards opens, all ticked.
2. Untick any card you want left alone. Don't suggest stops Vocards offering that card. It moves to a hidden section at the bottom of the list, where Suggest again brings it back.
3. Click the button at the bottom, for example Complete details (5).

The bulk run only fills fields that are empty. It never changes the front or the back, or anything you've already written.

To go through one card with a preview, open the card's More options menu on the deck and choose Complete details, then click Complete details in the dialog. Here the AI suggests a full set of details. Under Suggested details, each field that would change has a checkbox. Untick what you don't want and click Apply, or Dismiss to keep the card as it is.

On iOS and Android: the deck's banner reads "N cards are unfinished" and its button, Complete details , opens the same list. The count on the button includes cards without a back, but the list leaves them out. The single-card Complete details is in the card's menu: tap the three dots or press and hold the card.

When you're out of credits

• The wand and Suggest example: nothing is filled in, and you see Out of credits. On iOS and Android, an error message says your credits have run out.
• Complete on one card: the back stays empty, and the message is "Couldn't complete the back. Try again." Trying again won't help until you have credits.
• Complete backs : the cards keep an empty back, and a message says how many couldn't be created.
• Complete details in bulk stops at that point. Cards finished before it keep their new details.

Your cards stay usable, and you can type anything the AI didn't fill. Credits come back every 30 days, and How AI credits work shows the other way to get more.

Edit or delete a card

On the web, click a card on the deck page, or choose Edit in its More options menu. The Edit Card page has the same fields. Click Save Changes when you're done.

During a session, Edit Card is in the More options menu at the top and edits the card on screen.

On the edit form, a long back or example wraps onto more lines and the field grows to show all of it. Enter still saves rather than starting a new line.

Editing changes the card's text only. Its level and next review date stay as they were.

To delete a card, choose Delete in its More options menu, or click the red trash button next to Save Changes on the Edit Card page. Confirm with Delete.

Note: Deleting a card can't be undone. If you only want it out of your sessions, hide it instead: Why a card doesn't show up.

On iOS and Android: tap a card to edit it. Delete Card is at the bottom of the Edit Card screen, and Delete is in the card's menu. On iPhone you can also swipe a card left.

Limits

• Front and back: up to 500 characters each.
• Each example sentence and its translation: up to 500 characters each.
• Part of speech and register: up to 100 characters each. Context: up to 500.

If something goes wrong