Up until now, I've been manually reviewing new cards several times throughout the day before adding them to Anki at the end of the day (with the default step: 1 10). I'm thinking of starting reviews earlier in the day and have Anki remind me to revise new and lapsed cards in the same day with steps:1 2 10 40 120 360 1440.

Does Anki have some sort of option or plugin to remind me when reviews are due so I don't need to keep Anki open and manually checking it? Telling me when it's due ahead of time would be nice too. Like "next card due in 6 hours"

These learning steps look like they could work, I'll try them out.
I checked the add-ons list, and there doesn't seem to be any similar plugins available.
You could use manual reminders, but that might not be what you're looking for.

I use Karen's Countdown Timer. This program has the features you mentioned. Namely, it allows user-defined reminders, custom intervals, and the user may select a file (in this case, Anki's executable file). You could use this tool to open Anki every, say, 24 minutes - or any interval to your liking.

An Anki plugin with these features could be really useful, though.

from anki.hooks import wrap
from aqt.overview import Overview
import time

def myTable(self, _old):

oldRes = _old(self)

gr = nextDue(self.mw.col.sched)
if not gr:
return oldRes
return "{0}<br/>Next card due {1}.".format(oldRes, gr)

def nextDue(self):
if self._fillLrn():
cutoff = time.time()
next = self._lrnQueue[0][0] - self.col.conf['collapseTime']
diff = int(next - cutoff)

hours, remainder = divmod(diff, 3600)
minutes, seconds = divmod(remainder, 60)
if diff <= 0:
return "now"
s = []
if hours:
s.append("{} hour{}".format(hours, "s" if hours > 1 else ""))
if minutes:
s.append("{} minute{}".format(minutes, "s" if minutes > 1 else ""))
if seconds and not minutes and not hours:
s.append("{} second{}".format(seconds, "s" if seconds > 1 else ""))
return "at " + time.strftime("%H:%M", time.localtime(next)) + ", in " + ", ".join(s)
return None

Overview._table = wrap(Overview._table, myTable, "around")

The above will tell you what time the next card is going to be due at (and how long it is until that time, but the latter value won't be updated automatically). It takes your learn ahead limit into account. Save as nextDue.py in <Documents>/Anki/addons and restart Anki.

quanticism Wrote:I'm thinking of starting reviews earlier in the day and have Anki remind me to revise new and lapsed cards in the same day with steps:1 2 10 40 120 360 1440.

I wonder if those learning steps would be productive compared to shorter steps?

Fwiw, I've been trying to simulate Iversen word list method in Anki by setting micro-intervals with steps: 0.08 0.16 0.32 0.64 5. In other word 5s, 10s, 20s, 40s, 5 minutes. Next review is the following day.

So far I've done this for ~500 new vocab over 9 days, and I'm happy with how it's going (88% correct on Learning cards, 97% on Young cards).

Anyway the reasoning is based on the idea that short-term memory can store only ~7 items. In order to remember > 7 some things have to move over to long-term memory. These micro-intervals gently force a word out of short-term memory.

Basically for a list of words, you can't complete these steps without using your long-term memory. In 40 seconds, I will have reviewed >8 words. In 5 minutes I will have reviewed > 60 words. Long-term memory must be employed to still be remembering.

...

By contrast, with steps of 1 2 10 40 etc, I'm basically reviewing rather than learning. I'm saying "Is this still in my long-term memory? How about now? And now?". For reviewing I think once per-day is enough.

quanticism Wrote:I'm thinking of starting reviews earlier in the day and have Anki remind me to revise new and lapsed cards in the same day with steps:1 2 10 40 120 360 1440.

I wonder if those learning steps would be productive compared to shorter steps?

Fwiw, I've been trying to simulate Iversen word list method in Anki by setting micro-intervals with steps: 0.08 0.16 0.32 0.64 5. In other word 5s, 10s, 20s, 40s, 5 minutes. Next review is the following day.

So far I've done this for ~500 new vocab over 9 days, and I'm happy with how it's going (88% correct on Learning cards, 97% on Young cards).

Anyway the reasoning is based on the idea that short-term memory can store only ~7 items. In order to remember > 7 some things have to move over to long-term memory. These micro-intervals gently force a word out of short-term memory.

Basically for a list of words, you can't complete these steps without using your long-term memory. In 40 seconds, I will have reviewed >8 words. In 5 minutes I will have reviewed > 60 words. Long-term memory must be employed to still be remembering.

...

By contrast, with steps of 10 40 120 360 1440, I'm basically reviewing rather than learning. I'm saying "Is this still in my long-term memory? How about now? And now? Aaand how about now?". For reviewing I think once per-day is enough.

Vempele Wrote:The above will tell you what time the next card is going to be due at (and how long it is until that time, but the latter value won't be updated automatically). It takes your learn ahead limit into account. Save as nextDue.py in <Documents>/Anki/addons and restart Anki.

Wow. Many thanks for the script! Now I know what time to set my calendar/sticky notes program to alert me.

vosmiura Wrote:In other word 5s, 10s, 20s, 40s, 5 minutes. Next review is the following day.

I usually review the new cards a ~3-5 times at the beginning but if I forget to glance at the list later on in the day, I find that I've forgotten a fair amount by the end of the day. Though admittedly the ones that are forgotten are mainly the kanji and readings that feel as if they appeared out of nowhere (i.e. no other cards with vocab that use that kanji/reading around it)

@Vempele: Thank you very much for the addon!