Since Anki is an open-source software, many generous users have developed add-ons to enhance Anki and expand its utility. Here are 5 free Anki add-ons that can be used to enhance your study efficiency and increase enjoyment while using Anki! If you find any of these add-ons useful, please consider donating to the creators! If you haven’t had a chance to view our Anki guide for the DAT, we highly recommend checking it out.

How to Download an Add-On?

To download an add-on, go to Tools → Add-ons → Get Add-ons. You should then see a text box to add a specific code. Each add-on has a unique code that when entered downloads the add-on to your application. Once downloaded, restart your Anki application for newly downloaded add-ons to take effect. All public add-ons can be found on Anki Web and I will add links to the specific add-ons below. Note that you will need to re-download each add-on for every computer you use Anki on.

🏷️ Hierarchical Tags

This add-on is great for organizing your cards within large decks. Anki already has a tagging feature but it is hard to organize and find these tags. This add-on solves this problem by allowing you to nest tags within tags, all you need to do is add “::” between tags. For example, the tag “Biology::Cells” will nest the “Cells” tag under “Biology. Fortunately, Booster has hierarchically tagged all of their free decks for ease of access. You will need this add-on to take advantage of Booster’s tagged Anki cards. Be sure to check out this article to learn how to use the Hierarchical Tags used in Booster’s Anki deck to maximize your content review!

❄️ Ze Frozen Fields

Ze Frozen Fields is a great add-on for when you are creating your own cards, especially when making several cards on the same subject! You can toggle these small snowflakes and if toggled, will keep the text in that field when a new card is added (see gif below). This is particularly useful with an “Extra” field.

📖 Pop-Up Dictionary

This add-on is great for making connections between various cards and seeing where a certain word/phrase appears. When you highlight a word/phrase, this add-on will produce a pop-up that shows every card in that deck where that word/phrase appears. You can even highlight a word/phrase within a pop-up to generate another pop-up!

🔥 Review Heatmap

The Review Heat Map is an add-on that provides a visual representation of your activity on Anki. While this add-on doesn’t directly help your studying, it is a great way to keep track of your progress and motivate you to keep your streak!

🚀 Enhanced Main Window

This is another add-on that does not directly enhance your studying but provides you with more data. The Enhanced Main Window shows you all of the stats surrounding the cards in each deck. This view may be overwhelming or a distraction to some, so this add-on is more for data nerds (like myself!).