Anki Basic to Cloze: Convert Notes Without Losing the Answer

A Basic note might have a question on the Front and just yellow tag on the Back. Changing its type to Cloze won't turn those two fields into a sentence. You still have to assemble the context and mark the answer to hide.

To convert Anki Basic to Cloze, open desktop Browse, select the notes, and use Notes → Change Note Type. Choose the actual Cloze type and check where both old fields go. Then edit Text into a complete cloze sentence before reviewing it. Anki's conversion instructions

The two-note rehearsal below follows Anki's manual and released 26.09.3 source, checked October 11, 2026. It works out the expected result; it isn't a hands-on test. The scope is unchanged, standard Basic notes: plain-text Front and Back, with one existing card per note, converted to standard Cloze with Text and Extra.

First decide whether the sentence improves the question

Convert a note when its information fits a sentence whose visible words give you useful context. Keep Basic when the direct question already asks for the answer you need, especially an explanation or a decision. The cloze versus Basic guide covers that choice in more detail.

For example, these are invented instructions for a fictional repair club:

Note	Original Front	Original Back
A	What label goes on a tool awaiting inspection at the repair club?	yellow tag
B	What two details belong in the repair club's intake log?	item ID and reported fault. Record both before assigning a repair.

A can become a single sentence completion. B needs an extra decision: keep recalling both details together, or practice each separately? This rehearsal chooses separate blanks, so B's new question changes. That matters when checking its old review history.

Write a small worksheet outside Anki before changing anything. Copy each original Front and Back exactly, including explanations, and draft the final fields below. Keep the worksheet until the converted batch passes every check. This gives you the original wording even after you replace the mapped answer text.

Note	Prepared final Text	Prepared final Extra
A	At the repair club, a {{c1::yellow tag}} marks a tool awaiting inspection.	What label goes on a tool awaiting inspection at the repair club?
B	The repair club's intake log records the {{c1::item ID}} and the {{c2::reported fault}}.	What two details belong in the repair club's intake log? Record both before assigning a repair.

The standard Cloze type shows Extra on the answer side. It can retain the old question and useful explanation without showing them while you answer. Text contains the sentence and its {{c1::answer}} markup. Anki's Cloze fields and syntax

This table preserves B's explanation by explicitly moving it into Extra. Mapping alone wouldn't do that separation. If your notes contain media, custom fields, or edited templates, stop at this scope boundary: preserve all their content and design a mapping for that actual note type before converting. Don't use this two-field recipe to discard material that doesn't fit.

Convert only the two rehearsal notes

Sync outstanding work from your devices, bring desktop up to date, and save a current collection backup. The APKG versus COLPKG guide explains export formats and media settings.

On desktop:

1. Open Browse in Notes mode and select only the two existing Basic notes you've prepared.
2. Apply an unused tag with Notes → Add Tags, such as basic-cloze-check-20261011. Replace the search with tag:basic-cloze-check-20261011 and confirm that it finds only your two notes. Use that search throughout the rehearsal; a Basic note-type filter will stop finding them after conversion.
3. Switch to Cards mode. There should be two cards. For each, use Cards → Info to record its Card ID, state, due information, and interval if applicable. Record a recognizable review-history entry, or note that its history is empty. Anki's Card Info reference
4. Return to Notes mode, select both notes, and choose Notes → Change Note Type. In the dialog, choose Cloze and set the field mappings below before saving.

Use the built-in Cloze type for this recipe. Renaming Basic or adding {{cloze:Front}} to its template doesn't turn it into a Cloze note type. Anki handles Cloze specially; custom versions must be based on Cloze too. Anki's explanation of the special note type

Map the answer to Text and the question to Extra

Each new destination field gets one old source field. Anki doesn't concatenate Front and Back for you. Its released UI places the old-source dropdown before the new-destination label. Released mapping row and field-mapping implementation

New destination	Select this old source	Immediately after conversion
Text	Back	The original answer, including any explanation in Back
Extra	Front	The original question

Set both rows explicitly. The standard Basic-to-Cloze default uses field order: Front → Text and Back → Extra. That can leave the question in Text and the answer on the answer side, with no cloze to generate a useful prompt. Anki's released default-field mapping

Our mapping retains both fields while putting the answer where we'll assemble the sentence. It still needs that edit: A's Text will initially be only yellow tag, and B's will still be its original answer and explanation.

There is no manual Card 1 mapping here

Conversions involving Cloze use special card handling. Anki shows a Cloze explanation instead of the normal card-template mapping controls. You can't manually assign the old Basic Card 1 to c2 in this dialog: card numbers remain unchanged. Released conversion UI and its Cloze explanation

For the unchanged one-card Basic notes in this recipe, the existing card keeps its identity, schedule, and review history. Its internal card number is 0, which is also the number Anki uses for c1. Adding a c1 deletion therefore gives the retained card its new prompt. A c2 deletion uses internal number 1, so Anki generates another card with its own identity and no inherited reviews. This follows the released conversion implementation and card-generation logic. These conclusions apply to the standard one-card starting layout specified here.

The forward/reverse card mapping in the reverse-card guide applies to regular note types. Use the Cloze behavior above for this conversion.

Finish Text before studying anything

Save the conversion, stay in Browse, and edit each note into the prepared fields from the worksheet. Immediately after conversion, Text has no cloze markup yet. The old cards remain, but they don't yet have a usable cloze question. Don't review this temporary state or run Empty Cards to clean it up. Complete the sentences first.

For A, replace yellow tag in Text with:

At the repair club, a {{c1::yellow tag}} marks a tool awaiting inspection.

Keep its original question in Extra.

For B, copy the explanation Record both before assigning a repair. into Extra after the retained question. Then replace Text with:

The repair club's intake log records the {{c1::item ID}} and the {{c2::reported fault}}.

Compare both fields with the external worksheet before leaving each note. That catches a lost explanation as well as a missing answer.

Anki generates a card for each distinct cloze number. Cloze generation rules predict this final ledger:

Note	Card	Expected front	Answer to recall
A	c1, existing card	At the repair club, a [...] marks a tool awaiting inspection.	yellow tag
B	c1, existing card	The repair club's intake log records the [...] and the reported fault.	item ID
B	c2, new card	The repair club's intake log records the item ID and the [...].	reported fault

The batch starts with two notes and two cards and ends with two notes and three cards. If you instead want B to ask for the pair together, put both deletions under c1 in its prepared sentence; that version should finish with two cards total. Choose the version before editing. The cloze-number guide explains grouping and later renumbering.

Accept the batch only after checking the cards

Rerun the tag search in Cards mode. Select each of the three rows and use Preview to inspect both sides. Notes-mode preview shows only the first card of a note, so it would miss B's c2 question. Anki's preview behavior

Compare the result with the ledger:

• Both original answers are present. Extra shows each retained question on the answer side, and B's explanation appears there on both sibling cards.
• Each front hides the intended phrase and leaves enough context to identify it.
• The two-note count remains two; the chosen separate-blank version has three cards.
• A's c1 and B's c1 have their recorded old Card IDs, scheduling information, and review entries.
• B's c2 has a different Card ID and no inherited reviews from its old Basic card.

Use Cards → Info again for the identity and history comparison before reviewing or rescheduling any card. If the result differs, stop and inspect the fields, note type, and selected batch before expanding the conversion. Browser Delete removes a note and its cards; it isn't a repair for a missing cloze. Anki's deletion action

A preserved schedule tells you that the old card survived. It doesn't show that you've mastered the new cue. A now supplies a sentence rather than a direct question; B's c1 supplies half of the old two-part answer. Grade what the new front actually asks, and keep Basic if that extra help defeats your recall goal.

Once the rehearsal passes, prepare and convert another small batch with the same checks. Note-type conversion requires a one-way sync: when desktop holds the complete collection you intend to keep, upload it to AnkiWeb and download that state on the other devices when prompted. Resolve unsynced work first; the upload-or-download guide explains that decision, alongside Anki's sync conflict rules.