Import the CSV into Anki
What the exported file contains, how Anki reads it without a mapping dialog, and what each field becomes on the card.
The export is a plain CSV file, UTF-8, one row per note. It is written against Anki’s importer rather than against a spreadsheet, so importing it takes two clicks and no field mapping.
Importing
- In Anki Desktop, choose File → Import.
- Pick the downloaded file.
- Confirm.
Anki reads a few directives at the top of the file before the first note:
#separator:Comma
#html:false
#notetype:Kindle Vocabulary
#deck:Kindle Vocabulary
#tags column:8They create the deck and the note type, and tell Anki which column holds the tags. That is why the field-mapping dialog does not appear — the file already answers everything it would have asked.
What lands in each field
| Field | Contents |
|---|---|
| Word | The word as the Kindle stored it |
| Context | Every sentence the word was met in, one per line |
| Book | The book, or several joined by ; if the word appeared in more than one |
| Language | The dictionary language of the lookup |
| LookupDate | Calendar day of the most recent lookup, sortable in the browser |
| Source | Always Kindle Vocabulary Builder |
| Definition | Empty — reserved, see below |
| Tags | kindle-vocabulary plus one tag per book |
Every note carries the kindle-vocabulary tag, so a whole import can be found — or undone —
in one search. Book tags are built from the title rather than from an internal id, so they
stay readable in Anki’s sidebar. Two books with very similar titles can end up under the
same tag; the cards themselves are never merged.
Definition is empty on purpose
The Kindle stores which dictionary entry you opened, not the text of it. Shipping an empty column keeps the note type stable: when definitions do arrive in a later version, they fill a field that already exists instead of forcing a new note type onto decks you have already built.
Line breaks in Context
A word looked up three times carries three sentences, separated by newlines. The file
declares #html:false, which keeps a < in a sentence from being swallowed as markup — but
it also means Anki renders those newlines as spaces, so the contexts run together on the
card. The data is complete either way; only the display is flat. Switching the export to
HTML is on the list for a later version.
Re-importing later
Anki matches notes on the first field, so importing again after adding more words updates the existing notes rather than duplicating them. Book2Deck also remembers, in this browser only, which words you have already exported, and can hide them from the next selection.
Last updated