Changelog
Follow new updates and improvements to PDF2Anki.
September 9th 2024
Improved
🃏 New Flashcard Toggle in Notes Mode
Enhance your note-taking experience with our new /flashcard feature! This toggle allows you to create flashcards directly within your notes, hiding answers for effective self-testing.
✨ New
- /flashcard command in Notes mode: Create toggleable flashcards within your notes
- Redesigned interface for tablet and larger screens: Easy switching between Cards and Notes views
- New dropdown menu in the top-right navigation bar for regeneration and download options
💎 Improvements
- Increased PDF file size limit: All Pro/Ultra plans now support up to 500MB (previously 50MB)
- Reorganized layout:
- Notes view moved to right-side toggle on tablet+ screens
- Full-screen Notes mode available by turning off the source panel
- AI Tutor now more accessible, replacing the previous download deck button
🐞 Fixes
- Various UI adjustments for improved user experience
Note: Flashcards created in Notes mode are currently independent of the Cards view. We're working on syncing between Notes and Cards for a future update!
Thank you for your continued support of PDF2Anki. As a small team of medical students, we're committed to enhancing your learning experience. Happy studying!
PDF2Anki Team
September 4th 2024
New
Dear PDF2Anki users,
Hello everyone, this is Jason, the co-founder of Memo (formerly PDF2Anki).
We're excited to announce that PDF2Anki is now called Memo. It is the same great tool you know and love, with powerful new features and a new branding.
Our domain has changed from pdf2anki.com to memo.cards. By visiting the new site, you'll be redirected to memo.cards automatically. Please note that for the first time, you will need to login again. The same account credentials will apply and your data and payment plans are still the same.
Story be told, PDF2Anki started as a weekend project in a library as an internal tool for ourselves and our friends at HKU medical school. Calvin (my growth co-founder) and I were both pre-clinical medical students at the time and met in our first semester's PBL (Problem Based Learning) class.
During our first year of medical school, we had to dabble with learning and memorizing huge amounts of knowledge to be stuffed into our cerebral cortex. This includes a lot of different subjects, including anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, pathology, and clinical medicine etc.
Personally, I have been using Anki ever since high school biology and chemistry which has proven to be a game changer for me and ultimately Anki is the one I should thank for getting into medical school and passing my year 1 summative examinations.
However, as we progressed through medical school, we realized that manually creating flashcards was a tedious and time-consuming process. After every lecture, e.g. let's say after gastrointestinal microbiology, we would spend like 4 to 6 hours upon hours creating flashcards for ourselves.
The spaced repetition system is something that is crucial for us and Anki is really the only solution in the market that is effective for us.
Recommending Anki to our friends and classmates was always a challenge, as it was not as easy to use as it should be. In addition, we found, after asking many of our peers, the #1 problem is that it is just too time-consuming to create flashcards.
After our first year's summative exams, we had lunch and thought of the idea if AI can help expedite the process. At that time, ChatGPT was recently released and we thought whether or not we can leverage this technology to solve this exact problem for us. Surprisingly, at that time at least, not many solutions existed that can help us with this problem.
I started to code and build a prototype and after a few weeks, I got something working. I asked my friends to try it out and they were amazed at how much better it was compared to the manual process.
Calvin started making videos and sharing it via social media and it grew exponentially from there to a point our servers kept crashing - our database and website was not prepared for the amount of traffic. Mind you, the first version was a super scrappy Python web app meant to be used just for the few of us only.
We started by creating flashcards for ourselves, and then we shared them with our friends. Before we knew it, we had a community of over 100,000 users.
Our Journey: From Medical Students to Learning Innovators
As medical students, we intimately understood the challenges of managing vast amounts of information. We created PDF2Anki to solve a problem we faced ourselves: the need for efficient, effective learning tools.
Version 1: The Scrappy MVP
Inspired by the rise of generative AI, we spent a weekend in the library creating a simple MVP built on Streamlit. As medical students, we intimately understood the challenges of managing vast amounts of information. Our goal was to solve a problem we faced ourselves: the need for efficient, effective learning tools. It wasn't pretty, but it worked, and it resonated with fellow students who shared our struggles. This scrappy beginning laid the foundation for what would become a global learning revolution.
Version 2: Growing and Learning
As our user base grew from a few thousand to tens of thousands, so did our ambitions. Version 2 expanded our capabilities significantly, introducing more advanced AI models and improved user interfaces. However, it wasn't without its challenges. We faced server capacity issues and had to quickly adapt to meet the growing demand. Your feedback during this phase was invaluable in shaping our vision. We learned about the diverse needs of students across different disciplines and began to see the potential for PDF2Anki to become more than just a flashcard tool.
Version 3: The Modern PDF2Anki (now Memo)
Today, we're proud to announce that PDF2Anki is now renaming to Memo. This change reflects our broader vision for the future of learning. Built from the ground up with Next.js, Memo offers the fastest and most modern web experience for your learning journey. It encapsulates our expanded goals beyond just flashcard creation, addressing the needs of our diverse user base, which now includes 180,000 users from over 30 different academic disciplines. We've seen adoption from students at prestigious institutions like Oxford and Cambridge, and even received heartfelt messages from users in conflict zones who found our tool invaluable. Memo represents our commitment to creating a comprehensive learning system that can adapt to various needs, from ADHD support to accessibility for visually impaired users.
Why Memo?
What started as a weekend project in a library has grown beyond our wildest dreams. In just one year, our amazing community of 180,000 users from over 30 different academic disciplines has generated over 10 million flashcards. We've seen adoption from students at prestigious institutions like Oxford and Cambridge, and even received heartfelt messages from users in conflict zones who found our tool invaluable.
We grew out of the name of "PDF2Anki" - frankly, it was a bit of a mouthful, people would always ask us what it stands for. In particular, we under-estimated how many people don't know what Anki is (especially out side of the medical student community).
As I continued to work on PDF2Anki, I continued to expand the capabilities of the app including Notion-like flashcard editing, built in spaced-repetition review, shared decks and library etc.
People would say that PDF2Anki sounds like those online conversion tools like mp3 to wav etc. However, we wanted to be more than just an PDF to flashcard conversion tool. We wanted to be the smarter and more efficient way for students to learn around the world.
Our mission is to build the future of human cognition and knowledge and we are working super hard to increase the number of super learners in the world.
Memo is our answer to these evolving needs. The name "Memo" embodies our expanded vision in two key ways:
It's short for "memory," reflecting our commitment to enhancing your learning and retention across all disciplines.
It evokes the idea of a "memo card" or flashcard, paying homage to our roots while signaling our expansion beyond just flashcard creation.
It is short and easy to remember and pronounce and our goal is to build a great product in public such that referring your friends to Memo is as easy as possible. We know we still have a lot to work on and it is a very long way to go and we are working super hard to get there.
This dual meaning encapsulates our goal: to be your comprehensive memory and learning companion, supporting students and learners worldwide in their quest for knowledge.
What's New with Memo?
Learn Mode - Our Spaced Repetition System: Optimize your study schedule based on scientific principles, ensuring long-term retention and efficient learning.
Multi-format Learning: Create and interact with study materials from various sources, adapting to your preferred learning style and content type.
Memo Cats: Our friendly AI assistants provide personalized guidance, answering questions and offering study tips tailored to your needs.
Faster, More Intuitive Interface: Experience a seamless learning journey with our redesigned platform, optimized for speed and ease of use.
And this is just the beginning. We're committed to building in public, listening to your feedback, and continuously improving Memo to meet your evolving needs.
Our Vision for the Future
We believe learning is the key to human progress. With Memo, we're not just creating a product; we're fostering a community of super learners capable of quickly acquiring and applying knowledge.
As we look to the future, we're excited to:
Expand our AI capabilities to provide personalized learning experiences, including adaptive quizzes and custom study plans
Introduce gamification elements to make learning more engaging and rewarding, including achievements, leaderboards, and study streaks
Develop social features to connect learners, enabling study groups, peer-to-peer support, and collaborative learning experiences
Integrate with popular learning management systems and educational platforms to streamline your study workflow
Develop advanced analytics to give you deeper insights into your learning patterns, helping you identify strengths and areas for improvement
Collaborate with educational institutions and researchers to continually refine our learning methodologies
Join Us on This Journey
You've been with us from the start, from our scrappy MVP to the sleek, powerful tool Memo is today. We couldn't have done it without you, and we can't wait to see what we'll achieve together in the future.
Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to build in public. Thank you for being part of our community. Here's to the future of learning!
Jason
Co-founder of Memo (formerly PDF2Anki)
August 31st 2024
New
Introducing our new Learn Mode! This powerful feature leverages spaced repetition to intelligently schedule your learning, optimizing long-term retention. With the Smart Grading toggle, Memo AI can grade your responses and automatically select the appropriate scheduling buttons for you. Plus, receive personalized feedback on your performance, along with additional context and mnemonics to boost your memory.
🎨 New Visual Identity Sneak Peak → Soon We are Rebranding to Memo!
New generating decks screen featuring one of our new memo cats, Bobby!
Currently updating slight changes in UI Color Palette
More illustrations and animations to come in 4.0
Massive credits to our wonderful rebranding creative team Jeffrey, Kobe, Mia and Jeep for this amazing work!
✨ New
Learn Mode: Spaced repetition system for optimized learning
Smart Grading: AI-powered automatic grading and scheduling
Personalized feedback and mnemonics in Learn Mode
"Start from Scratch" as an option for creating decks without any PDFs.
New navigation buttons for different input sources
AI Models have been updated with smarter intelligence and better output flashcards. This includes using GPT-4 and GPT-4o as a minimum for all processing.
💎 Improvements
Enhanced AI capabilities for better performance
Redesigned Learn Mode buttons in a 2x2 grid layout
Updated Learn Mode button colors for better visibility
Sorting decks by page number for easier navigation
Removed the "New" badge for a cleaner interface
Added renaming notices to Memo for better user guidance
🐞 Fixes
Resolved issue in Flashcard Mode where answers could be seen when flipping to the next card
Fixed PDF input number problem
Corrected typo on the onboarding screen
Eliminated glitchy scrollbar on marketing sites
Thank you for your continued support of PDF2Anki. As a small team of students, we're committed to enhancing your learning experience. With this major update, we're excited to bring you more powerful tools to streamline your studies. Happy learning!
PDF2Anki Team
August 19th 2024
Improved
Elevate your study materials with our new drag-and-drop image feature! Easily enrich your notes and flashcards with visual content directly from your computer.
✨ New
- Drag & Drop Images: Seamlessly add images to notes and flashcards by dragging files from your computer
- Support for image insertion in both the notes section and individual flashcards
💎 Improvements
- Enhanced user interface for smoother image integration
- Optimized image processing for faster upload and display
🐞 Fixes
- Resolved 500 error occurring on Explore and Library pages
Thank you for your continued support of PDF2Anki. As a small team of medical students, we're committed to enhancing your learning experience. Happy studying!
PDF2Anki Team
August 14th 2024
New
We're excited to introduce our new editor with a Notion-like block editing experience! This major upgrade is now present in the brand new notes interface as well as answers in your flashcards.
✨ New
The brand new Notes tab is now editable with full manual control of text, font size, font type, styles, tables, bullet list, images, etc!
Block-based notes and flashcards editor for a Notion-like editing experience
You can now add images to the Notes and also to the answer field of the flashcards!
Brand new design of the notes tab with section at the bottom to get started with the 4 types of notes with AI creating the first personalized draft
Please note that if your deck had notes generated before, it will show up the old version of the Notes tab that is non-editable
Brand new design of the Flashcards, Practice Test and Download button
💎 Improvements
Saving badge has now been moved to the top right corner navigation
Improved loading animation and loading state for going into the deck with better snappiness and responsiveness
Toast messages (e.g. Deck uploaded successfully!) is now moved to the bottom right corner to prevent obstruction to content
Enhanced server action handling
Restructured and streamlined codebase for better maintainability
Improved error handling and success messages for various actions
🐞 Fixes
Fixed issues with flashcard optimistic updates
Resolved inconsistencies in code style and structure
Thank you for your continued support of PDF2Anki. As a small team of students, we're committed to enhancing your learning experience. Happy studying!
PDF2Anki Team
August 3rd 2024
We're thrilled to introduce 4 couple game-changing features that will revolutionize your study experience: Lightning fast editing and deleting; capture selection; deck sharing and explore page and manual card creation.
✨ New
⚡ Lightning-Fast Flashcard Management:
Edit and delete flashcards with instant feedback - no more waiting!
Changes appear immediately, making your study sessions smooth and interruption-free
Behind the scenes, we're still saving your work, but you won't notice any delay
📸 Capture Selection Tool:
Click the camera icon to select PDF content and generate study materials
Our Vision AI processes various content types (text, diagrams, tables)
Create flashcards, multiple-choice questions, or fill-in-the-blank questions
Custom request bar for personalized learning materials
🦽 Manual Card Creation
A new option to start the deck from scratch
Choose to create the first few cards manually and selective generate specific cards using the regeneration tool or capture selection tool
🌐 Deck Sharing:
Share your decks with others using a simple link
Choose between public and private decks
All existing decks are private by default
New decks are public by default, with an option to make them private
🔍 Explore Page:
Discover and access shared decks from other users
Browse a variety of topics and subjects
Expand your knowledge beyond your own materials
🚀 Other Enhancements:
Side-by-side auth page: Improved layout for tablet and desktop viewports
All Topics Selector: Easily select or deselect all topics in the review screen
💎 Improvements
Redesigned Flashcard Skeleton for better loading experience
Updated loading components across exam, flashcard, and dashboard areas
Enhanced settings management with immediate page refresh after saving
Improved dark mode compatibility for chat components
Optimized PDF viewer performance and functionality
🐞 Fixes
Resolved settings state retention issue
Fixed footer UI and positioning problems
Corrected library route pagination behavior
Thank you for your continued support of PDF2Anki. As a small team of students, we're committed to enhancing your learning experience and fostering a collaborative learning environment. Enjoy the speed, share your knowledge, and happy studying!
PDF2Anki Team
July 22nd 2024
New
🎨 Unified Flashcard Experience
We're excited to introduce a completely revamped flashcard screen that unifies all PDF2Anki modes into a single, intuitive interface. This major update streamlines your study process and enhances overall usability.
✨ New
Unified flashcard interface: Access all card types (flashcards, MCQs, and cloze) from a single page
Toggle between card types: Easily switch between different card formats without navigating to separate pages
Enhanced sorting options: Sort cards by creation date or page number
Topic toggle: Organize and filter cards by different topics
PDF/Notes view toggle: Show or hide the PDF/Notes view as needed
Tutor view switch: Alternate between flashcard and tutor views
💎 Improvements (Thanks to Nelson!)
Scrollable flashcard container: View all cards from all pages by simply scrolling, replacing the old page number viewer
Dark mode support: Reduced eye strain with our new dark theme, powered by
next-themesMobile navigation: Updated background color for better readability and consistency
Folder selection interface: Enhanced arrangement and responsiveness for easier deck organization
Layout transitions: Switched from flex to grid in various components for improved space utilization
Profile dropdown: Streamlined UI with new imports and enhanced structure
PDF loading: Improved image thumbnail rendering for a smoother upload experience
🐞 Fixes (Thanks to Nelson!)
Resolved 500 internal server error related to Action Client
Enhanced error handling in core functionality
Fixed clickable area of homepage link
Improved cookie handling with new
CookieOptionsResolved syncing issues between devices
Corrected text rendering problems for certain UI elements
Thank you for your continued support of PDF2Anki. As a small team of medical students, we're committed to enhancing your learning experience. We'd like to extend a warm welcome to Nelson, our new team member who has contributed significantly to this release. Happy studying!
PDF2Anki Team
July 17th 2024
[Version 3.14]
Fresh out of the oven 🔥
We're thrilled to introduce a major update that brings folder organisation, a completely revamped upload experience, and exciting improvements to flashcard review.
New Features 🎉
📂 Folder Organisation: Introducing a new 'Create Folder' button on the dashboard, allowing you to organise your decks with nested folders.
🆕 Revamped Upload Screen:
🗂 Folder Selection: Choose which folder or subfolder to upload your deck to during the upload process.
🖼 Rich PDF Thumbnails: Get a visual preview of your PDF pages for easier selection.
|📊 Real-time Character Limit Feedback: Ensure your file meets our requirements with instant character count updates.
🃏 Enhanced Flashcard View: Experience a rich flashcard swiper that lets you flip through your deck with a classic flashcard feel.
🎮 Gamified Review Screen: Enjoy a revamped review UI with engaging animations, improved visuals, and sound effects for a more immersive study session.
💬 Easy Feedback Widget: Share your thoughts quickly and easily through our new feedback widget, accessible from the profile dropdown.
Bug Report 🐞
And finally — a quick synopsis of a few more issues we fixed as well as small enhancements!
⏱ Upload Timeout Fix: Resolved a major issue where uploading decks over 15 seconds resulted in an indefinite "uploading deck" state.
📄 PDF Rendering Improvements: Addressed occasional PDF rendering issues for a smoother viewing experience.
🔧 Folder System Refinements: We're aware that existing decks can't be moved into new folders yet. We're working on a fix to make your organisation even easier!
Thank you once again for supporting PDF2Anki. We are a small team of medical students with a mission to help you streamline your learning process. Your feedback is invaluable to us, so please use our new feedback widget to share your thoughts! Happy learning!
PDF2Anki Team
July 4th 2024
New
[Version 3.13]
Fresh out of the oven 🔥
Exciting news! We've finally rolled out folders to help you organize your decks. Plus, we've made some improvements across the app including MCQ exporting and setting to turn off image reference. Let's dive in!
New Features 🎉
📂 Folder Organization: Thanks to our team member Nelson, you can now neatly organize your decks into folders. Simply use the folder/deck-name convention when creating or editing deck names.
🌟 Enhanced Sidebar Navigation: We've revamped our sidebar to showcase your newly organized deck structure.
🚫 Turn Off Image Reference in Settings: You can now turn off the image PDF reference that is attached to your Anki card when exporting for your own flexibility.
Bug Report 🐞
And finally — a quick synopsis of a few more issues we fixed as well as small enhancements!
📝 MCQ Question Export Format: We have finally fixed the export to Anki for MCQs, where it will display line breaks appropriately for the MCQ cards.
🇺🇸 Consistent US English: We've standardized our language across the app to use US English consistently.
Thank you once again for supporting PDF2Anki. We are a small team of medical students with a mission to help you streamline your learning process. A special shoutout to Nelson for his fantastic work on the folder feature! ⭐
Happy learning, and enjoy your newly organized study space!
PDF2Anki Team
June 27th 2024
New
[Version 3.12]
Fresh out of the oven 🔥
Get ready for a visual revolution in your learning experience! Our latest update introduces Ultra Fidelity with advanced AI vision capabilities, allowing PDF2Anki to understand and generate questions from images and visuals in your PDFs.
New Features 🎉
Ultra Fidelity Mode: 🔬 Harness the power of the latest AI models, including GPT-4o, enhanced with vision capabilities. Our AI, Zuki, can now analyze and understand images in your PDFs, generating more comprehensive and contextual flashcards. We are still testing and interpreting the quality of the output - we would love as many constructive feedback from you guys regarding the output from the ultra fidelity!
Flexible Fidelity Options: 🎛️ Choose Ultra Fidelity for your entire deck in the configuration screen or apply it to individual pages with the regeneration button.
Streamlined Deck Configuration: 🧹 We've decluttered the deck configuration screen by moving some settings under "Advanced Options" for a cleaner, more user-friendly interface.
Onboarding Experience: 🚀 New users can now enjoy a smooth introduction to PDF2Anki with our new onboarding process.
Clarification Tooltips: ℹ️ Hover over options in the deck configuration to get helpful explanations and tips.
Bug Report 🐞
And finally — a quick synopsis of a few more issues we fixed as well as small enhancements!
Page Number Accuracy: 📄 Fixed a major bug where some flashcards were associated with incorrect page numbers.
Build Error Resolution: 🛠️ Resolved the client component render build error for smoother performance.
Infrastructure Upgrade: ⚡ Updated our Next.js infrastructure to the latest version, enhancing stability and speed.
PDF Parsing Improvement: 🧹 Cleaned up null characters during PDF parsing for cleaner output.
Coming Soon 🔮
Ultra Fidelity regeneration with custom requests
Exam question bank system (currently in closed beta for select medical school exams)
Enhanced review screen and system within PDF2Anki
Thank you once again for supporting PDF2Anki. We are a small team of medical students with a mission to help you streamline your learning process. With this Vision AI Update, we're taking a big leap towards more intelligent and comprehensive study materials. Happy learning!
PDF2Anki Team