Flash Reference
Browse the guides

For instructors

Adding cards in bulk

Add many cards at once from a list or a spreadsheet.

If your cards are already in a list or a spreadsheet, you can add them all at once. The bulk tools show in the card editor whenever no card is open: select Cancel on an open card to see them.

New cards are added after the deck's existing cards.

From a list

  1. Select the Create From List tab.
  2. Type or paste one card per line, with the parts separated by a vertical bar: front text|back text, or front text|hint|back text to give the card a hint.
  3. Select Import.
Creating cards from a list
One card per line, front and back separated by a vertical bar.

For example:

Mitochondria|Produces most of the cell's ATP
Ribosome|Tiny, and found on the rough ER|Assembles proteins from amino acids
Nucleus|Stores the cell's DNA

The second line has a hint in the middle. Hints are cut to 128 characters. Lines with no vertical bar, or more than two, are skipped.

From a spreadsheet (CSV)

Use this when your cards are already in a spreadsheet, or there are a lot of them.

  1. Select the Upload CSV tab. To start from our layout, select Download Template.
  2. Save your spreadsheet as a CSV file. The first row must be column headings, and each following row is a card.
  3. Choose the file under CSV File.
  4. Match your columns to Front Text, Hint and Back Text. Columns headed front, hint and back are matched for you. Hint is optional.
  5. Select Import. Flash Reference says how many cards it added.
Matching spreadsheet columns to the front, hint and back of each card
After you choose a file, match its columns to the parts of a card.

Tip: Excel and Google Sheets both save CSV files: use File → Save As (Excel) or File → Download → Comma-separated values (Google Sheets).

After importing, check a few cards in the editor, and fix any formatting your spreadsheet added.