Docs

Import a document

Turn a slide deck, a PDF or a Word document into flashcards. XiaoZhuJian reads the pages you choose, finds the vocabulary they teach, and makes a card for each word, with an example sentence, pinyin, a translation and audio. Save the cards as a stack to study in the app, or download them for Anki. Importing is part of Premium and Max.

Files

.pptx · .pdf · .docx

Size

Up to 25 MB

Length

Up to 150 slides or pages

Cards

Up to 100 per import

1. 1UploadChoose a file and the pages to read
2. 2TermsPick the words you want cards for
3. 3CardsCheck them, then save or download

What you can import

A file can be up to 25 MB and 150 slides or pages long. Other formats (.ppt, .doc, .pps, .rtf, .odt and .odp) can’t be read: open the file and save it as .pptx, .pdf or .docx first. Text inside a picture can’t be read either.

1Upload

On the Import page, drag your file onto the box, or click it to browse. XiaoZhuJian reads the file and shows each slide or page in a preview. The preview is a simple layout of the text, tables and pictures rather than an exact copy; it’s there to help you choose what to read. A slide that can’t be read is marked and skipped.

Choose the slides or pages

Every slide is read unless you say otherwise. Set From slide and To slide to read part of the file, such as one lesson from a whole course.

Extraction settings

The gear beside Extract vocabulary opens the settings for how vocabulary is found. They’re saved to your account and used for every import.

How to find vocabulary

Smart (AI) reads titles, bullet points, tables and notes to find the words each slide teaches. Slide titles only (Page headings only for a PDF or Word document) makes each slide’s title, or its first line, one term, without AI. It picks up no sentences from the slide, though each card still gets one written for it, and the settings below apply to Smart only. Smart is the default.

Pick up example sentences On by default

When a slide has a sentence that uses a term, the card keeps that sentence word for word instead of writing a new one.

Skip structural slides Off by default

Leaves out section headers, tables of contents, and review or homework slides. It starts off because a review slide often teaches words too.

Read speaker notes Off by default

Also looks for vocabulary in the notes under each slide. PowerPoint only.

Max terms per slide 5 by default

From 1 to 10. A slide that lists more words, like a vocabulary table, can give more, up to 25.

Extra instructions

Up to 500 characters of guidance for Smart, such as “Vocabulary is always in the left column of the table.”

Then press Extract vocabulary.

2Terms

Terms appear slide by slide as they’re found, each with the Mandarin and the English the slide gives (a dash where it gives only one) and, when the slide has one, an example sentence. The pinyin shown here is an estimate; each card gets its own when it’s made.

Every term starts ticked. Untick the ones you don’t want: all at once with Deselect all, a slide at a time, or one by one. You can tick up to 100 terms per import, and the counter above the list keeps count.

Fix a slide’s terms

Choose Edit beside a slide’s heading to open the slide above its terms. Highlight text on the slide, then choose Add as term, or Use as example to make it the example sentence of the term you’re editing, and save. You can also type a term in, change one, or remove one and restore it later. Slides where nothing was found are listed in a note under the terms; choose a slide’s number there to edit it the same way.

One sentence, several terms

When terms on the same slide share an example sentence, they’re grouped under it as a Shared sentence. The ticked ones make one card, with one sentence and one recording, instead of the same sentence on several cards. A card holds up to 10 terms.

Then press Generate. The button counts cards rather than terms, so you can see when terms have been put on one card.

Extracted terms aren’t saved. Going back to the upload step, or leaving the page, discards them. The settings are on the upload step, so changing them means extracting again, which counts again with Smart.

3Cards

Each card gets an example sentence written for your level (or the slide’s own sentence), pinyin, a translation and audio. The cards appear once the whole batch is ready. Then check them:

• Remove a card you don’t want. It stays on the page, dimmed, so you can Restore it.
• Edit the translation and the meaning of each term. Your edits go into the stack you save and the deck you download; the card in Cards keeps its original translation. The sentence, its pinyin and its audio all come from the Mandarin, so change those by regenerating.
• Regenerate a sentence. Say how it should change (“shorter”, “more formal”, “set it in a shop”) or leave that blank for a fresh one. A regenerated card replaces any edits you made to it.
• Retry a card that failed. If every card failed, go back a step and generate again.

Save or download within an hour of the cards being made. Regenerating or retrying a card restarts that time; editing or removing one doesn’t. Leaving this step ends the review too. The cards are still in Cards either way, where you can add them to a stack or download them; generating again would make, and count, every card a second time.

Save a stack or download a deck

Save stack is the main way to finish. Give the stack a name (your file’s name, until you change it), and if you like a description and a folder. The stack opens, and its cards are ready to study in Review.

Download deck builds an .apkg file of the cards you kept, with your edits, to import into Anki.

Every card is in Cards from the moment it’s made, whether or not you save a stack. A card you remove during the review, and the earlier version of one you regenerate, stay in Cards; delete them there if you don’t want them.

Plans and usage

Importing a document is part of Premium and Max. On Basic, the Import page explains what Premium adds instead.

Every card an import makes counts toward your usage this month, like a card made on the New Card page. Finding vocabulary with Smart (AI) counts too: one for each group of up to 8 slides or pages with text on them, whether or not a group finds anything. Slide titles only counts nothing, and neither does a card that fails. Regenerating or retrying a card counts one when it works. Saving a stack and downloading a deck count nothing. Before generating, XiaoZhuJian checks that the cards fit in what’s left of your month.