External Editor

AnkiWeb addon 16727059

2 other versions of this addon exist. Compare versions ↓

Replaces Anki's built-in HTML field editor with a configurable external editor, launched by pressing Ctrl+X while editing a field.
AI-generated summary; may contain mistakes.

note-management formatting shortcuts

Open on AnkiWeb GitHub Find alternatives

AnkiWeb

Votes: 21 (👍 17 · 👎 4)
Updated: 2020-07-27
Anki versions: unknown
License: Apache-2.0 (from the GitHub repository)
Virus scan: No ClamAV match A match does not prove malware. No match does not prove that the code is safe.
Languages: Python, JSON
Description language: en

Maintenance

abandoned

Last update or commit: 2022-05-17 (1629 days before the snapshot).
Test files: 1.
Commits in the last year: 0.
Issues: 8 open, 2 closed.
Pull requests: 3 open, 2 merged.
Median first response: 129 hours (8 answered issues and pull requests).
Outside pull requests: 100% of 1 merged.
Forks that may still be maintained: "External Note Editor (vim, vscode, atom, ...)" (704320065), "text editor for Latex, the selection or html source (FORK)" (1184418999).

GitHub

Repository: pointtonull/anki-external_editor · more by pointtonull
Stars: ⭐ 7 · forks 5 · open issues 11
Last commit: 2020-10-17
License: Apache-2.0
Languages: Python, Makefile
Tests: 1

Will it work on my Anki?

Version branches

Min Anki	Max Anki	Updated
2.1.0	–	2020-07-27

History across monthly snapshots

Loading…

Compare versions

The original addon and its forks. The best value in each column is in bold.

Version	Works on Anki 26.09.3	Maintenance	Last activity	Votes	Approval	GitHub stars
External Editor this addon original	unknown	abandoned	17 May 2022	👍 17 · 👎 4	60%	7
↳ External Note Editor (vim, vscode, atom, ...)	likely	stale	16 Apr 2026	👍 16 · 👎 8	47%	8
↳ text editor for Latex, the selection or html source (FORK) (AI-detected; may be wrong)	unsupported	abandoned	25 Jul 2020	👍 3 · 👎 0	44%	–

Forks can add features or work in a different way. Read the description before you change to another version. Fork detection is incomplete, so other versions can exist.

Similar addons

External Note Editor (vim, vscode, atom, ...) fork

Opens a configured external editor, such as vim or VS Code, via a customizable shortcut to edit note fields, with configurable launch commands and temporary file extension.

note-management shortcuts fork-or-reupload

text editor for Latex, the selection or html source (FORK) fork

Sends selected text or HTML source to an external editor and reinserts edited content at the same position, with configurable shortcuts.

formatting shortcuts fork-or-reupload

Markdown input has 1 fork →

Enables adding and editing Anki notes in extended CommonMark Markdown within fields or a separate window, using a CodeMirror editor with HTML conversion and configurable syntax extensions.

card-creation note-management formatting shortcuts cloze

extended editor for field (for tables, search&replace, ...) has 1 fork →

Opens field content in a separate dialog using a customized TinyMCE editor for advanced table editing, with configurable shortcuts and optional custom CSS.

note-management formatting shortcuts

Card Templates - HTML JavaScript CSS code highlighting 🎨 fork

Enhances Anki's card template editor with HTML, JavaScript, and CSS syntax highlighting, autocompletion, custom templates, cursor-position memory, external editor integration, and automatic backups.

formatting shortcuts card-templates developer-tools beta

Typst Math in Anki

Converts Typst math code into MathML or SVG for Anki flashcards, offering inline and block editors plus a replace function for $...$ equations.

formatting shortcuts

Description

Replaces built-in html editor with the one of your choice. Next time you press Ctrl + x while editing a field it'll try to execute your configured editor. I created this add-on because I had spent lot of time copying from Anki to vim, editing, and copying back.

It allows you to specify your editor of preference.

For Windows users, remember to escape (duplicate) the backslashes in the path (json uses backslash as a special character):


{
    "editor": "c:\\Program Files\\Notepad++\\notepad++.exe"
}

Updates:

2020/07/26: Merged ijgnd contributions, and greatly improved OSX and Windows executable detection.
2020/03/04: Small bug fix for gvim swap files.
2020/03/03: Now it tries harder to find the specified editor, or a viable editor, or fallback to built-in editor silently.
2020/02/29: I added a workaround that should fix the PermissionError in Windows. Thanks for the report.

README

External Editor for Anki

Editing

Replaces built-in html editor with the one of your choice.

I created this add-on because I spent lot of time copying from Anki to vim, editing, and copying back.

It allows you to specify your editor of preference.

Installation

In Anki 2.1, menu: Tools/Add-ons, click Get Add-ons..., and enter:

16727059

Restart Anki to finish installation.

You can change the editor by clicking in "Config".

Configuration