Study Time & Efficiency Tracker

Understand how you spend your study time with automatic session tracking, daily statistics, and study-efficiency estimates.

IMPORTANT: This add-on requires Review Heatmap to function properly. Get Review Heatmap here.

In Anki’s add-on list, this add-on appears as Heatmap Study Companion because it works alongside Review Heatmap. If you do not see an entry named Study Time & Efficiency Tracker, look for Heatmap Study Companion instead—it is the same add-on.

Features

• Total review time: See how much time Anki recorded for your reviews.
• Average time per review: Find out how long you spend answering each review.
• Reviews and unique cards: See both total answers and individual cards studied.
• Automatic session tracking: No manual start or stop buttons.
• Automatic inactivity handling: Tracking pauses after prolonged inactivity, with a configurable inactivity cutoff.
• Efficiency estimate: Get a timing-based estimate from your tracked sessions.
• Session coverage: See what percentage of reviews have session-tracking data.
• Daily and deck statistics: View your entire collection or a specific deck and its subdecks. Statistics automatically open to today.
• Heatmap and date selection: Click a Heatmap day or use the date picker to explore previous days.
• History and trends: Explore review time, tracked session time, and efficiency over 7, 30, 90, or 365 days, with clickable charts and history rows.
• Deck completion summary: View your statistics beneath the completion message after finishing a deck.
• Optional live timer: Show or hide a session timer that updates every second. The empty status bar collapses when it is not needed.
• Show, minimize, or hide: Control the study-time panel’s appearance on the main deck list.
• Custom sizing: Adjust panel width and text size with sliders or exact values, with a live preview.
• Grouped settings: Access the timer, main-screen display, and appearance controls from one Tools submenu.
• Cross-device sync: Sync session records between desktop computers through Anki’s normal media sync.
• Synapse compatibility: Includes fixes for Review Heatmap and study-time statistics when using Synapse’s themed deck overview.

How to Use

1. Install and restart: Install both Review Heatmap and this add-on, then restart Anki.
2. Study normally: Session tracking starts automatically as you review cards and stops when you leave reviewing.
3. View your statistics: The panel defaults to today’s Anki study day. The main deck list shows collection-wide statistics; opening a deck shows that deck and its subdecks. Decks with no review history do not display the panel.
4. Explore another day: Click a day on Review Heatmap or use the panel’s date selector. Click Today to return to the current study day.
5. Browse reviewed cards: Hold Shift and left-click a day on Review Heatmap to open the matching cards in Anki’s Browser.
6. View trends: Expand History & trends and choose a history range. Click a chart bar or history-table date to view that day’s statistics.
7. Check your completion summary: After finishing a deck, your statistics appear beneath the completion message.
8. Sync between computers: Install the add-on on each desktop computer, use the same AnkiWeb collection, enable media sync, and sync both computers. Wait for media sync to finish when switching devices.

Settings and Appearance — Version 0.1.11

All controls are now grouped under Tools → Study Time & Efficiency Tracker:

• Show Study Session Timer: Show or hide the live timer. Tracking continues when the timer is hidden.
• Study Time on Main Screen: Choose Full Panel, Minimized, or Hidden.
• Study Time Appearance…: Adjust panel width and text size.

Full Panel displays all statistics. Minimized replaces the main-screen panel with a small, centered, pill-shaped Study time button; click it to expand the panel. Hidden removes the panel without leaving an empty gap. Restore a hidden panel through the settings submenu.

You can also click the minus (−) button on the main-screen panel to minimize it. The minimized button follows your chosen text size.

When minimized, clicking a day on Review Heatmap opens that day’s statistics. When hidden, Heatmap clicks retain their normal card-browser behavior. Shift-click browsing remains available in every mode.

Automatic session tracking continues in every mode. Hiding or minimizing the main-screen panel does not hide statistics inside individual decks or after completing a deck.

Custom Panel Sizing

Open Tools → Study Time & Efficiency Tracker → Study Time Appearance… to adjust:

• Panel width: Choose any width from 320 to 1400 pixels using the slider or numeric input. The panel fits within the available window and theme space.
• Text size: Adjust the text from 75% to 150% of its original size.

Changes preview immediately on the current panel. Click Save to keep them or Cancel to restore the previous appearance. Restore Defaults resets the controls to 760 pixels and 100%; click Save to keep those defaults.

Panel height adjusts automatically to fit the contents, and narrow panels arrange their statistics into two columns. Size settings apply to the main-screen panel, individual deck panels, and deck-completion summaries.

Display and appearance preferences are saved separately on each computer. Additional options, including the inactivity cutoff and default history range, are available under Tools → Add-ons → Heatmap Study Companion → Config.

Review Heatmap Fixes for Synapse

Includes compatibility fixes for Review Heatmap when using Synapse:

• Keeps the heatmap and study-time panel visible on Synapse’s themed deck overview.
• Corrects the calendar and navigation controls being shifted to the right.
• Fixes clipping along the top row of calendar squares, including hover and selection outlines.
• Keeps hover text visible and gives the calendar room in the compact Focus layout.
• Resolves a deck-list rendering conflict that can occur alongside other add-ons.

These fixes are included in this add-on. No edits to Synapse or Review Heatmap are required. Tested with Synapse 1.6.0’s Classic, Focus, and Overview layouts.

Understanding the Statistics

Review time comes from Anki’s saved review history and is subject to Anki’s maximum-answer-time setting. Each answer counts as one review, including repeated answers to the same card. Unique cards are counted separately.

Tracked session time comes from this add-on’s automatic tracking. Short distractions count toward session time. By default, after five minutes without a review interaction, tracking pauses until you interact again. The initial five idle minutes count; subsequent idle time does not. Review time and session time measure different things, so their totals may differ.

Efficiency compares recorded review time within tracked attempts with tracked session time. It is a timing estimate, not a measure of attention, comprehension, or learning quality.

Session coverage indicates the percentage of reviews with session-tracking data. It is not a performance score. On partially covered days, efficiency reflects the tracked portion only.

Older reviews still contribute to review-time statistics, but session tracking begins after installation. Mobile apps do not run the session tracker. Session records sync between desktop computers through Anki’s media sync; this is not a continuous real-time connection.

Credits

Inspired by Sitolam’s Efficiency Tracker.

This add-on was created using generative AI. I do not take credit for writing the code; I am simply sharing a tool that I find useful and hope will help others optimize their studying.