Study Sessions
Last modified: 13/02/2026
Overview
Study sessions are where you review cards.
Sprout uses FSRS to decide when cards are due.
Starting a session
You can start from:
- Study page — open the deck tree, pick a scope, and start.
- Home page — start from recent or pinned decks.
- Deck widget (sidebar) — starts from the currently open file context:
- If the open file is a regular note, the session scope is that single note only.
- If the open file is a folder note (a note which has the same name as its parent folder — for example if you are using the Folder Notes plugin), the scope is all notes in that folder and includes any subfolders and their notes.
Study scopes
Choose a scope (the set of cards to study):
| Scope | Covers |
|---|---|
| Vault | Every card in the vault |
| Folder | Cards in notes under a folder |
| Note | Cards in a single note |
| Group | Cards tagged with one or more groups |
Card order
Sprout queues cards in this order: learning → relearning → review → new.
Related siblings (for example cloze siblings and IO children) are spaced apart so they do not appear back-to-back.
Daily limits
| Setting | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Daily new limit | 20 | Max new cards introduced per scope per day |
| Daily review limit | 200 | Max due cards shown per scope per day |
Limits reset at midnight and are tracked separately per scope.
Answering cards
Press Space or Enter to reveal the answer, then grade recall. See Grading.
Practice mode
Practice mode shows cards that are not due yet.
Cards are sorted by closest due date first.
Grades in Practice mode do not change scheduling.
Timer
A session timer in the header shows elapsed time. Use play/pause controls to manage it.
Auto-advance
If enabled in Settings, unanswered cards are auto-graded Again and advanced after a delay.
Allowed delay is 3 to 60 seconds (default 60). A countdown is shown.
Skip
Enable Skip in Settings → Study.
Skipping pushes the card back in the queue and does not change scheduling.
| Skip count | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| 1st | Card moves back in queue |
| 2nd | Card moves further back |
| 3rd | A "Bury for today?" prompt appears |
At that prompt: press B to bury, or Escape to dismiss.
More menu
Press M or tap the ⋮ button to open the More menu:
| Action | Shortcut | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Bury | B | Postpone card until tomorrow (see Burying Cards) |
| Suspend | S | Remove card from future reviews (see Suspending Cards) |
| Undo | U | Revert the previous rating (only available on the next card) |
| Open note | O | Jump to the source note |
| Edit | E | Open the inline card editor |
Zoom
Click any image during a review to open it in a full-screen overlay. Click again or press Escape to close.
Time tracking
Sprout records time spent per card (capped at 5 minutes) for analytics.