This guide will help you learn SuperMemo 17 step by step without missing any important function. Each step may take from a day to a week. Advanced techniques such as incremental reading may require months of practice. Do not rush! SuperMemo can quickly lead to confusion and disillusionment. Pick the next step to learn only after mastering all previous steps.
ABC in 3 minutes
You can start using SuperMemo in 3 minutes. You only need to know two operations:
- Add new for adding new material in the form of questions and answers (keyboard shortcut: Alt+A)
- Learn for learning (keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+L). You should use Learn daily until you see the message Nothing more to learn
Many users never go beyond the above ABC and still benefit greatly from SuperMemo! It is recommended that you spend a week or so in this basic mode. Simple question-and-answer repetition is where 90% of the users get 90% of the benefit from SuperMemo! If you only remember to use Learn regularly and frequently back up your precious knowledge (e.g. with Shift+Ctrl+C), the rest of this guide can be considered optional. Warning! For the first 3-6 days, your learning schedule will be empty and you will have nothing to review! Use Add new in the meantime (Learn will keep showing Nothing more to learn)
Level: Do you want simple SuperMemo or powerful SuperMemo?
You can explore SuperMemo in stages by using File : Level menu. By default SuperMemo starts at the Beginner level. After a day or two, you can move to the Basic level. The Middle level will later be needed to use many of the functions described in this guide. Once you fully understand the Middle level, you can switch to the Professional level that should be the ultimate destination of users who want to explore the most advanced functions of SuperMemo.
If you find a description of the function in SuperMemo that is not available on a given level, you can increase the level to make the function appear among the options. Many shortcuts will work even if the function is not available on a given level. For example, you can view the calendar of repetitions by pressing Ctrl+W at the Beginner level even though Tools : Workload appears only on the Tools main menu options at the Middle level or higher.
Safety of your knowledge. Backup!
Knowledge you store in SuperMemo might belong to your most precious data on your hard disk! After all it has cost you months or years of editing, learning, and review. You must continue using Learn indefinitely to make sure you never forget what you have learned. This is why backup skills are so important! Use Shift+Ctrl+C to copy your learning material to a new location. You should make a copy on a different hard disk every few days and on other media every month or so. Read more: Safety of your knowledge
Help: How to find the documentation
You can read help pages relevant to a given context in SuperMemo by pressing F1.
Reading with SuperMemo. Amazing!
If you learn from electronic sources (e.g. the Internet), you can benefit tremendously by mastering the technique called incremental reading. In incremental reading, you import articles from the Internet, and convert them to questions-and-answers with a couple of keystrokes. You can continue reading thousands of articles in parallel without getting lost. You can add thousands of items per year and still be able to recall 90-95%. It may take a few months of frustration before you reach proficiency in incremental reading; however, you will ultimately experience a seismic shift in your learning power. Invest a few hours in reading this article: incremental reading. In the long run, the return on investment will be astronomic. A more comprehensive approach is called incremental learning. Incremental learning extends learning beyond reading to new areas such as visual learning or incremental video.
Regularly check if your data is not corrupted
To be sure that your files have not been damaged by a virus, other software, or hardware problems, use File : Repair collection (Ctrl+F12) from time to time (e.g. once per month). Always backup your collection before using Repair collection
Position and size of windows
In the beginning you often dislike the size and positions of windows and dialogs in SuperMemo. You can change that. Your favorite layout will depend on your monitor's resolution, interface font used in SuperMemo, the size of the element window and your learning habits. To save the current layout, press Shift+Ctrl+F5 (Window : Layout : Save as default). You can save more layouts and then choose between them by choosing an appropriate number on the Window menu. If you would like to include learning statistics in your layout, you might first open the statistics windows (e.g. by pressing F5). If you would like to preview the ancestor path of the current element, you could also open the ancestor path window with Ctrl+Shift+X. If you open, move and/or size many windows, you can always get back to your favorite layout by pressing Ctrl+F5 (Window : Layout : Apply default layout). You can also add or delete layouts with Window : Layout : Layout manager
Searching for things in SuperMemo
To quickly locate elements in your collection press Ctrl+F or choose the button Search on the navigation bar. Use this option also for AND-search, OR-search, etc.
Make your knowledge easy to remember
Read 20 rules of formulating knowledge in learning to review most important principles that will make sure you will remember with minimum effort
Principles of success in learning
With years passing by, you will develop healthy learning habits that will make sure your work with SuperMemo is both effective and enjoyable. You can save months of experimenting if you read Ten Commandments of a Highly Efficient User of SuperMemo
Processing knowledge
You should remember that all your learning material requires endless attention. You should review your elements for usefulness, correct formulation, logic, grammar, etc. When an element comes up for a repetition, you should make a quick and nearly instinctive assessment of the following:
- Do I really need this element?
- Do I really need to know it now? Or can I learn it later?
- Is this element difficult to remember? If so, why?
- Is it factually correct?
- Is it as simple and clear as possible?
Here are some typical actions you will take depending on the answer to the above questions (some keyboard shortcuts may not work at lower difficulty levels):
- correcting an element. In case of questions and answers, you can use keys such as Q, A, or E to enter a text field and change it. In more complex elements you can use Ctrl+T to cycle between components, or use Alt+click to switch a component between editing and dragging modes
- rescheduling an element. You can manually change the date of the next review. If you know the element well, you can increase the interval remaining till the next review. If the element is very important, you can reduce the interval. Press Ctrl+J to select the date of the next review. If you have just reviewed the element, you should instead use Shift+Ctrl+R to inform SuperMemo about the review
- dismissing an element. If you are sure you are not likely to need the element in the future, but you would like to keep it in your collection for reference or archival purposes, press Ctrl+D. Dismissed elements are removed from the learning process (and from the pending queue)
- deleting an item or an article. The key Del is very useful in cleaning your collection from garbage. Note that deleting an element also deletes its children. This operation is irreversible. You can use Done with Shift+Ctrl+Enter to delete the content of an element without deleting its children
- forgetting an element. If you think an element is too difficult or not important enough at the moment, you can decide to learn it later. For this purpose, press Ctrl+R to remove it from the learning process. This will put it at the end of the pending queue
One body of knowledge
It is recommended that you keep all your knowledge in one collection (you can create new collections with File : New collection). Here are the benefits of one body of knowledge:
- you do not have to open a number of collections each day to make repetitions (you can still learn only selected branches if you wish so)
- you can keep one global learning process and one set of statistics (branch statistics are also available to inform you of the progress in individual branches)
- repetitions of mixed-up material are more entertaining and verifiably boost your creativity! You will be amazed how this affects your ability to come up with new ideas and unexpectedly associate facts relating to completely different subjects. The fun of diversified learning material will make it easier for you to stick with your own learning resolutions!
- you will eliminate a very frequent problem: neglecting some collections at the cost of others. The only rational way of controlling the flow of knowledge and the right proportions between branches is to use the tools provided by SuperMemo. Neglect and procrastination do not belong to these tools. Multiple collections make it easier for you to fail your own learning plans! If you have already created a couple of collections, you can merge them by using File : Merge collection. Open the collection that is to be merged with your main body of knowledge, choose File : Merge collection, and point to the collection that keeps the main body of knowledge
Statistics of the learning process
You will understand your memory better if you learn to interpret the statistics of the learning process:
- you can see the calendar of repetitions by pressing Ctrl+W or choosing Tools : Workload
- you can conveniently view learning statistics by pressing F5. For interpretation of individual parameters see: Learning statistics and Element statistics. You can preserve the layout with the statistics windows by pressing Shift+Ctrl+F5
- you can monitor your progress with Tools : Statistics : Analysis (Shift+Alt+A). For example, the Use tab will show you the graphs of your daily progress (e.g. number of memorized elements, recall rate, etc.)
Adding pictures, sound and video
You can easily add new texts, images, sounds and other components to your elements. New components are most conveniently added with the Compose toolbar available on the learnbar or with Edit : Add components on the main menu. To add a component from the toolbar, click the relevant button (e.g. text button, image button, etc.). Read about templates to find out how to automate this process. The easiest way to add pictures to your elements is to paste them from clipboard (Ctrl+V or Shift+Ins). The easiest way to add texts is to paste them with Ctrl+N. If you master incremental learning, you will discover how to automatically import texts, pictures and videos from the web.
Improving the look of your items
You can easily change the attributes of elements and their components by using menus available with a right click. There are two menus you will need to become familiar with:
- Element menu (Alt+F10) which can be opened by a right click over an empty element area or over the navigation bar. Some exemplary functions of the element menu that help you change the look of the element:
- Color changes the color of the element
- Edit : Title (Alt+T) makes it possible to edit the title of the element or select a text to be used as the title
- Delete components deletes selected components from the current element
- Edit : Duplicate (Alt+D) creates an exact copy of the current element in your collection
- Edit : Swap Q&A (Shift+Ctrl+S) swaps the question with the answer (e.g. when learning words of a foreign language)
- Template : Apply template (Shift+Ctrl+M) allows you to choose from a list of looks defined earlier and change the style of your element
- Component menu (Alt+F12) which can be opened by a right click over a selected component. Some exemplary functions of the component menu that help you change the look of components (these functions may or may not appear on the menu depending on the context):
- Color changes the color of the component
- File : Import file makes it possible to show a given file inside the component (e.g. picture, HTML file, etc.)
- Text : Font : Edit font changes the font of the selected text
- Delete component removes the component
- Display at defines when the component should be visible (e.g. at answer time) and when it should be hidden (e.g. at question time). You can use Alt+click over a component to switch it to the editing mode. This will make it possible to resize the component (unless it is the HTML component; if you want to resize the HTML component, you need to enter the size&drag mode, e.g. by Alt+clicking it for the second time), edit texts, etc. If you Alt+click the component again, it will switch to the dragging mode in which you will also be able to move it to another location in the element area. Press Esc to switch the components back to the presentation mode
Automating changes to the look of elements
You do not need to change the look of elements over and over again. You do not need to add components again and again. It is enough you define a so-called template to be able to reuse a given component arrangement. The most important things to know about templates:
- you can save a given "look" with Template : Save as template
- if you want SuperMemo to automatically use a saved template when you choose Add new (Alt+A), use Template : Save as default
- if you want to reuse a previously saved template, use Template : Apply template (Shift+Ctrl+M). Remember that topics and items should have their separate templates as these affect their behavior and look during learning. For more information about templates, see: Using templates
Building the knowledge tree
You can organize the structure of your knowledge in the Contents window. Choose Contents at the top of the element window to switch to the Contents window. To find out how to create the knowledge structure, see: Building the knowledge tree. Remember that the structure of your tree is not essential for learning! However, a good structure can make it easier to locate portions of materials for review
Organizing knowledge around concepts
You can give items belonging to different branches of the knowledge tree a different look and a different priority. This way you will easily differentiate between items belonging to fields such as geography, biology, sociology, etc. You can assign an item to a new concept group by opening the Element parameters dialog box (e.g. with Shift+Ctrl+P) and choosing the target concept group from the list (the Group list box). When you assign an item to a concept group, you can choose if it should use that concept's template to determine its look. Read: Using concepts
Which text components are for you?
You are most likely to use HTML text components in incremental reading (if you do not have the latest Internet Explorer, use rich text components instead). HTML components make text processing easy due to rich formatting. However, once your items assume their final shape, you might prefer to convert them to plain text components which are faster and consume less space. You can do it by selecting the Classic template as the default template in your target concept group (see: Using concepts). You can use several different SuperMemo components to represent text. To understand pros and cons of using various text components, see: Text components used in SuperMemo. See also: Fonts in SuperMemo
Items you hate
Even with a great deal of experience and perfect understanding of knowledge structure, you will meet items that by no means want to stick to your memory. Usually 60% of items will not even be forgotten once! However, there are always a few items that you might forget 10 times, or even 20 times. 5% of your items may cost you 80% of your learning time (and 99% of frustration). In most cases, the fault is with you, the items must simply be reformulated (see: 20 rules of formulating knowledge). However, some items just seem un-memorizable! Those do not indicate your memory is bad! They are a usual companion of every learning process, and you must roll out the heavy guns to deal with them. You will use whatever mnemonic technique comes to mind: add examples, illustrations, poke fun, make it indecent or shocking, create a mind-map, re-memorize with a longer interval (this will often break the unhealthy memory connection) or, in most desperate cases, delete the item altogether. Any items with above 20 memory lapses makes a good candidate for deleting. Such an item may simply not be worth the cost in your time. To find out which options can help you hunt for trouble-making items see: Leeches
The power of browsers and subsets
For managing and reviewing large collections, you will find browsers indispensable. Browsers are available with the View menu. Most of all, browsers will let you work with subsets of elements in your collection. Here are some ways in which browsers can boost your learning:
- review the subset of elements
- move a subset of elements to another SuperMemo (e.g. for repetitions on your handheld computer)
- postpone repetitions in a subset of elements
- memorize a subset of elements, dismiss a subset of elements, shift elements to the end of the pending queue, etc.
- compute selected learning statistics for a subset of elements
- change the template in a subset of elements
- transfer a subset of elements to another collection
- run random test or random learning on a subset of elements
- move a subset of elements to a selected branch or concept group
- sort a subset of elements by title, priority, difficulty, last repetition date, next repetition date, interval, etc.
- sort repetitions (e.g. from long to short intervals, or from difficult to easy items, etc.)
- export a subset of elements as text (e.g. as questions and answers)
- change the priority, the forgetting index or the ordinal number in a subset of elements (increase, spread equally, modify, shift, etc.)
- manipulate element sets (e.g. select all elements belonging to one set and not belonging to another, select only memorized items in a set, combine two sets, save a set to a file for future use, etc.)
- perform advanced collection searches such as AND-search, OR-search, XOR-search, etc.
To read more about browsers and subsets see:
- browser (what parts make a browser window)
- browser menu (what important operations can be made on browsers)
- browser toolbar (what shortcut buttons are available on the browser toolbar)
- subset learning (how to review only portions of your collection)
- using subsets (how to use element subsets in SuperMemo)
- View menu (what kind of browsers are available)
How much do you remember?
To choose how much you want to remember and how much work you want to put in different branches of knowledge, SuperMemo introduces the concept of the forgetting index. See: Using the forgetting index
Distributing your own learning material among others
If you would like others to use your learning material, you can follow these steps:
- remove from your collection comments and elements that are specific to your own needs (you can use the comments registry or comment filters to keep your own comments in a continually developed collection)
- remove your learning process from the collection by running: File : Tools : Reset collection
- if necessary, sort your collection by ordinals (numbers that can be used to determine the sequence of learning), by difficulty, by priority, or by the sequence of elements in the knowledge tree
- you can redistribute your collection free or commercially without anybody's permission
Use search to find more about SuperMemo. See FAQs for more answers to questions about SuperMemo. If you still have questions unanswered, place them at SuperMemopedia. We also welcome your comments about the clarity of this text as well as the choice and the sequence of topics. We always welcome your questions! They help us improve the documentation and ultimately save support costs!