Cardboxing 201 - Revision history

Judycole: /* Where to Start? */

2024-01-20T19:07:43Z

‎Where to Start?

Judycole: /* I want to cardbox on multiple devices. How should I go about it? */

2024-01-20T18:29:53Z

‎I want to cardbox on multiple devices. How should I go about it?

Judycole: /* I want to cardbox on multiple devices. How should I go about it? */

2024-01-20T18:29:18Z

‎I want to cardbox on multiple devices. How should I go about it?

Judycole at 18:14, 20 January 2024

2024-01-20T18:14:05Z

Judycole: Updated for 3.4

2024-01-20T18:10:19Z

Updated for 3.4

Show changes

AA000143: add link to new page about data synchronization

2022-04-18T16:26:03Z

add link to new page about data synchronization

AA000143: /* I want to cardbox on multiple devices. How should I go about it? */ correct instructions in light of bug report

2022-03-14T19:01:26Z

‎I want to cardbox on multiple devices. How should I go about it?: correct instructions in light of bug report

AA000143: /* How do I divide my cardbox so that I can study just a subgroup of them for a while? */ saving a Cardbox quiz requires NZ (desktop)

2022-02-19T23:16:40Z

‎How do I divide my cardbox so that I can study just a subgroup of them for a while?: saving a Cardbox quiz requires NZ (desktop)

AA000143: /* Frequently Asked Questions */ moving questions between cardboxes in NZ requires removing them from cardbox first; explain ''Lax'' search effect (Liz Gottlin)

2022-01-01T20:24:28Z

‎Frequently Asked Questions: moving questions between cardboxes in NZ requires removing them from cardbox first; explain ''Lax'' search effect (Liz Gottlin)

AA000143: /* I want to cardbox on multiple devices. How should I go about it? */ adjust wording in light of changes in NZM 3.3.0b8

2021-11-12T16:54:30Z

‎I want to cardbox on multiple devices. How should I go about it?: adjust wording in light of changes in NZM 3.3.0b8

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 As we pointed out in the introductory article, with cardboxing as with any abstruse study, discouragement is the enemy.  With that in mind, it’s almost always best to start small.
-Maybe we should start with that word, <tt>ABSTRUSE</tt>.  Looks like a good word to know, and one that most expert players wouldn’t easily see in their rack of <tt>AEUBRST</tt> as they fixate on finding a place for <tt>ARBUTES</tt> or <tt>BURSATE</tt> (or <tt>SURBATE#</tt>, if they play the International English lexicon).  Zyzzyva tells us that <tt>ABSTRUSE</tt> is middlingly probable as eight-letter words go, #12184 out of 31523, but, with its two <tt>S</tt>’s and its familiar meaning, it seems more worth knowing than, say, <tt>FROMENTY</tt> (#12126).  So, we have to make a decision:  Do we populate our cardbox by raw probability or by pattern, and how big do we go?
+Maybe we should start with that word, <tt>ABSTRUSE</tt>.  Looks like a good word to know, and one that most expert players wouldn’t easily see in their rack of <tt>AEUBRST</tt> as they fixate on finding a place for <tt>ARBUTES</tt> or <tt>BURSATE</tt> (or <tt>SURBATE#</tt>, if they play the International English lexicon).  Zyzzyva tells us that <tt>ABSTRUSE</tt> is middlingly probable as eight-letter words go, #12247 out of 31736, but, with its two <tt>S</tt>’s and its familiar meaning, it seems more worth knowing than, say, <tt>FROMENTY</tt> (#12189).  So, we have to make a decision:  Do we populate our cardbox by raw probability or by pattern, and how big do we go?
-We recommend that you start by pattern, using defined groups of words that many word players have come to recognize as worth studying.  (You definitely won’t enjoy the result if you populate your cardbox with the 12184 most probable eight-letter words.)  You may have heard people talk about “stem” groups like <tt>TISANE?</tt> and <tt>SATIRE?</tt>, and these are definitely the ones to go with if you want to cardbox with seven-letter words and don’t know where to start.  Or, maybe you’re not so concerned with long words and just want to know the “high fives” (words beginning or ending with four- or five-point letters) that can easily score 30 or 40 points when played in the right spot.  Either way, a pattern search is where you should start.
+We recommend that you start by pattern, using defined groups of words that many word players have come to recognize as worth studying.  (You definitely won’t enjoy the result if you populate your cardbox with the 12247 most probable eight-letter words.)  You may have heard people talk about “stem” groups like <tt>TISANE?</tt> and <tt>SATIRE?</tt>, and these are definitely the ones to go with if you want to cardbox with seven-letter words and don’t know where to start.  Or, maybe you’re not so concerned with long words and just want to know the “high fives” (words beginning or ending with four- or five-point letters) that can easily score 30 or 40 points when played in the right spot.  Either way, a pattern search is where you should start.
 If you’re using NZ on a desktop computer, you can do these searches quickly using the ''Search'' tab’s many predefined search specifications (e.g., ''Load Search…'' &rarr; [up a level] ''predefined'' &rarr; ''Top 7s By Stem'' &rarr; ''001 TISANE.zzs'') and its ''Belongs to Group'' condition.  Run a search, see how many words it finds, then decide if this is a group worth studying.  If so, right-click the list of found words and choose ''Add list to Cardbox…''  The NZM app can do basic pattern searches like <tt>TISANE?</tt> and group searches, but for more complex searches you may want to consider populating the cardbox in NZ and then syncing it to NZM.

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 To bring multiple devices' Zyzzyva data directories into sync, they all need to target the same '''<tt>Apps/Zyzzyva</tt>''' folder in the same user's Dropbox cloud storage.  (Important: Zyzzyva's active-sync engine won't link up with a Dropbox app folder that it didn't create, so, we recommend you start your Dropbox sync relationship by doing an active sync of your habitual Zyzzyva installation, the one that has your “good” quiz data.)
-When firing up any new NZ or NZM installation, press the ''Sync'' button, sign in to Dropbox and give permission when prompted, and then — please! — if you see prompts about conflicted items, read those questions before you agree to proceed with the sync.  The first time you sync, there may be conflicts between older, useful cardbox/quiz-statistics databases on Dropbox and newer, but useless databases just established on your mobile device; if so, you should tell it to sync in one direction only, from Dropbox to your mobile device, by answering ''Yes'' to the first question and ''No'' to the second before answering ''Yes'' to start syncing.  It will take a while, and it will try to keep your device awake, because Zyzzyva’s active-sync engine isn’t programmed to pause a sync and finish it later; since iOS tolerates only short periods of background activity before killing an active app, you should let it run in the foreground.  After one or more tries, having completed this initial sync, Zyzzyva will only sync files that have changed, so it’ll be very quick.  The one thing to remember, to avoid disappointment, is to sync when you start cardboxing and again when you stop, because otherwise you could end up with two or more devices that both think they have newer cardbox data, and this will be flagged as a sync conflict later on.
+When firing up any new NZ or NZM installation, press the ''Sync'' button, sign in to Dropbox and give permission when prompted, and then — please! — if you see prompts about conflicted items, read those questions before you agree to proceed with the sync.  The first time you sync, there may be conflicts between older, useful cardbox/quiz-statistics databases on Dropbox and newer, but useless databases just established on your mobile device; if so, you should tell it to sync in one direction only, from Dropbox to your mobile device, by answering ''Yes'' to the first question and ''No'' to the second before answering ''Yes'' to start syncing.  It will take a while, and it will try to keep your device awake, because Zyzzyva’s active-sync engine isn’t programmed to pause a sync and finish it later; since iOS tolerates only short periods of background activity before killing an active app, you should let it run in the foreground.
 === How do I move cardbox data forward when moving to a new lexicon? ===
 There is one ''Anagrams'' cardbox for each lexicon, and the contents won’t automatically be brought forward when you begin to study a new one.  When a new lexicon is released and you want to move your quiz statistics and cardbox data forward, the simplest way is to use Zyzzyva’s import features.  In NZ’s ''Cardbox'' tab, target the new lexicon, then click ''Import…'' and choose the old lexicon; in NZM’s ''Manage'' tab, target the new lexicon, press ''Action'', choose ''Import From Lexicon'' and choose the old lexicon.  Either way, your ''Anagrams'' cardbox data will come over, along with the rest of the quiz history for that lexicon.  (That’s why, when the import finishes, the number it reports will probably be larger than the number of questions in your cardbox.)  If you use Zyzzyva’s data-synchronization feature, this update will sync to all of your devices along with the rest of your data directory.

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 === I want to cardbox on multiple devices.  How should I go about it? ===
-Both NZ and NZM can operate on cardboxes that are synced with Dropbox cloud storage, and in that way, multiple devices can sync their cardbox/quiz-statistics databases with each other.  As of version 3.4.0, both NZ and NZM have buttons to sync “actively” with Dropbox, without you having to install the Dropbox application.  In the case of NZ up to version 3.3.0, you won’t see any mention of syncing in the application interface, but you can use the ''Preferences'' dialog to make it look for its data directory in a location that Dropbox is syncing in the background (though NZ doesn’t actually move the data for you, so you’ll have to do that yourself; this is known as “passive” sync).  To bring multiple devices' Zyzzyva data directories into sync, they all need to target the same '''<tt>Apps/Zyzzyva</tt>''' folder in the same user's Dropbox cloud storage.  (Important: Zyzzyva's active-sync engine won't link up with a Dropbox app folder that it didn't create, so, we recommend you start your Dropbox sync relationship by doing an active sync of your habitual Zyzzyva installation, the one that has your “good” quiz data.)  When firing up any new NZ or NZM installation, press the ''Sync'' button, sign in to Dropbox and give permission when prompted, and then — please! — if you see prompts about conflicted items, read those questions before you agree to proceed with the sync.  The first time you sync, there may be conflicts between older, useful cardbox/quiz-statistics databases on Dropbox and newer, but useless databases just established on your mobile device; if so, you should tell it to sync in one direction only, from Dropbox to your mobile device, by answering ''Yes'' to the first question and ''No'' to the second before answering ''Yes'' to start syncing.  It will take a while, and it will try to keep your device awake, because Zyzzyva’s active-sync engine isn’t programmed to pause a sync and finish it later; since iOS tolerates only short periods of background activity before killing an active app, you should let it run in the foreground.  After one or more tries, having completed this initial sync, Zyzzyva will only sync files that have changed, so it’ll be very quick.  The one thing to remember, to avoid disappointment, is to sync when you start cardboxing and again when you stop, because otherwise you could end up with two or more devices that both think they have newer cardbox data, and this will be flagged as a sync conflict later on.
+Both NZ and NZM can operate on cardboxes that are synced with Dropbox cloud storage, and in that way, multiple devices can sync their cardbox/quiz-statistics databases with each other.  As of version 3.4.0, both NZ and NZM have buttons to sync “actively” with Dropbox, without you having to install the Dropbox application.
 === How do I move cardbox data forward when moving to a new lexicon? ===
 There is one ''Anagrams'' cardbox for each lexicon, and the contents won’t automatically be brought forward when you begin to study a new one.  When a new lexicon is released and you want to move your quiz statistics and cardbox data forward, the simplest way is to use Zyzzyva’s import features.  In NZ’s ''Cardbox'' tab, target the new lexicon, then click ''Import…'' and choose the old lexicon; in NZM’s ''Manage'' tab, target the new lexicon, press ''Action'', choose ''Import From Lexicon'' and choose the old lexicon.  Either way, your ''Anagrams'' cardbox data will come over, along with the rest of the quiz history for that lexicon.  (That’s why, when the import finishes, the number it reports will probably be larger than the number of questions in your cardbox.)  If you use Zyzzyva’s data-synchronization feature, this update will sync to all of your devices along with the rest of your data directory.

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 If you’ve read our [[Cardboxing 101]] article and are eager to learn more about the subject, great!  Here are some tips and tricks to help you build and maintain your cardbox with the best of them.  This article focuses on cardboxing in the [[NASPA Zyzzyva]] (NZ) desktop application or [[NASPA Zyzzyva Mobile]] (NZM) mobile app.
-It’s best to start building your cardbox on a system where you’ve already built up a quiz history, because NZ and NZM will give you credit for words that you seem to know well, planting them deeper in the cardbox.  If you’ve never done quizzes before, everything you add to the cardbox is going to land in Cardbox 0 and be due immediately.  If you’re just starting out with a new NZ or NZM installation, be sure to sync your data with your habitual NZ or NZM installation first, to bring that quiz history up to date in both places, and, for the love of all that is good and holy, please be careful not to sync a new and virtually empty mobile cardbox/quiz-stats database over any older desktop database that you wanted to keep — read the warnings!  For information about data synchronization, see [[Data Synchronization in NASPA Zyzzyva and NASPA Zyzzyva Mobile]] and the related help text in NZ and NZM.
+It’s best to start building your cardbox on a system where you’ve already built up a quiz history, because NZ and NZM will give you credit for words that you seem to know well, planting them deeper in the cardbox.  If you’ve never done quizzes before, everything you add to the cardbox is going to land in Cardbox 0 and be due immediately.
 == Where to Start? ==

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 If you’ve read our [[Cardboxing 101]] article and are eager to learn more about the subject, great!  Here are some tips and tricks to help you build and maintain your cardbox with the best of them.  This article focuses on cardboxing in the [[NASPA Zyzzyva]] (NZ) desktop application or [[NASPA Zyzzyva Mobile]] (NZM) mobile app.
-It’s best to start building your cardbox on a system where you’ve already built up a quiz history, because NZ and NZM will give you credit for words that you seem to know well, planting them deeper in the cardbox.  If you’ve never done quizzes before, everything you add to the cardbox is going to land in Cardbox 0 and be due immediately.  If you’re just starting out with NZM, be sure to sync your data with your habitual NZ setup first, to bring that quiz history up to date in both places, and, for the love of all that is good and holy, please be careful not to sync a new and virtually empty mobile cardbox/quiz-stats database over any older desktop database that you wanted to keep — read the warnings in the mobile app!  For information about data synchronization, see the help text in NZM’s ''Quiz'' tab.
+It’s best to start building your cardbox on a system where you’ve already built up a quiz history, because NZ and NZM will give you credit for words that you seem to know well, planting them deeper in the cardbox.  If you’ve never done quizzes before, everything you add to the cardbox is going to land in Cardbox 0 and be due immediately.  If you’re just starting out with NZM, be sure to sync your data with your habitual NZ setup first, to bring that quiz history up to date in both places, and, for the love of all that is good and holy, please be careful not to sync a new and virtually empty mobile cardbox/quiz-stats database over any older desktop database that you wanted to keep — read the warnings in the mobile app!  For information about data synchronization, see [[Data Synchronization in NASPA Zyzzyva and NASPA Zyzzyva Mobile]] and the help text in NZM’s ''Quiz'' tab.
 == Where to Start? ==

@@ Line 62: / Line 62: @@
 === I want to cardbox on multiple devices.  How should I go about it? ===
-Both NZ and NZM can operate on cardboxes that are synced with Dropbox cloud storage, and in that way, multiple devices can sync their cardbox/quiz-statistics databases with each other.  In the case of NZ up to version 3.3.0, you won’t see any mention of syncing in the application interface, but you can use the ''Preferences'' dialog to make it look for its data directory in a location that Dropbox is passively syncing (though NZ doesn’t actually move the data for you, so you’ll have to do that yourself).  If your Dropbox installation is set up for automatic syncing of the '''<tt>Dropbox</tt>''' directory in your home directory, then you should retarget NZ’s data directory to '''<tt>Dropbox/Apps/Zyzzyva</tt>''' and move your data there.  Having done that, you’re now ready to sync with other desktop and mobile devices through Dropbox.  NZM, on the other hand, is programmed to sync with Dropbox on its own and has buttons for that purpose.  If you’re firing up a new NZM installation, and already have a usable data directory waiting in the right location on Dropbox, you can start by pressing the ''Sync'' button, signing in and giving permission when prompted, and then — please! — read the prompts about conflicted items before you agree to proceed with the sync.  For first-time use, you should tell it to sync in one direction only, from Dropbox to your mobile device, by answering ''Yes'' to the first question and ''No'' to the second before answering ''Yes'' to start syncing.  It will take a while, and it will try to keep your device awake, because NZM isn’t programmed to pause a sync and finish it later; since iOS tolerates only short periods of background activity before killing an active app, you should let it run in the foreground.  After one or more tries, having completed this initial sync, NZM will only sync files that have changed, so it’ll be very quick.  The one thing to remember, to avoid disappointment, is to sync when you start cardboxing and again when you stop, because otherwise you could end up with two or more devices that both think they have newer cardbox data, and this will be flagged as a sync conflict later on.
+Both NZ and NZM can operate on cardboxes that are synced with Dropbox cloud storage, and in that way, multiple devices can sync their cardbox/quiz-statistics databases with each other.  In the case of NZ up to version 3.3.0, you won’t see any mention of syncing in the application interface, but you can use the ''Preferences'' dialog to make it look for its data directory in a location that Dropbox is syncing in the background (though NZ doesn’t actually move the data for you, so you’ll have to do that yourself).  NZM, on the other hand, is programmed to sync actively with Dropbox, without an installed Dropbox app, and has a ''Sync'' button for that purpose.  To bring multiple devices' Zyzzyva data directories into sync, they all need to target the same '''<tt>Apps/Zyzzyva</tt>''' folder in the same user's Dropbox cloud storage.  (Important:  If you are using NZM, you should sync your mobile devices to Dropbox first, because Zyzzyva's active sync engine won't link up with a Dropbox app folder that it didn't create.  Then, on your desktop devices, install the Dropbox application, set it up for automatic syncing of the '''<tt>Dropbox</tt>''' directory inside your home directory, then retarget NZ’s data directory to '''<tt>Dropbox/Apps/Zyzzyva</tt>''' and move or merge your data there so that Dropbox can manage them.  Having done that, you’re ready to sync all of your devices through Dropbox.)  When firing up any new NZM installation, press the ''Sync'' button, sign in to Dropbox and give permission when prompted, and then — please! — if you see prompts about conflicted items, read those questions before you agree to proceed with the sync.  The first time you sync, there may be conflicts between older, useful cardbox/quiz-statistics databases on Dropbox and newer, but useless databases just established on your mobile device; if so, you should tell it to sync in one direction only, from Dropbox to your mobile device, by answering ''Yes'' to the first question and ''No'' to the second before answering ''Yes'' to start syncing.  It will take a while, and it will try to keep your device awake, because NZM isn’t programmed to pause a sync and finish it later; since iOS tolerates only short periods of background activity before killing an active app, you should let it run in the foreground.  After one or more tries, having completed this initial sync, NZM will only sync files that have changed, so it’ll be very quick.  The one thing to remember, to avoid disappointment, is to sync when you start cardboxing and again when you stop, because otherwise you could end up with two or more devices that both think they have newer cardbox data, and this will be flagged as a sync conflict later on.
 === How do I move cardbox data forward when moving to a new lexicon? ===
 There is one ''Anagrams'' cardbox for each lexicon, and the contents won’t automatically be brought forward when you begin to study a new one.  Currently, NZM has no mechanism for importing cardbox/quiz-statistics data, so, here are a couple of ways to do it, both involving Dropbox sync.  One is to use NZ’s ''Cardbox'' tab to target the new lexicon and use the ''Import…'' button to merge the old lexicon’s data into the new lexicon’s database, then sync everything back to your mobile device.  The other, which doesn’t require NZ, is to go to '''<tt>dropbox.com</tt>''' and copy the '''<tt>Anagrams.db</tt>''' file from one lexicon’s subdirectory under '''<tt>Apps/Zyzzyva/quiz/data</tt>''' to the other, then go back to NZM, sync, and create a new cardbox quiz that targets the new lexicon.

@@ Line 46: / Line 46: @@
 === How do I divide my cardbox so that I can study just a subgroup of them for a while? ===
-A lexicon’s ''Anagrams'' cardbox is never actually subdivided, so what you are wanting is to run a search-restricted cardbox quiz.  You’ll find the option to impose a search restriction in the ''New Quiz'' dialog in both NZ and NZM.  You can save that quiz as you would any other quiz, then load it when you feel like quizzing on just the <tt>-ING</tt> words, or whatever.  Since the NZM interface’s selection of search options is limited, only NZ can create a cardbox quiz that is restricted by probability or various other conditions, but (aha!) once you’ve saved that quiz and synced it to your mobile device, the quiz engine in NZM will respect the search restriction when you load that saved quiz.
+A lexicon’s ''Anagrams'' cardbox is never actually subdivided, so what you are wanting is to run a search-restricted cardbox quiz.  You’ll find the option to impose a search restriction in the ''New Quiz'' dialog in both NZ and NZM.  In NZ, you can save that quiz as you would any other quiz, then load it when you feel like quizzing on just the <tt>-ING</tt> words, or whatever.  Since the NZM interface’s selection of search options is limited, only NZ can create a cardbox quiz that is restricted by probability or various other conditions, but (aha!) once you’ve saved that quiz and synced it to your mobile device, the quiz engine in NZM will respect the search restriction when you load that saved quiz.
 === Is there an “In Cardbox” condition that I can add to a search? ===

@@ Line 38: / Line 38: @@
 === I goofed a question, so now it’s back in Cardbox 0, but I really do know it.  How do I correct this? ===
-If you mark a question incorrect by mistake, you have an opportunity to fix that in the moment by clicking ''Mark as Correct'' (NZ) or the ''Check'' button (NZM), but, once you’ve moved on to the next question, you’ll need to make the repair manually.  One way is to run a search for that word you missed, then move the resulting words to a specific cardbox.  On NZ, that means right-clicking the list, choosing ''Add list to Cardbox…'', clicking ''Specify cardbox'', and telling it where to put the question.  On NZM, press ''Action'', choose ''Move to Cardbox'', then tell it where to put the question.  On NZM, there is another way, which is to use the ''Manage'' tab to locate the question in Cardbox 0, select it, then press ''Action'', choose ''Move to Cardbox'', then tell it where to put the question.
+If you mark a question incorrect by mistake, you have an opportunity to fix that in the moment by clicking ''Mark as Correct'' (NZ) or the ''Check'' button (NZM), but, once you’ve moved on to the next question, you’ll need to make the repair manually.  One way is to run a search for that word you missed, then move the resulting words to a specific cardbox.  On NZ, that means right-clicking the list, choosing ''Remove list from Cardbox'', then right-clicking the list again, choosing ''Add list to Cardbox…'', clicking ''Specify cardbox'', and telling it where to put the question.  On NZM, press ''Action'', choose ''Move to Cardbox'', then tell it where to put the question.  On NZM, there is another way, which is to use the ''Manage'' tab to locate the question in Cardbox 0, select it, then press ''Action'', choose ''Move to Cardbox'', then tell it where to put the question.
 === I’m ready to move beyond patterns, and I want to study by probability by putting the top thousand seven-letter words in my cardbox.  What should I do? ===
-Searching by probability is something you won’t see in the streamlined NZM interface, so for this you’ll need NZ.  Open a ''Search'' tab, choose a ''Length'' condition to limit the search to seven-letter words, and add a ''Probability Order'' condition with minimum 1 and maximum 1000.  Click ''Search'', then right-click the list and choose ''Add list to Cardbox…'' with the default option to ''Estimate cardbox based on past performance''.  (A lot of the listed words will end up in Cardbox 0, but some may be higher if you’ve solved those quiz questions correctly before; any question that was already in your cardbox will stay where it was.)  If you want to quiz in NZM with your newly expanded cardbox, you’ll need to sync out from NZ and back in to NZM.
+Searching by probability is something you won’t see in the streamlined NZM interface, so for this you’ll need NZ.  Open a ''Search'' tab, choose a ''Length'' condition to limit the search to seven-letter words, and add a ''Probability Order'' condition with minimum 1 and maximum 1000; a ''Lax'' search will return more than 1000 words if those following words are equally probable, which is what you probably want.  Click ''Search'', then right-click the list and choose ''Add list to Cardbox…'' with the default option to ''Estimate cardbox based on past performance''.  (A lot of the listed words will end up in Cardbox 0, but some may be higher if you’ve solved those quiz questions correctly before; any question that was already in your cardbox will stay where it was.)  If you want to quiz in NZM with your newly expanded cardbox, you’ll need to sync out from NZ and back in to NZM.
 === How do I divide my cardbox so that I can study just a subgroup of them for a while? ===