How Do You Import Your Goodreads Library?
Importing a Goodreads library means carrying your shelves, ratings and read dates into another app without retyping anything. Goodreads lets you export everything to a spreadsheet, and apps that read that file rebuild your collection from it. The whole move takes minutes, and you keep the reading history you spent years building.
How do you export your library from Goodreads?
On the Goodreads website, open My Books, then Import and Export, and choose Export Library. Goodreads generates a CSV with every book, your shelves, ratings, review text, date read and date added. Download that file to your device. The export runs on desktop; the mobile app does not offer it, so use a browser for this one step.
The CSV is the portable record of your reading life. Each row is a book with its ISBN, title, author and your personal data attached. Keep the file; it is also a plain backup you can reopen in any spreadsheet. Once it is downloaded, the rest happens in the app you are moving to.
How do you import the file into a new app?
Open your new library app, find its import option, and select the Goodreads CSV. The app reads each row, matches the ISBN to its book database, and recreates your entries with covers attached. Shelves map to the app's own shelves, and ratings and read dates carry over. A few hundred books usually import in seconds rather than minutes.
Matching by ISBN is what makes this clean. Because the export names a specific edition, the importer pulls the right cover and page count instead of guessing. Rows without an ISBN, often older or self-published titles, fall back to title and author matching, which you confirm. Review those few after the bulk import lands.
Does your ratings and review history transfer?
Yes. The Goodreads CSV includes your star rating, review text, date read and the shelves you filed each book on. An importer that reads those columns rebuilds them, so your five-star favorites stay five stars and your read dates anchor your history. You do not start over; you arrive with your taste and timeline intact.
Check a handful of imported books to confirm ratings and dates landed where expected, especially for editions that matched by title rather than ISBN. Once you trust the import, your new app can build recommendations on top of the history you brought, instead of treating you like a brand-new reader with an empty shelf.
What if your library has hundreds of books?
Large libraries are exactly where import shines. Retyping 500 books is unthinkable; reading a CSV of 500 books takes seconds. After import, AI auto-categorize can sort that pile into your own shelves by genre or theme, so you are not hand-filing hundreds of entries. The bigger the library, the more a clean import and auto-sort save you.
After the bulk import, run a duplicate check. Years on Goodreads sometimes leave the same title shelved twice or under two editions, and the import preserves that. A quick sweep merges the duplicates so your new catalog starts clean. Then mark your current read and you are fully moved in.
Key takeaways
- Export your Goodreads library to CSV from My Books on the desktop site.
- The file holds shelves, ratings, review text and read dates per book.
- Importers match by ISBN, so covers and editions come in correctly.
- Ratings, reviews and read dates transfer, keeping your history intact.
- For large libraries, auto-categorize and a duplicate check finish the move.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I export my Goodreads library?
- On the Goodreads website, go to My Books, then Import and Export, and choose Export Library. Goodreads builds a CSV with every book, your shelves, ratings, reviews and read dates, which you download. The export is desktop-only, so use a browser rather than the mobile app for this step.
- Will my ratings and read dates transfer?
- Yes. The CSV includes your star ratings, review text, date read and shelves. An importer that reads those columns rebuilds them, so favorites stay rated and your timeline stays intact. Check a few imported books to confirm the data landed correctly, especially titles that matched by name rather than ISBN.
- How does the app match my books?
- It matches each row by its ISBN, which names a specific edition, so the correct cover and page count attach automatically. Rows without an ISBN fall back to title and author matching, which you confirm. This is why most of a large library imports cleanly while only a few entries need review.
- Can I import a library with hundreds of books?
- Yes, and that is where import helps most. Reading a CSV of several hundred books takes seconds rather than the days retyping would. Afterward, auto-categorize can sort them into your shelves and a duplicate check merges any titles shelved twice, leaving a clean catalog ready to use.
Reading & Library Tools, BigBalli. We build importers that respect the years you put into another app, carrying your shelves, ratings and dates across in one file.
MyBookList is a personal library tracker and is not affiliated with Goodreads. Import quality depends on the data in your export, so a few older or self-published titles may need a manual match after the file lands.