Book Tracker

Importing a Book Tracker export

A CSV file exported from Book Tracker can be imported back into Book Tracker. Use it to edit many books at once in a spreadsheet, or to bring books from one library into another.

To move your whole library to a new device or Apple ID, use a backup instead: it keeps everything, while a CSV file keeps only part of it. See How to move your library to another device or Apple ID.

Export the CSV file

  1. Open Book Tracker and go to Settings → Export.
  2. Choose CSV. Apply a filter if you only want some of your books.
  3. Save the file to Files or iCloud Drive.

Edit it in a spreadsheet

Open the file in Numbers, Excel, or Google Sheets and change what you need: fix authors, add series, set a location for a whole shelf, move books to your wishlist.

  • Keep the id column as it is. It is how Book Tracker knows which book each row belongs to.
  • Don’t rename the column headers.
  • Some values start with an apostrophe, like '-30°. Book Tracker adds it so the spreadsheet doesn’t read the value as a formula, and removes it again on import. Leave it there.
  • Save as CSV: in Numbers, File → Export To → CSV; in Excel, File → Save As → CSV UTF-8.

Import the file

  1. In Book Tracker, go to Settings → Import.
  2. Tap Choose File and select your CSV file. Under Exported from, Book Tracker shows Book Tracker.
  3. Tap Continue, then Review.
  4. Review the list. Books that are already in your library are marked as such, with three choices:
    • Fill in what is missing fills in only empty details. Nothing you have written changes.
    • Use the file: where the file has something, it replaces what you have. Choose this to apply the edits you made in the spreadsheet.
    • Add it as a second copy keeps both.
  5. To make one choice for all of them at once, use the menu named after them (for example, The 312 books you already have).
  6. Tap the Import button, which shows how many books are coming in (for example, Import 312 books). Book Tracker backs up your library before it changes anything.

Because rows are matched by id, a book you edited updates the book it came from. It doesn’t create a duplicate, even if you changed its title or ISBN.

An empty cell never changes anything. With Use the file, the lists you edit (authors, narrators, illustrators, translators, publishers, categories, tags) replace the book’s: if you removed a co-author or a tag in the spreadsheet, it’s removed from the book too. The reading in the file is matched to the book’s reading by its days, so its progress and sessions are kept.

What comes across

Everything in the CSV export: the book’s details, formats, ISBNs, dates, series, location with bookcase and shelf, authors, narrators, illustrators, translators, publishers, categories, tags, ratings, purchase, and the current reading status with its dates.

Ratings keep their value when both libraries use the same rating scale.

Limits

  • With Use the file, a list that has fewer names than the book removes the others. Check the authors and tags columns before importing.
  • Tags are matched by name and colour, so a tag you renamed in the spreadsheet becomes a new tag.
  • A file from a library with a different rating scale may come in on the wrong scale: Book Tracker only treats a rating as out of 10 when it’s higher than your own maximum.
  • The CSV file holds one reading per book: the current one. Earlier readings, progress logs, notes, and quotes are not in it. Use a backup to keep those.
  • Custom covers are not in the CSV file. Books that come in new get their cover from its online link; books you already have keep theirs.