Book Tracker

Migrating from Goodreads

Your Goodreads books, shelves, ratings, reviews, and reading dates come into Book Tracker from one CSV file. Export it, choose it, and Book Tracker recognizes it.

Export your Goodreads library

Goodreads exports only from its website, not from the app, so use a browser on a computer.

  1. Sign in to Goodreads and open the Import and export page.
  2. Click Export Library.
  3. Wait for the link to your export to appear, then download the file. It’s called goodreads_library_export.csv.
  4. Save it somewhere you can reach from the device where you use Book Tracker, such as iCloud Drive.

Don’t open and save the file in a spreadsheet first. Use it exactly as Goodreads made it. Goodreads always writes its columns in English, whatever language your account uses.

Import the file into Book Tracker

  1. Open Book Tracker and go to Settings → Import.
  2. Tap Choose File and select goodreads_library_export.csv.
  3. Under Exported from, Book Tracker shows Goodreads. If it shows a different app, tap it and pick Goodreads.
  4. Tap Continue. Book Tracker looks up your books and finds their covers. When it’s done, tap Review.
  5. Review the list. Each row says what will happen to that book; tap a row to leave it out.
  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 adds anything.

What comes across

  • Reading status from your Read, Currently Reading, and Want to Read shelves.
  • Every reading. A book you read three times arrives with three readings. Goodreads only dates the last one, so the earlier readings arrive without dates.
  • Your rating, converted to the rating scale you use in Book Tracker. The Goodreads average rating stays out of 5, as Goodreads gives it.
  • Series from the title. Goodreads writes the series inside the title, like Legend (Caraval, #2): Book Tracker splits it into the title, the series, and the number (#1-3 and #2.5 too). Other brackets, like (Italian Edition), stay in the title.
  • Your other shelves become tags.
  • Your private notes, or your review when there are no private notes, saved as a note on the book.
  • The book: title, all authors, ISBN, format, pages, publisher, year of publication, and original publication year.

Importing again later

You can import a newer Goodreads export at any time. Book Tracker recognizes the books you already have by their Goodreads ID or ISBN, and asks what to do with each: Fill in what is missing, Use the file, or Add it as a second copy. A book you merge with one already in your library keeps its Goodreads ID, so the next import recognizes it too.

Goodreads only writes the date you finished a book, so a reading you already have is matched on that day: re-importing doesn’t duplicate your readings.

Limits

  • Goodreads doesn’t export covers. Book Tracker finds them from the ISBN; when a book has no ISBN, see Why are covers missing after import?
  • Goodreads doesn’t export start dates or reading progress, only the date you finished.
  • Friends, groups, and other people’s reviews stay on Goodreads.
  • If the file has been through a spreadsheet, some ISBNs may have turned into numbers like 9.78075E+12. Those books come in without an ISBN, and the review screen flags each one with its line in the file.

If you encounter any issues during the migration, write to us from the app. We read every message.