How do you switch reading trackers without losing your history?

Is switching worth it?

Write down the one or two reasons you want to move. "I want charts", "I want fewer ads", "I want a lighter privacy label", "my club moved" are good reasons. "A new app looks nicer" is a reason to try it, not yet a reason to move your history. The Goodreads alternatives guide matches common reasons to apps.

Why run two apps for a month?

Because a new app often feels better in week one and worse in week four. Use the new app for what you are reading now and leave the old one untouched. After a month, you will know whether you open it without thinking. Only then move your history.

How do you export from your old app?

On the pages we read:

• Goodreads exports your library as a CSV file, which The StoryGraph, Fable, BookBuddy and Literal accept.
• The StoryGraph offers CSV export from Settings, sent as an emailed link.
• BookBuddy exports as CSV, PDF or HTML.
• Basmo exports through its in-app share feature.

Some apps do not publish an export. Check before you commit years of reading to one.

How do you import into the new app?

On the pages we read:

• The StoryGraph imports your currently-reading, read, to-read and did-not-finish shelves from Goodreads and turns custom shelves into tags.
• Literal imports from your public Goodreads profile, and takes a StoryGraph CSV.
• Fable imports from Goodreads by in-app sign-in, or a CSV file (beta).
• Hardcover describes a Goodreads import, and Bookly lists one on Google Play.
• BookBuddy takes CSV files from Goodreads, LibraryThing and Google Books.

What should you check after importing?

Pick ten books you know well and check them: right edition, right shelf, right finish date, rating and review if you had one. Check your did-not-finish books and custom shelves, which are the parts most likely to change shape. Fix the pattern, not each book: if every audiobook came in as print, decide whether that matters to you before editing a hundred entries.

What do you do with the old account?

Keep it for a while. Keep the export file somewhere safe whatever you decide. If you want to close the old account, use that app's own settings or help pages for deletion, after the export.

What usually gets lost in a move?

Book titles and read dates almost always survive a CSV import. These often do not:

• Shelves and tags beyond the standard read, reading and want-to-read.
• Reviews longer than a field allows, and their formatting.
• Re-reads, which many apps record as one entry with one date.
• The edition and format, including audiobook editions.
• Social data: friends, club history and comments.

Before you import, open the export file and look at five books you know well. If something you care about is missing there, the new app cannot import it, and you will want to keep the file.

How do you check that the import worked?

Three checks take ten minutes:

1. Count. Compare the number of read books in the old app with the new one. A big gap usually means unmatched editions.
2. Spot-check dates. Open your last five finished books and confirm the finish dates.
3. Look for duplicates. Series and books with many editions are where doubles appear.

Fix by hand only what matters to you. A tracker does not need to be a perfect archive to be useful, and the original export file is your archive.

What if your old app has no export?

Check whether the new app can import without a file. Fable can import from Goodreads by signing in, and Literal can import from your public Goodreads profile. If neither works, rebuild the core by hand: start with the books you read in the last year, which you are most likely to want, and add older years later. A screenshot of each shelf in the old app is a quick backup to work from.

What does a calm switch look like?

1. Month one: new app for current reading only.
2. End of month: decide.
3. Export, import, check ten books.
4. Keep the file; close the old account later, if at all.

The side-by-side table shows each app's import and export lines with their sources, and Goodreads vs The StoryGraph is the most common move, row by row. For deeper import and export details, our sister site bestbooktrackerapps.com covers reading data.