Move from Goodreads to Kabook
Your shelves, ratings and dates come across, in a few minutes.
Export from Goodreads
Goodreads gives you your library as a file from its website. The Goodreads app has no export.
- On goodreads.com, signed in, open My Books.
- In the left column, under Tools, choose Import and export.
- Choose Export Library. A big library can take a few minutes.
- When the file is ready, a link starting “Your export from” shows under the button. Choose it to download the file, a CSV.
On a phone, open goodreads.com in the browser, switch to the desktop site from the browser’s menu, and follow the same steps. The file goes to Downloads, where Kabook can pick it.
Import into Kabook
The same on iPhone, iPad and Android.
- In Kabook, open Settings (the gear) and, under Library, Import from Goodreads. While your library is empty, “Coming from Goodreads? Import your library” on the Reading page opens it too.
- Tap Choose file and pick the CSV: on iPhone and iPad from Files, iCloud Drive or Downloads; on Android from Downloads, or wherever it was saved.
- Before anything is added, Kabook shows what the file holds:
10 books on 6 shelves3 to read, 1 reading, 5 readA row with no title is skipped, and books already in your library are counted and left out.
1 on another shelf
1 row skipped - Tap Import (it says how many: “Import 10 books”), then Done. Covers and details fill in from Kabook’s catalogue afterwards.
The file is read on your phone, not uploaded. Signed in, the books then sync to your other devices like any others.
What comes across
| On Goodreads | In Kabook |
|---|---|
| Your shelves | Lists, with the same names |
| Want to Read | Wish list |
| Currently Reading | Reading |
| Read | Finished |
| A did-not-finish or on-hold shelf of your own | Abandoned or Paused, and a list of that name |
| Your stars | Your stars |
| Date Read | The day you finished, so each year in Your reading is there from the first day |
| Date Added | The day the book was added |
| Your review and private notes | The book’s note, which only you see |
| Title, authors, pages and year | The same; a series in the title, such as “(Red Rising, #2)”, becomes the book’s series |
| ISBNs | How Kabook finds each book’s cover and details in its catalogue |
A book on Read with no Date Read is finished on its Date Added, and Your reading offers to set the real day. A book with no ISBN in the file comes across without a cover.
Not kept: Goodreads’ average ratings, publishers and editions, and how many times you read a book. Friends, updates and groups stay on Goodreads, as Kabook has none.
Importing again
The same file a second time adds nothing new: Kabook says “Everything in this file is already in your library.” A newer export adds only the books that are not there yet, and leaves the ones already imported as they are.
Get Kabook
On iPhone, iPad and Android. Your library stays on your phone; an account is optional.
