BookfernThree steps
Export your library from Goodreads
On the Goodreads website, open My Books, then Import and export (or go straight to goodreads.com/review/import) and press Export library. Goodreads prepares a CSV file and gives you a link to download it.
Bring the file to Bookfern
Press Import your Goodreads library. Once you've signed up or signed in, Bookfern opens the import. Choose the file you downloaded.
Check the count, then import
Before anything is added, Bookfern shows how many books it found on each shelf. Books already in your library are skipped, so importing twice does no harm. Covers, descriptions and themes fill in over the next few minutes.
What comes with you
- Your Read, Currently Reading and Want to Read shelves
- A DNF, did-not-finish or abandoned shelf, as Did Not Finish
- Your star ratings
- The date you finished each book
- Your reviews, or your private notes on books you didn't review
- Page counts, publication years and ISBNs
What stays behind
- Other custom shelves and tags. Their books still come over, on Read, Reading or Want to Read.
- Start dates, and earlier read dates for books you've read more than once
- Private notes on books you also reviewed
- Friends, groups, likes and comments. Find your friends again by username or email, or send them an invite link.
- Your reading challenge. Bookfern counts books and pages per year from your read dates.
Then it starts learning
Every rating, note and book you put down tells Bookfern what you like. With your whole history imported, its first suggestions already know your taste, and each one names the books of yours it comes from.
See how suggestions work- Can I keep using Goodreads?
- Yes. Exporting changes nothing there. If you add books on Goodreads later, export and import again: only the books that aren't in Bookfern yet come in.
- Does Bookfern need my Goodreads password?
- No. Bookfern only reads the file you export. It never signs in to Goodreads.
- Coming from StoryGraph instead?
- The same import takes a StoryGraph export: in StoryGraph, go to Manage account, then Export StoryGraph library. Quarter-star ratings are rounded to whole stars.