How to move your Goodreads library into a spreadsheet

Last updated: 15 October 2026 · By Quicksloth

Goodreads lets you download your whole library as one CSV file: every book, its shelf, your rating, the date you read it. A spreadsheet can open that file, but the raw export is hard to use as it is. This guide shows where the export is, what is inside the file and how to turn it into a reading list you can keep, using the Goodreads Import tab of our Book Tracker as the example.

Short version: on goodreads.com, on a computer, go to My Books → Tools → Import and export → Export Library and download the CSV. Keep that file as it is. Copy its contents into the Goodreads Import tab, then paste the converted block into your Library with Paste special → Values only.

Step 1: export your library from Goodreads

The export is on the Goodreads website, not in the app: "the export option is not available in the Goodreads mobile app" (Pick Up, How to export your Goodreads library in 2026). Use a computer, or a phone browser with the desktop version of the site.

1. Sign in on goodreads.com and click My Books in the menu at the top.
2. In the left column, under your shelves, find Tools and click Import and export.
3. Click Export Library. Goodreads prepares a fresh copy of your library; with many books it can take a little while.
4. When it's ready, a dated link appears on the same page. Click it to download the CSV, usually called something like goodreads_library_export.csv.

Exporting doesn't change or delete anything in your Goodreads account: it's a snapshot. The same path is given by Pick Up and by Eat Your Books ("My Books > Import/Export > Export to CSV"). One other guide places the export under your account settings (Shelfies): if you don't see Import and export under Tools, look there.

Keep an untouched copy of the CSV. Pick Up warns that opening the file and saving it again in a spreadsheet program "can alter details such as ISBNs and dates". Copy from the file; don't save over it. If you later move to another reading app, give it the original.

What the CSV contains

One row per book in your library, with a header row of column names. According to Pick Up's guide, the file normally has these columns:

A few things to know before you use it:

• Some fields are blank, especially for older or unusual editions, and the edition is the one saved on Goodreads, which may not be the copy on your shelf.
• A 0 in My Rating means "not rated", not zero stars.
• The series is inside the title, in brackets at the end: "Anne of Avonlea (Anne of Green Gables, #2)". There is no separate series column.
• Older exports have extra columns. Goodreads dropped some, like Recommended For, around mid-2022 (Goodreads discussion, 2023). If you kept an old export, the columns won't be in the same places as in a new one.

Exclusive shelves and your own shelves

Every book on Goodreads sits on exactly one exclusive shelf: read, currently-reading or to-read (Goodreads developer forum, CSV import/export format). That's the Exclusive Shelf column, and it's the one that tells you where a book stands. Shelves you made yourself, like "favorites" or "dnf", are listed in the Bookshelves column.

If you keep a shelf for books you didn't finish, it's in the Bookshelves column, not in Exclusive Shelf. Pick Up notes that custom shelves are among the fields "most worth checking" when you move to another app, because not every app brings them across.

Step 2: paste it into the Book Tracker

The Book Tracker has a Goodreads Import tab made for this file. It finds each column by its name in the header row, not by its position, so older exports with extra columns work too.

1. Open the CSV: in Excel, double-click it; in Google Sheets, use File → Import → Upload and pick Create new spreadsheet. Don't save it afterwards.
2. Select everything (Ctrl+A, or Cmd+A on a Mac) and copy it, header row included.
3. In the Book Tracker, open the Goodreads Import tab, click cell A10 (the yellow "Paste here" cell) and paste. Up to 1,000 books.
4. Look at row 9 of the gray block on the right, from column AH: it shows where each column was found in your export. "not found" means that column is missing from your file, and that field stays empty.

The gray block converts every row into the columns of the Library:

Step 3: paste the result as values

The converted block is made of formulas that read the Import tab. To make your books permanent, copy the results and paste only their values:

1. On the Goodreads Import tab, select from AH11 to column AU of your last book, and copy.
2. Go to the Library tab and click the first empty cell in the Title column.
3. Paste the values only. In Excel: Home → Paste → Paste Values. In Google Sheets: Edit → Paste special → Values only, or Ctrl+Shift+V.
4. Check a few books: one you've read, one you're reading and one on your TBR. The Library's Check column flags anything that doesn't add up.

A plain paste would copy the formulas, which point back to the Import tab and break as soon as you clear it. Pasted as values, the books stay in your Library and the Import tab can be emptied or reused.

What doesn't come across

• Start dates, reading hours and genres: the export doesn't have them. Add them in the Library if you want them in your stats.
• Reviews and private notes: they stay in the CSV; the Import tab doesn't copy them. Paste them into the Notes column by hand if you want them.
• Your own shelves: only a shelf with "dnf" or "did-not-finish" in its name changes the status. Other custom shelves don't become genres or tags.
• Rereads: the Library keeps one row and one finished date per book; earlier reads of the same book don't come across.
• Covers and ISBN lookup: the tracker has no covers and doesn't look books up online.
• Over 1,000 books: import in batches: paste the header row and up to 1,000 books at a time, then paste each converted batch below the last book in your Library.

Questions and answers

Can I export from the Goodreads app?

No. Use the website on a computer, or open goodreads.com in your phone's browser and request the desktop site.

Does exporting delete anything on Goodreads?

No. The export is a copy; your shelves, ratings and account stay as they are.

Can I keep using Goodreads and the spreadsheet together?

Yes, but they don't sync. To bring in new books later, export again, paste the new file into the Import tab and copy into your Library only the books you don't have yet.

Does the CSV leave my computer?

Not because of the tracker. It's a plain spreadsheet with no macros, no add-ons and no connection to us. In Google Sheets the file lives in your own Google Drive.

Where is the Book Tracker?

It's coming soon to our Etsy shop as an instant digital download. Everything it does is on the Book Tracker page.

Sources

Pages read on 15 October 2026, except where noted. Goodreads changes its menus from time to time: if a name on your screen is different, follow the one you see.

• How to export your Goodreads library in 2026, Pick Up blog, 16 August 2026: export path, app limitation, contents of the CSV, warning about saving the file.
• Adding books and managing your shelf, Eat Your Books help, updated 25 July 2026: export path.
• Best Goodreads alternatives, Shelfies blog, read on 13 October 2026: the account settings path.
• CSV import/export format, Goodreads developer forum, read on 13 October 2026: the three exclusive shelves.
• What's in an export file?, Goodreads discussion, 2023, read on 13 October 2026: columns removed in 2022.

The conversion rules in this guide come from the Book Tracker's own formulas. Quicksloth is not affiliated with Goodreads, Pick Up or Eat Your Books.