What is in a Goodreads library export, column by column?

Best Book Tracker Apps editors · Data refreshed 3 November 2026 · Editorial assessment

Bottom line.A Goodreads library export is a CSV file with one row per book and, in exports shared publicly, 24 columns: identifiers, title and author fields, your rating and review, dates, shelves, read count and owned copies. It holds the latest finish date for each book but no start dates, and nothing social. The StoryGraph's bulk import needs six of the columns filled in for every row; Goodreads' own file import needs an ISBN for every book.

Facts checked 29 October 2026

What does each column mean?

Goodreads export columns, in file order, as seen in a publicly shared export
Column	What it holds	Notes
Book Id	Goodreads' own number for the book.	Useful only inside Goodreads.
Title	The book's title on Goodreads.	Required by The StoryGraph's import.
Author	The main author, first name first.	Required by The StoryGraph's import.
Author l-f	The same author, surname first.	Handy for sorting.
Additional Authors	Co-authors, translators and similar.	Often blank.
ISBN	The 10-digit ISBN of the edition on your shelf.	In exports we have seen, it appears wrapped as ="...", a spreadsheet formula that keeps it as text.
ISBN13	The 13-digit ISBN of that edition.	Goodreads' import needs an ISBN; The StoryGraph uses ISBN13 to pick the edition.
My Rating	Your rating; 0 means you did not rate it.	Goodreads added half and quarter stars on October 5, 2026; check how your own file shows them.
Average Rating	The Goodreads average for the book.	Not your data; other apps ignore it.
Publisher	The edition's publisher.
Binding	The format of the edition on your shelf, such as Paperback or Hardcover.	The quickest way to count formats.
Number of Pages	Page count of that edition.	The basis of any pages-per-year sum.
Year Published	Year of that edition.
Original Publication Year	Year the work first appeared.
Date Read	Your finish date.	Only the most recent finish date, according to Hardcover's FAQ.
Date Added	When you put the book on a shelf.	Required by The StoryGraph's import.
Bookshelves	Every shelf the book is on, comma separated.	The StoryGraph turns these into tags.
Bookshelves with positions	The same shelves with the book's position on each.	Rarely needed.
Exclusive Shelf	read, currently-reading, to-read, or did-not-finish.	Required by The StoryGraph's import.
My Review	Your review text.
Spoiler	Appears to flag a review that contains spoilers.
Private Notes	Notes only you can see.
Read Count	How many times you have read the book.	Required by The StoryGraph's import; 0 for unread or DNF.
Owned Copies	How many copies you own.	The StoryGraph reads this as an owned marker.

Goodreads does not publish a column reference, so this list comes from an export shared publicly on Micro.blog's help forum and from what The StoryGraph and Hardcover say about the file. Check the header row of your own file; Goodreads can add columns at any time.

What does the export leave out?

Start dates. Hardcover's FAQ says Goodreads exports include only the most recent finish date and no start dates.
Earlier reads. Hardcover's FAQ says the file does not include multiple finished reads, so for a book you reread, only one finish date comes across. See tracking rereads.
Reading progress updates, Reading Challenge totals and Year in Books.
Friends, groups, comments and likes.

If any of these matter to you, write them down before you switch apps. Our printable reading log uses the same column names and suggests where to keep start dates.

Which columns do other apps need?

Columns other apps ask for, from their help pages, checked 29 October 2026
App	What it needs from the file
The StoryGraph	Headings that match the Goodreads format exactly, with Title, Author, My Rating, Date Added, Exclusive Shelf and Read Count filled in for every row. Date Read, My Review, Owned Copies, ISBN13 and Bookshelves are optional.
Goodreads (importing back)	An ISBN for every book; .csv, .txt or .xls; desktop only; files of fewer than 500 books work best, based on the sample under File Import Tips.
Hardcover	The Goodreads or StoryGraph export as it comes; a custom CSV format in beta for anything else.
BookBuddy	The Goodreads CSV, as listed on its App Store page.

How do you clean the file before importing it elsewhere?

Work on a copy and keep the original untouched.
Open it as UTF-8. Goodreads' help page suggests re-saving with UTF-8 encoding if an import reports an invalid byte sequence.
Check that ISBN13 values are whole. The StoryGraph warns that Excel can cut ISBNs short and suggests LibreOffice instead.
Fill any blank My Rating or Read Count cells with 0 if you are importing into The StoryGraph.
Save as CSV, not as a spreadsheet file, before uploading.

The steps for getting the file are in our guide to exporting your Goodreads library, and the move itself in moving from Goodreads to StoryGraph.

Questions

Q1How many columns are in a Goodreads export?

Exports shared publicly show 24 columns, from Book Id to Owned Copies. Goodreads does not publish a column list, so check the header row of your own file.

Q2Does the Goodreads export include start dates?

No. Hardcover's FAQ says Goodreads exports include only the most recent finish date and no start dates.

Q3What does Exclusive Shelf mean in the Goodreads export?

It is the one status shelf a book is on: read, currently-reading, to-read or did-not-finish. Other shelves you add appear in the Bookshelves column.

Q4Why does the ISBN look strange in my Goodreads export?

In exports we have seen, ISBNs are wrapped as a spreadsheet formula so they stay as text. Check that the digits are intact before importing the file elsewhere.