Importing

Where from

In Settings > Import and export, bring a collection in from BoardGameGeek, Steam, Goodreads or The StoryGraph, Letterboxd, MyAnimeList or a spreadsheet.

The import screen asks one question first: Where is your collection now?

If your collection already lives somewhere else, bring it in rather than typing it again.

Open Settings > Import and export. Import your history leads, with the importers for your shelves first and the rest under Other shelves.

Find where your collection lives and give it what it asks for: a username, a profile link, the file the other service exported, or a spreadsheet of your own.

Press Preview, or choose the file, and look over what was found. Nothing comes in yet.

Choose what comes in, then start the import. It runs in the background, and a message says when it is done.

This example cannot reach BoardGameGeek or Steam, or read a file from your computer, so Preview and the file buttons do nothing here. In your own account they do.

Other places an import starts

You can also start from the Import tab of the Add an item sheet, or from Import a list when you sign up.

There are eight sources, each shaped differently:

Source

What comes in

Your ratings

What you provide

BoardGameGeek

Your collection and your logged plays, with dates, lengths and players.

Yes, and your comments as shared notes.

Your BoardGameGeek username.

Steam

Your games and the hours Steam has counted. Hours, not sessions, so no nights are invented.

No.

Your Steam profile link. Your profile and game details must be public.

Goodreads or The StoryGraph

Books you read (with the day you finished), are reading, did not finish, or want to read.

Not yet.

The library export, a CSV file.

Letterboxd

Films you watched and when (diary.csv). The ratings.csv in the same export adds films you rated without logging.

Yes, as stars doubled to a score out of 10.

Your Letterboxd data export.

MyAnimeList

Manga you read and how far you got. Volumes you bought come in as owned.

Not yet.

Your manga list export.

Video games, TV shows or movies from a spreadsheet

Items only, one row each, put on the shelf you chose. No sessions.

Yes, out of 10.

A .xlsx or .csv with a title column. See Video games, shows or movies from a spreadsheet.

Video games, shows or movies from a spreadsheet

A list of video games, TV shows or movies kept in a spreadsheet comes in from an .xlsx or a .csv: one row per item, your ratings included.

Give the spreadsheet a first row that names its columns, or download the template each import offers and fill that in. One row is one item, and only its title is needed. Save it as .xlsx or .csv.

Open Settings > Import and export, Import your history. Choose Video games from a spreadsheet, TV shows from a spreadsheet or Movies from a spreadsheet, for the shelf the rows go on, and pick your .xlsx or .csv file. The Video Games, TV Shows and Movies shelves each offer their own among their imports.

Look over the preview. A spreadsheet with several tabs asks Which tab? first. Put them on says which list the rows go to; change it for the whole file, or give one row its own list, or Leave out.

Press the button that counts them, such as Bring in 240 items. The import runs in the background, and a message says when it is done.

The columns, and how a rating is read

Kept a ratings spreadsheet, or a plain list, in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers? Save it as .xlsx or .csv. The first row names the columns, in any order, and capitals and spaces in their names do not matter. Only the title is needed:

title: the item's name. The column can also be headed name, game, movie or show. A title that ends with a year in brackets, like (1999), gives its year and loses the brackets.

rating or score: what you gave it, out of 10.

system, platform or console: what you played the game on (video games only).

genre: the row's genre, in your own words.

year: the year it came out, which helps find the right title.

list or status: the list for that row alone, when your file keeps one.

type: movie or show, for that row alone (not for video games). Not needed: it only keeps the other kind out.

A rating is the number the cell starts with, so 8 - Great is 8 and 7.5 is 7.5. From 1 to 10 it is kept; 0 or an empty cell means none, and the row comes in without one.

When no column is headed rating or score, a column whose cells nearly all start with a number from 0 to 10 is read in its place.

A rating fills an empty Your rating. One you gave here is replaced only while “Use this file’s lists and ratings over yours” is ticked, as it is to begin with whenever the file holds items already on your shelf or taken off it. Untick Bring in the ratings in the preview to leave them all behind.

The preview's Not brought in: line names the columns the import does not use.

One table at a time, and picking a tab

Each import brings in one table: one tab of a spreadsheet, or one .csv file. Nothing is guessed about which shelf a file is for. You chose the import, so every row goes to its shelf: Video Games, TV Shows or Movies.

An .xlsx with one tab is read as it is, and so is a .csv. With several tabs, Which tab? lists them with their row counts, and you pick the one to bring in.

To bring in three tabs, run the import three times: after each one, Bring in another tab takes you back to the list of tabs with the file still loaded. A spreadsheet with games on one tab and movies on another goes through both imports, a tab at a time.

Shows and movies, kept apart

TV shows from a spreadsheet and Movies from a spreadsheet are two imports, one per shelf. Each looks every row up as its own kind only, a show on TV Shows and a movie on Movies, so no row lands on the wrong shelf.

When a TV series and a film share a title, the import you chose settles which is meant, and a year in the file (a year column, or (1999) after the title) helps pick the right one.

A table that mixes the two goes through both imports, one run each. A type column in the file then keeps each kind on its own shelf: movie or film, or show, tv or series.

A row whose type says the other kind, a movie in a TV Shows import, starts on Leave out, and the preview says how many, as in 3 rows are movies; they are left out. Import them from Movies. You can still give such a row a list of its own.

A row with no type, or the right one, comes in as usual. A title that is not found comes in under its own name, on the import's own shelf.

Video games from a spreadsheet reads no type column.

Where the rows land, and how to change it

To begin with, every row lands on Not owned, the list for what you have played or watched without owning it.

Put them on moves the whole file to another list: Owned, Wishlist, or Want to play or Want to watch, whichever the shelf has.

Each row can also be given a list of its own, or Leave out to stay behind. A row whose file names its list, in a list or status column, starts on that one.

A movie that lands on Watched is marked finished; a show is not.

Matching, and what not found means

As the import runs, each title is looked up in the catalogue. Only a sure match is taken: the same title, whatever its capitals, accents or punctuation. A game's system, or a year in the row, helps pick the right one.

A title that is not found still comes in under its own name, without a cover, and the result lists those titles so you know which they are.

A long list of games or movies takes a few minutes. You can leave the page while it runs.

Systems and genres

A game's system becomes its platform when it is one ShelfChronicles knows. One it does not know is named in the preview and left off.

An item found in the catalogue keeps the catalogue's genres. One that came in under its own name takes your file's genre when it is one of the shelf's genres. To keep your own genre words as well, tick Also add each row's genre as a tag: each becomes one of your tags.

What is already on your shelf, and running it again

An item already on your shelf is not added twice. While “Use this file’s lists and ratings over yours” is ticked, as it is to begin with, the file wins: each item takes the list and rating the file gives it, even when that moves it back or changes a rating you gave. Untick it and an item never moves backwards: a wish, a Want to play or a Want to watch becomes played, watched or owned when the file says so, nothing goes the other way, and its rating is filled only if it had none. Either way, a platform a game lacked is added.

An item you took off your shelf comes back when it is in the file, on the list the file gives it, with everything it had before: what you logged, your notes, and your rating unless the file gives it another while that tick is on. The preview counts these items under Taken off your shelf before and offers the tick for them too, even when you cleared the whole shelf.

Two rows for the same item make one entry, with the higher of their ratings.

Running the same file again adds nothing twice, and fills the ratings that are still missing. So you can correct the spreadsheet, save the .xlsx or .csv again and bring it in once more.

What is not brought in, and Undo

A ranking column is not brought in, it is named with the other unused columns, and the order of your list stays in your file. To put a shelf in order here, see Ranking a shelf.

Sessions and dates are not brought in either, the import puts each row's item on a list and logs nothing.

Each of these imports fills its own shelf and no other.

For a day after it runs, the import's result has Undo this import: it asks first, then takes back the items that run added, and takes off again any it brought back. Items that were on your shelves before it, and any you moved or logged since, stay as they are. After that day, items come off a shelf several at a time: press Select, pick them, then Remove from your shelves in Change status (Moving a pile at once).

Board game sessions from a spreadsheet

Plays kept in a spreadsheet come in from a .csv or .xlsx, one row per session. Only date and game are needed, and the preview shows every row first.

This import is for board game plays. A list of video games, shows or movies comes in another way: see Video games, shows or movies from a spreadsheet.

Name the columns in the sheet's first row, or start from the template.

Save the sheet as .csv or .xlsx.

In Import your history, press Choose .csv or .xlsx under Board game sessions from a spreadsheet.

Look over the preview, then import.

The columns

Save the sheet as .csv or .xlsx with one row per session. The first row names the columns, in any order; only date and game are needed:

date: the day, written YYYY-MM-DD (2026-03-05). 25/09/2026 is read too, but 5/3/2026 could be either order, so its row is left out with the reason.

game: its name. bgg_id, the BoardGameGeek id or link, makes the match exact.

minutes: 90, or a length like 1h30 or 1:30. Left empty, the game's playing time is used.

players: names separated by semicolons (me; Ana; Ben), "me" being you.

winners: names the same way, or "we won" or "we lost" for a co-operative game. scores: Ana: 86; me: 79.

note: anything else. circle: the name of one of your Circles (a regular group), to tag the session with it.

The template and the AI prompt

Download the template from the importer to start from the right header row. If your sheet looks nothing like it, open AI prompt, copy it, and paste it into any AI assistant along with your sheet. Look over what comes back before you import it.

What the preview does with each row

The preview lists each row it could not read, by its row number and why, and leaves those out.

Games are matched to BoardGameGeek by id or name, or are added by hand; players are matched to your people as for BoardGameGeek.

A row that repeats a session already here (the same game, day and length) is skipped, so the same file can be imported again once it is fixed.

Games not on your shelf yet go on it as Not owned, or as Owned if you choose that in the preview; a game already on a shelf keeps its list.

The result, and Undo this import

For a day after an import, its result keeps Undo this import, even after a reload. It takes back the sessions, and the games, people and Circles the import added.

Board game plays kept in a spreadsheet have an import of their own, see Board game sessions from a spreadsheet, below.

Spreadsheet of board game sessions

Plays you kept anywhere else, one row each. See Board game sessions from a spreadsheet, below.

No.

A .csv or .xlsx with a date and a game column.

Choosing what comes in

Nothing comes in without a preview: see what was found, untick what stays behind, name the players, then import in the background.

The four steps of an import

Preview. ShelfChronicles reads the source and lays out what it found: plays, games, hours or books, and how many are already here.

Choose. A BoardGameGeek collection shows each list with its count, all ticked, with the titles folded underneath. Untick what should stay behind.

Name the players. Players from BoardGameGeek are matched to your people by name, and nothing is merged unless you pick it.

Import. It runs in the background, so you can leave the page.

What an import changes, and what it leaves alone

An import from another app only moves items forward. A game you own stays owned, and an item you removed on purpose stays removed. A spreadsheet import is the exception: it brings back items you removed, and with its tick on, the file's lists and ratings replace yours (Video games, shows or movies from a spreadsheet).

Expansions are filed under their game when you have it.

Feelings and ratings

Imported sessions have no feeling, since a feeling is how a session left you and no import can know that. A rating from another service is never turned into one.

BoardGameGeek and Letterboxd bring your own ratings into Your rating: BoardGameGeek's as they are, Letterboxd's stars doubled. A rating only fills an empty Your rating, and one you gave here is never changed. The preview counts them and has a box to leave them behind. Video games, TV shows or movies from a spreadsheet bring the ratings in their files too, and by default they replace the ones you gave (a box in the preview turns that off). Goodreads, The StoryGraph and MyAnimeList ratings stay behind for now.

BoardGameGeek also brings the comments you wrote on your games into the shared note of Your notes, by the same rule: one only fills an empty shared note, a note you wrote here is never changed, and the same import run again adds the ones that are missing. The preview counts them under Your comments, with a box to leave them behind. They arrive as shared notes, as they are public on BoardGameGeek; to keep one to yourself, remove it from the shared note on the item's page and write it in the private note. One longer than 2,000 characters stays behind whole, and those you marked private on BoardGameGeek are not in what it gives out.

Running the same import again

Running the same import twice adds nothing new, so it is safe to run again whenever you have logged more elsewhere.

After an import

What the result says

When it finishes, the result is a short ledger (a list of what happened): what was added, what moved along, what was left as it was, and, by name, anything that could not be matched to the catalogue.

Unmatched items come in under their own titles, added by hand, and can be matched from their page later.

Where imported plays and hours land

Imported plays land in History on the days they happened, and imported finishes say where they came from. Stats counts them as logged or finished.

Hours from Steam sit on each game as time before ShelfChronicles. They keep a game off your never-played list without feeding your feelings or your recaps.

When ShelfChronicles offers an import

Until you have used a source once, ShelfChronicles offers it where it would help: on a shelf with little on it, and on Home under Not sure what to do today?.

Home stops offering it once that shelf has 25 items or 30 sessions of your own, or you have 100 sessions in all, or you have pressed it or said Not now twice.

Adding items.