Forewords

How do I import my library from Goodreads?

You can import during onboarding or any time after from Settings → Import your Library. Sign into Goodreads inside Forewords's sandboxed WebView — Forewords doesn't see your password — and your books, ratings, shelves, read dates, and Goodreads reviews come across (reviews become Forewords notes). Libraries up to a few hundred books take less than two minutes; bigger libraries run in the background while you keep using the app. A standard Goodreads CSV export from goodreads.com works too, via forewords.app/import-my-library.

The two-minute walkthrough

Most people who land here want to export their Goodreads library as a file and import it somewhere new. Path A below is the classic export-from-Goodreads workflow: download a CSV from goodreads.com, upload it to Forewords, done. Path B is a faster option that skips the export entirely — sign into Goodreads inside Forewords and your library transfers in one tap. Pick whichever feels right.

Forewords import library screen with two options: Connect Goodreads (one-tap, marked Fastest) and Upload a CSV
The import library screen, reachable from onboarding or Settings → Import your Library.

Path A · Export from Goodreads, upload to Forewords

Step 1: Export your Goodreads library

  1. 1.On goodreads.com (web only — the export option isn’t in the Goodreads mobile app), sign in and go to My Books → Import and export.
  2. 2.Click Export Library. Goodreads generates a CSV file containing every book in your library, your ratings, shelves, read dates, and reviews. It usually finishes in seconds, sometimes a minute for large libraries.
  3. 3.Download the CSV file to your computer when Goodreads finishes processing.

Step 2: Upload the CSV to Forewords

  1. 4.On web, sign into forewords.app/import-my-library and upload the Goodreads CSV. (Inside the Forewords app, tap Send Import Link to Myself to get the upload link by email — CSV upload is web-only today.) Forewords recognises the standard Goodreads CSV columns automatically; no column mapping needed.
  2. 5.Confirm the preview and the import runs. Your books, ratings, shelves, read dates, and Goodreads reviews (as Forewords notes) all transfer.

Path B · Skip the export — one-tap WebView import (fastest)

Use the in-app WebView import

  1. 1.In Forewords, tap Settings → Import your Library → From Goodreads.
  2. 2.A sandboxed WebView opens to the Goodreads sign-in page. Sign in with your existing Goodreads credentials. Forewords doesn’t see your password — it never leaves the WebView.
Goodreads sign-in form rendered inside Forewords's sandboxed WebView, with Continue with Amazon, Continue with Apple, and Sign in with email options
The Goodreads sign-in runs inside a sandboxed WebView. Your password never reaches Forewords.
  1. 3.Once signed in, Forewords pulls down your shelves (Read, Currently Reading, Want to Read, plus any custom shelves), your ratings, your read dates, and any reviews you’ve left.
  2. 4.Tap Continue. Forewords hands the import off to the background, so you can keep setting up your account or browse the rest of the app while it processes. Libraries up to a few hundred books typically finish in under 90 seconds; a few thousand books takes a few minutes. You’ll get a notification when it’s done.
Forewords confirmation screen showing 37 books being imported in the background, with a Continue button
After confirmation, the import runs in the background — you don't have to wait on this screen.

What transfers, and what doesn’t

Transfers cleanly
Every book in your shelves, your star ratings (Goodreads only supports whole stars; Forewords preserves them and lets you add half-star precision afterwards), read dates, date added, your custom shelves (mapped to Forewords’s custom shelves), your Goodreads reviews (imported as Forewords notes), and any Private Notes you’ve left on Goodreads (concatenated to the review with a | separator inside the same notes field).
Doesn’t transfer
Your friends and follows — Forewords doesn’t have a social graph. Your reading challenge progress — Forewords doesn’t have annual challenges yet (on the roadmap).
After the import
Forewords’s recommendation engine starts building your taste profile. The first useful recommendations appear once you have around 15–30 rated books, and they sharpen considerably from there. To give the engine more signal up front, this is the right moment to add a few per-trait rating tags on books you remember well.

Edge cases

Very large libraries (2,000+ books)
The import paginates and runs in the background. It may take a few minutes. You can leave the screen — a thin progress bar follows you around the app while it works, and Forewords pings you when it’s done.
Forewords Settings screen with a progress bar at the bottom reading 'Importing: Sapiens: A Brief History of Hu... 37/37' while the user browses the app
Background progress indicator. You can keep using the app while a large import processes.
Books that don’t match the catalogue
Older imports without ISBNs, self-published titles, or region-specific editions sometimes don’t auto-match. Forewords flags these in a review screen and you can confirm the right edition manually. Usually fewer than 1% of a typical library.
Re-running the import
If you import twice (or run it again after adding more books to Goodreads), Forewords de-dupes by ISBN and by title + author so you don’t get duplicates.
Two-factor on Goodreads
The WebView handles 2FA the same way the regular Goodreads site does — enter the code, the import continues.
Want your Goodreads account untouched?
Importing into Forewords doesn’t modify your Goodreads library at all — it’s a read-only pull. Many readers keep both accounts active for a while and decide later.

Ready to try it? Install Forewords on Android. iOS launches mid-2026.

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