Importing book database

dbrear
I keep a catalogue of my books with BookBuddy. I can, aparently, export this as a csv file.

Can I import this into Zotero? Does anyone know of any 'translators'?
  • djross3
    edited August 14, 2018
    Why not just import via ISBNs?
    (That will just refetch the same information you have; it won't help if you have notes or other custom information or corrections for the books, though.)
  • dbrear
    I do, individually. But it would be good to drop all the books in at once.
  • djross3
    edited August 15, 2018
    You can import multiple ISBNs via the add item box in Zotero. I'm not sure if there's a limit or if beyond a certain amount it will start to slow your computer, but you can probably reasonably do it in batches. So if BookBuddy can give you a list of ISBNs, that should be a fast way to get them all into Zotero. If not, and there's no way to export (e.g., to a CSV including ISBNs that can be sorted/smplified in Excel), the only option is probably to copy them one by one anyway.
  • dbrear
    That might well work - thanks dj! I enter many by ISBN so it certainly has them for some books. I should be able to produce a list.

    I didn't know you could enter a list of ISBNs in Zotero - that's the thing. Cheers!
  • adamsmith
    (just paste a newline separated list into add by identifier -- i.e. just copying the column from Excel should do.)

    There is an alternative to get book info into Zotero with some Excel magic, so if you have a significant number of books without ISBN come back and we'll walk you through that, but it's a good bit more involved.
  • dbrear
    Thank you! - although after I started this thread (having searched the forum unsuccessfully) I found some links via Google and that sounds a bit complicated for me! But I'll let you know.
  • dbrear
    Incidentally, if I have this right - you guys rock.

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