Getting Data In and Out Without Losing Your Mind

Excel import, CSV/JSON/Excel export, and the quiet dignity of structured data transfer.

The Promise

Your data is yours. Shelvd will never hold it hostage behind a paywall, a proprietary format, or a vague promise that "export is coming soon." You can get your entire library out of Shelvd at any time, in multiple formats, with all the fields you entered. You can also bring data in — from spreadsheets, from other tools, from that Excel file you've been maintaining since 2009 and are slightly afraid to open.

Importing: From Spreadsheet to Shelvd

The Template

Shelvd provides a downloadable Excel template with all supported columns. This is the easiest path: download the template, fill in your data, upload.

Go to Books → Import and download the template. It includes columns for:

Core fields: title, subtitle, author, publisher, year, edition
Identifiers: ISBN-13, ISBN-10, OCLC, LCCN
Physical description: pagination, height, width, format, cover type, binding
Condition: condition grade, dust jacket condition, dust jacket impression, condition notes
Valuation: market low and high, estimated value, sales price, currency
Acquisition: price paid, purchase currency, acquired from, acquired date, how acquired — saved as an acquisition on the book's provenance timeline
Classification: BISAC codes, DDC, LCC, UDC, NUR, RVK, BBK
Notes: summary, internal notes, condition notes

The Import Process

Upload your file — Excel (.xlsx), CSV, TSV or tab-delimited .txt
Column mapping — Shelvd auto-maps columns by header name. If your headers don't match exactly, you can map them manually.
Preview — Review the first few rows to make sure everything looks right.
Import — Books are created in your library.

Tips for a Clean Import

One book per row. This seems obvious, but multi-volume works tempt people into creative row-spanning.
ISBNs as text. If Excel has helpfully converted your ISBN to a number and dropped the leading zero, format the column as text before entering data.
Authors in "Last, First" format. The system will try to parse other formats, but "Tolkien, J.R.R." is the safest bet.
One ISBN column is fine. If your export mixes ISBN-10s and ISBN-13s in one column, map it to either ISBN field; Shelvd sorts every value into the right one by length.
Contributor roles survive. Use one Contributors column written as Eco, Umberto (Author); Weaver, William (Translator), or separate Authors, Editors, Translators, Illustrators, Compilers and Introduction By columns — every name in a role column gets that role.
Mind your plan's book limit. The preview tells you when a file holds more books than your plan has room for, before anything is written.
Dates as years. Enter 1847, not 01/01/1847. Publication year is a year, not a date.
Run duplicate detection after import. You will have duplicates. Everyone does. See Duplicate Detection.

Exporting: Getting Your Data Out

Formats

All formats use the same book selection and export menu.

Format	Best for	Details
Excel (.xlsx)	Spreadsheet work	Book data in a spreadsheet
CSV	Data interchange	Comma-separated book data
JSON	Backups and integrations	Structured records
XML	Data interchange	Structured book data
RIS	Reference managers	Bibliographic citations
BibTeX	Research and writing	Bibliographic entries
SQLite	Database backups	Book data and related metadata
Catawiki CSV	Preparing lots on Catawiki	Official Books template; Dealer plan

What Gets Exported

The content depends on the format. General data exports can include private fields for your own records; citation formats contain bibliographic information. Catawiki contains public selling information. Images are included as links where supported. Separate private document files are not bundled into these exports.

Selective Export

Use search, a collection or a tag to narrow the current result. A tag such as catawiki is your own label, not a special requirement.

In the export menu choose Selected books or All results, each with its count. Without a selection, All results is selected. This means the complete current result, including books beyond the first loaded page. Changing the search or filters clears the selection; sorting keeps it.

How to Export

Go to Books and apply any search, collection or tag filter.
For specific books, click Select and check them.
Open Export and choose Selected books or All results. Check the count.
Choose the format. The file downloads to your computer.

Catawiki Books CSV

When enabled, the Catawiki section is the last book section, directly below Tags, in both Add and Edit.

Enable Use Catawiki in Settings → Integrations. It is off by default, including for existing accounts. When off, the entire Catawiki book section, export option and export settings are hidden. All saved book fields and account defaults remain intact and reappear when you enable it again.

Choose Catawiki CSV to download the official Books template with 57 columns. One Shelvd record becomes one lot row; a work in two physical volumes stays one row with Number of books set to two.

Description includes the Trade catalog entry, the public copy overview and the ISBD entry. Private notes, acquisition prices and sellers, current ownership and storage locations are excluded. All available public photo links go into Public photo URL.

Shelvd checks the asking price, or the current valuation if no asking price is entered, against its configured EUR minimum (initially €75). Other currencies, missing values and values below the minimum block the entire selection. Catawiki categories can require more. This is an estimated selling value, not a reserve price or a guaranteed result.

Open the book in Edit → Catawiki and choose its subject, book auction and condition. Subject and condition use the existing book fields; the book auction overrides your account default. Save the book, then download through the ordinary export menu. A missing supported subject or condition blocks the selection. Correct book data in Shelvd and export again instead of editing the CSV. In Settings → Integrations → Catawiki export defaults, save regional shipping rates, country exceptions, pickup and combined shipping, or the ID of an existing Catawiki shipping profile. You can also save a description language, preferred book auction and standard expert message. These choices are copied into each export; unset fields remain blank. Check the costs for the actual parcel and compare the shipping columns with the template from your seller account. The included template uses Belgium as the domestic column; use a shipping profile for another seller country. Keep the headers unchanged.

Shelvd only downloads the file. The official Catawiki import instructions say that successfully imported objects go straight to experts. Import only when you are ready for that review. To prepare a draft without submitting, use Catawiki's individual object form. A manually filled draft does not test CSV import.

A Word on Data Portability

We believe your book data should outlive any software you use to manage it. Shelvd could disappear tomorrow — hit by a bus, acquired by a company that "sunsets" features, or simply abandoned by its maker when he finally runs out of shelf space. Your data should survive all of these scenarios.

Export regularly. Keep backups. Your library is an asset, and its catalog is part of that asset. Treat the data with the same care you'd give the books.

See also: Your First Book · Duplicate Detection · Statistics

📖 Related on the blog: 28,000 Books