Skip to content

Export & Backup

Back up your library or analyse your collection in a spreadsheet.

Exporting Your Library

Jinbocho supports two export formats:

Format Best for
CSV Spreadsheets, Excel, Google Sheets, plain text editing
JSON Full backup, scripting, technical users

How to Export

  1. Open Settings (gear icon in the sidebar)
  2. Under Export Library, choose your format: CSV or JSON
  3. Click the download button — your browser saves the file immediately

The export button is also available directly on the Books page via the export menu in the top-right corner.

CSV Export

The exported CSV has one row per owned book copy.

CSV columns

Column Description Example
id Internal ID of the owned copy c3f1a2b4
isbn ISBN-13 of the bibliographic record 9788845292613
title Book title Il deserto dei Tartari
author Author(s), comma-separated Dino Buzzati
publisher Publisher name Mondadori
published_date Publication year or date 1940
language Language code it
page_count Number of pages 256
room Room name Living Room
bookcase Bookcase name IKEA Billy
section Section name (if any) Left column
shelf Shelf name Shelf 2
position Position number on shelf 3
reading_status Current status finished
added_at When the copy was added (ISO 8601) 2026-01-15T18:30:00Z

Example CSV

id,isbn,title,author,publisher,published_date,language,page_count,room,bookcase,section,shelf,position,reading_status,added_at
c3f1a2b4,9788845292613,Il deserto dei Tartari,Dino Buzzati,Mondadori,1940,it,256,Living Room,IKEA Billy,Left column,Shelf 2,3,finished,2026-01-15T18:30:00Z
a7e9c123,9780261103573,The Fellowship of the Ring,J.R.R. Tolkien,HarperCollins,1954,en,432,Study,Corner shelf,,Shelf 1,1,want_to_read,2026-02-03T10:00:00Z

Open in Excel or Google Sheets

The CSV uses UTF-8 encoding and comma separators. If special characters (accents, non-Latin scripts) appear broken in Excel, import it by specifying UTF-8 encoding: Data → From Text/CSV → File origin: 65001 Unicode (UTF-8).

JSON Export

The JSON export is a full structured backup, preserving all data including nested location objects.

JSON structure

{
  "exported_at": "2026-06-11T20:00:00Z",
  "family_id": "fam_abc123",
  "books": [
    {
      "id": "c3f1a2b4",
      "bibliographic_record": {
        "isbn": "9788845292613",
        "title": "Il deserto dei Tartari",
        "author": "Dino Buzzati",
        "publisher": "Mondadori",
        "published_date": "1940",
        "language": "it",
        "page_count": 256,
        "description": "..."
      },
      "location": {
        "room": "Living Room",
        "bookcase": "IKEA Billy",
        "section": "Left column",
        "shelf": "Shelf 2",
        "position": 3
      },
      "reading_status": "finished",
      "added_at": "2026-01-15T18:30:00Z"
    }
  ]
}

Backing Up Your Library

For a full backup, export JSON format. JSON preserves all data including location structure and timestamps. CSV is convenient for viewing but may lose some precision (e.g. timestamps rounded to dates).

Recommended backup schedule: once a month, download a JSON export and keep it in a cloud storage folder (Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud).

Import (Coming Soon)

Bulk importing books from a CSV or JSON file is not yet available in the current version. It is planned as a future feature.

In the meantime, books can be added individually via:

Reading Status Values

When reviewing exports, these are the valid reading_status values:

Value Meaning
want_to_read In your to-read pile
reading Currently reading
finished Completed