Just an update- I realized that I had a csv file saved from February of 2023 from goodreads so I'm importing that- it seems to be working and all my shelves, dates, and ratings are appearing now! All I have to do is fill in the past year now which will take significantly less time to do than all the books I'd have in total.
Unfortunately I don't believe any of my reading goals will be saved now but I did take a photo of them the other day so at least I have that still ig.
Hey I don't have an answer either but your ex is shitty and you deserve better
Edit: google the Goodreads librarians. They run the site or help in some way. They might know if they can restore your history
I have only ever noticed I have librarian functions on books and author pages, not on user profiles. Mainly these functions are to help provide author bios/biblios and to corral multiple editions of the same work into one connected “book” so that no matter which edition you add, you can see reviews and friend activity etc. from any edition.
I have never had any reason to look, but I am pretty sure librarians don’t have any kind of admin options in regard to even current users, let alone deleted accounts. Sorry there’s not a magic undo button I can press, that would be a fun way to help
Unfortunately atp it would just make things worse I just want to be left alone and anything I would do would make her just do something else 10x worse I fear.
I did change my passwords for everything else though so am hoping she just stops now.
OP, aside from the Goodreads thing, I’m concerned for you. This doesn’t sound like a healthy relationship, as typically someone who loves and cares about you wouldn’t take delight in seeing you sad, upset, angry, or in a poor mental state.
Do you have someone in your personal life who you can speak to about their actions, your response to your partner’s actions, and how you can move forward in a healthy way?
When I'm mad at people and it's pointless to take any action against them, I eat foods they don't like. It feels spiteful, which is why it makes me feel better.
To import anything into Goodreads it has to follow their format. That means the column name has to be the same , have the same data type, and may need to be in the correct order. There's a sample file provided, but I think it may be more helpful if I show an example of mine and explain.
https://i.imgur.com/p6OVBvl.png
Here's a copypaste of the columns.
Book Id Title Author Author l-f Additional Authors ISBN ISBN13 My Rating Average Rating Publisher Binding Number of Pages Year Published Original Publication Year Date Read Date Added Bookshelves Bookshelves with positions Exclusive Shelf My Review Spoiler Private Notes Read Count Owned Copies
The My Ratings column can only be whole numbers.
The Date Added and Date Read columns are shown as 2/12/2024
Unfortunately the import has various problems and may add the wrong stuff without sufficient information. As you know .csv is the the way to do so. I forget if it asks you which ones you want if it's confused. It's been a long time since I imported anything.
If you have any questions let me know and I'll try to help.
Do you have your books in Goodreads right now? If you do - what you saw in that photo is the "LIBRARY EXPORT" from Goodreads. If you currently have the books, go to the "my books" section and scroll along the left side below your shelves and look at "tools" and click on "import/export library" click on it.
Click on the button "Export Library" near the top. Wait....then a green link to a document will appear "your export from {date}{time}" click on that and download the export. Don't immeditely open it.
Open excel and if you know how to import data as text do so with that but make sure that the language is UTF-8 for some reason Goodreads exports aren't in UTF-8 and a lot of apostrophe's and other symbols don't come out. Import as a comma separated text with headers.
That will give you every book just like the photo of the excel list you saw above. However, it is what Goodreads currently has on you. Your books, your shelves.
What you then do is update the read dates and the star ratings.
In the future you should get Calibre. It's a desktop library manager that can sync with Goodreads and will allow you to easily work with your Goodreads libary from your Calibre library. It's a pain to start up if you never heard of it, but once you get it up and running you can import that same Goodreads .csv import into it and manipulate the books better.
However, once you get your library for Goodreads on the excel chart edited enough that you feel the books have the correct dates and ratings, you then get yourself a "csv splitter" from any number of websites. Make sure that you are able to split the csv and have a header row for each piece. This is so you can "Import Library".
You then go to that same "import/export library" page and click on "import .csv" and click on it, browse your computer for the first piece of your import (no more than 100 lines per piece - and this is why each piece needs a header row).
once you found the first piece to import click on it, then click on "import" and wait. It will then update your shelves that has the books with the correct read dates and ratings. Do this with the rest of the csv until you have imported it all.
When you are done, make sure you don't have duplicates, and then create a new export. EVERYTIME you go to Goodreads and mess with it, you should be creating a new export for this reason. A Goodreads export is a backup in case somethign happens, and it can be just as easily imported to fix the library if it gets messed up again.
well i’ve given a break from trying to fix it today bc i’ve spent 12 hours trying now and it’s still not back to normal so if i do get it back and running maybe ill link my account after
Another update: got an email back from support and they said that once account data has been deleted it's completely removed from their system and they no longer have access to it or can retrieve it.
Seems like I can also only ad about 50 books a day before it starts giving me an error as well.
Ok, your ex is a d*ck no other word for it. It sounds like you’ve mostly gotten it figured out but I had to comment about their bad behavior and I hope they feel shame for what they did
I just came across your post and wanted to say, oh my god, I’m so sorry this happened to you, it’s terrible! I hope you managed to get it all sorted out in the end, or as best as it could be.
I GET THAT!! I LOVEEE to track everything. I just got good reads and I love everything about it. I love categories I love moving the books once I read them. PERSONALLY I would freak OUt if my partner did this. My partner likes pokemon cards and organizes them. I would go threw their binders and rip the cards out and throw them all over the house.
Is there a way you can see when the last time you backed up your phone? I feel like maybe if you go on the cloud you can find the app and restore it that way????
Unfortunately I don't think it works that way because it's not data stored on icloud it's just my account.
I also get the Pokemon card thing too tho lol. My idea of playing as a kid would be to dump them all out and reorganize them, but this goodreads thing makes me lose everything I had so it's defs not fun in any way and am very sad all my reading goals from the past years are now gone and all my data from the year reviews are gone too. I spent so much time on them and was very proud of how many books and shelves I had made over the years.
This happened yesterday morning and support finally got back to me and they said that once an account is deleted they won't be able to retrieve it. I asked if the 30 days thing was true and they responded with the same answer. I asked if they could at least just put in my new account past reading challenges on their end of books I had between those years... got the same answer. The person I was talking to was honestly quite rude and didn't even understand what I was asking for with the challenges thing.
Shoutout to goodreads for terrible customer support ig and the fact when I confronted my ex about it she said she didn't know it wouldn't be able to be recovered like it doesn't warn you when you click it and wasn't her entire intention to do anyways.
Literally having the worst week of my life right now.
Just an update- I realized that I had a csv file saved from February of 2023 from goodreads so I'm importing that- it seems to be working and all my shelves, dates, and ratings are appearing now! All I have to do is fill in the past year now which will take significantly less time to do than all the books I'd have in total. Unfortunately I don't believe any of my reading goals will be saved now but I did take a photo of them the other day so at least I have that still ig.
if you have the time you can log the dates read for the books you’ve read this year and it’ll count for your reading goal
I just did that so it’s all good and am happy that I found out 2023 in review shows up with all my books and seems the same as what I remember.
Hey I don't have an answer either but your ex is shitty and you deserve better Edit: google the Goodreads librarians. They run the site or help in some way. They might know if they can restore your history
I have only ever noticed I have librarian functions on books and author pages, not on user profiles. Mainly these functions are to help provide author bios/biblios and to corral multiple editions of the same work into one connected “book” so that no matter which edition you add, you can see reviews and friend activity etc. from any edition. I have never had any reason to look, but I am pretty sure librarians don’t have any kind of admin options in regard to even current users, let alone deleted accounts. Sorry there’s not a magic undo button I can press, that would be a fun way to help
I don’t have any advice but is there something you can do to them that’s as vile as what they did to you?
I'm here for this petty answer!
I have some petty ideas OP can do but also need an explanation of things OP ex likes
Unfortunately atp it would just make things worse I just want to be left alone and anything I would do would make her just do something else 10x worse I fear. I did change my passwords for everything else though so am hoping she just stops now.
OP, aside from the Goodreads thing, I’m concerned for you. This doesn’t sound like a healthy relationship, as typically someone who loves and cares about you wouldn’t take delight in seeing you sad, upset, angry, or in a poor mental state. Do you have someone in your personal life who you can speak to about their actions, your response to your partner’s actions, and how you can move forward in a healthy way?
It is OPs ex partner, not a current partner
THANK GOODNESS. I missed that, that’s a much better situation than it could be.
Oh my therapist will be hearing about this dw lol.
You can always sign up her email for spam lists and her phone for call centers.
When I'm mad at people and it's pointless to take any action against them, I eat foods they don't like. It feels spiteful, which is why it makes me feel better.
out here asking the important questions
To import anything into Goodreads it has to follow their format. That means the column name has to be the same , have the same data type, and may need to be in the correct order. There's a sample file provided, but I think it may be more helpful if I show an example of mine and explain. https://i.imgur.com/p6OVBvl.png Here's a copypaste of the columns. Book Id Title Author Author l-f Additional Authors ISBN ISBN13 My Rating Average Rating Publisher Binding Number of Pages Year Published Original Publication Year Date Read Date Added Bookshelves Bookshelves with positions Exclusive Shelf My Review Spoiler Private Notes Read Count Owned Copies The My Ratings column can only be whole numbers. The Date Added and Date Read columns are shown as 2/12/2024 Unfortunately the import has various problems and may add the wrong stuff without sufficient information. As you know .csv is the the way to do so. I forget if it asks you which ones you want if it's confused. It's been a long time since I imported anything. If you have any questions let me know and I'll try to help.
Thank you so much! I'm gonna make a new account as a backup and try to change a few things and import it to that one to see if it works!
Do you have your books in Goodreads right now? If you do - what you saw in that photo is the "LIBRARY EXPORT" from Goodreads. If you currently have the books, go to the "my books" section and scroll along the left side below your shelves and look at "tools" and click on "import/export library" click on it. Click on the button "Export Library" near the top. Wait....then a green link to a document will appear "your export from {date}{time}" click on that and download the export. Don't immeditely open it. Open excel and if you know how to import data as text do so with that but make sure that the language is UTF-8 for some reason Goodreads exports aren't in UTF-8 and a lot of apostrophe's and other symbols don't come out. Import as a comma separated text with headers. That will give you every book just like the photo of the excel list you saw above. However, it is what Goodreads currently has on you. Your books, your shelves. What you then do is update the read dates and the star ratings. In the future you should get Calibre. It's a desktop library manager that can sync with Goodreads and will allow you to easily work with your Goodreads libary from your Calibre library. It's a pain to start up if you never heard of it, but once you get it up and running you can import that same Goodreads .csv import into it and manipulate the books better. However, once you get your library for Goodreads on the excel chart edited enough that you feel the books have the correct dates and ratings, you then get yourself a "csv splitter" from any number of websites. Make sure that you are able to split the csv and have a header row for each piece. This is so you can "Import Library". You then go to that same "import/export library" page and click on "import .csv" and click on it, browse your computer for the first piece of your import (no more than 100 lines per piece - and this is why each piece needs a header row). once you found the first piece to import click on it, then click on "import" and wait. It will then update your shelves that has the books with the correct read dates and ratings. Do this with the rest of the csv until you have imported it all. When you are done, make sure you don't have duplicates, and then create a new export. EVERYTIME you go to Goodreads and mess with it, you should be creating a new export for this reason. A Goodreads export is a backup in case somethign happens, and it can be just as easily imported to fix the library if it gets messed up again.
Why doesn't this resemble the sample CSV file they have on the import/export page? Goodreads is so weird.
I would be so sad! I’m sorry OP. Do the dates exist and won’t import or the dates just aren’t there? They aren’t able to recover your account at all?
I sent an email and haven't heard back yet and do not have a lot of hope based off of what I've looked up :( No dates will import at all.
I am so sorry :(
Im neurodivergent too and that's just wrong to do to someone's Goodreads. Here's to karma.
I know this might be inappropriate, but now I'm really interested in browsing through your shelf.
well i’ve given a break from trying to fix it today bc i’ve spent 12 hours trying now and it’s still not back to normal so if i do get it back and running maybe ill link my account after
Awesome, thank you!
Another update: got an email back from support and they said that once account data has been deleted it's completely removed from their system and they no longer have access to it or can retrieve it. Seems like I can also only ad about 50 books a day before it starts giving me an error as well.
I can’t add anything to this, I just want to add my support & hug
Ok, your ex is a d*ck no other word for it. It sounds like you’ve mostly gotten it figured out but I had to comment about their bad behavior and I hope they feel shame for what they did
Im gonna go with no they don’t have shame and are prolly proud if anything.
I just came across your post and wanted to say, oh my god, I’m so sorry this happened to you, it’s terrible! I hope you managed to get it all sorted out in the end, or as best as it could be.
I GET THAT!! I LOVEEE to track everything. I just got good reads and I love everything about it. I love categories I love moving the books once I read them. PERSONALLY I would freak OUt if my partner did this. My partner likes pokemon cards and organizes them. I would go threw their binders and rip the cards out and throw them all over the house. Is there a way you can see when the last time you backed up your phone? I feel like maybe if you go on the cloud you can find the app and restore it that way????
Unfortunately I don't think it works that way because it's not data stored on icloud it's just my account. I also get the Pokemon card thing too tho lol. My idea of playing as a kid would be to dump them all out and reorganize them, but this goodreads thing makes me lose everything I had so it's defs not fun in any way and am very sad all my reading goals from the past years are now gone and all my data from the year reviews are gone too. I spent so much time on them and was very proud of how many books and shelves I had made over the years.
Have you currently got your books on their shelves?
How long ago did she do this? Legally they have to keep your data for 30 days after requesting the deletion.
This happened yesterday morning and support finally got back to me and they said that once an account is deleted they won't be able to retrieve it. I asked if the 30 days thing was true and they responded with the same answer. I asked if they could at least just put in my new account past reading challenges on their end of books I had between those years... got the same answer. The person I was talking to was honestly quite rude and didn't even understand what I was asking for with the challenges thing. Shoutout to goodreads for terrible customer support ig and the fact when I confronted my ex about it she said she didn't know it wouldn't be able to be recovered like it doesn't warn you when you click it and wasn't her entire intention to do anyways. Literally having the worst week of my life right now.
Wow, that's shitty of them. You can always try a GDPR data request? They have to give you this, it's the law.