How to import an Instapaper CSV into Save This One

Instapaper can export a full-account CSV: a useful index of saved items, but not a portable copy of its article parser, offline files, highlights, or reading position. This migration is best for people who want to keep the links and their basic organization rather than recreate Instapaper.

Ask Instapaper for the account export

1. Sign in on the web and open Instapaper Settings.
2. Scroll to Export.
3. Choose Send .CSV file to your email.
4. Open Instapaper's message and download the CSV from its link.

Instapaper's official export documentation says this CSV covers the whole account. PDF, ePub, and RSS downloads are reading-list outputs, not equivalent migration files; choose CSV for Save This One. Because delivery is by email, allow time for the message and check spam before requesting repeated exports.

Understand the rows before importing

Instapaper CSV exports are commonly headed with fields such as URL, Title, Selection, Folder, and Timestamp; the exact columns can evolve. Save This One maps columns by header, not by fixed position. It recognizes URL/link, title/name, note/description, tags, folder, and common created-date headings.

Export value	Save This One behavior
URL	Imported only when it is an http or https address
Title	Imported as the bookmark title
Folder	Converted to a tag; inbox-style folders may intentionally produce no tag
Timestamp	Preserved as the save date when it is a valid Unix or parseable date
Tags (if present)	Split on commas, pipes, or semicolons and normalized
Selection	Not currently mapped; do not assume selected article text becomes a note
instapaper-private://…	Skipped because it is not a public web URL
Highlight/article body/file	Not transferred by this bookmark import
Duplicate public URL	Skipped; existing title, note, date, and tags remain unchanged

The private-URL case is real, not a broken export. Readwise's Instapaper import documentation notes that forwarded emails and some other private content appear in the CSV with an instapaper-private:// address and are unavailable to third parties. Save This One reports those as non-HTTP links and cannot recover their contents.

Use the preview as a schema check

Choose the CSV in the Save This One importer. Before pressing Import, check:

1. Count: does it roughly match your public web items? Private items and malformed/non-web rows will not be ready.
2. Samples: do the first titles look like Instapaper articles rather than CSV headings?
3. Tags and date range: does at least one known folder appear, and is the oldest date plausible?
4. Skipped rows: an instapaper-private:// sample is expected; “No url column found” means the export's headers are not currently recognized.

Do not casually resave the file in a spreadsheet before the first attempt. Some spreadsheet apps reinterpret large Unix timestamps, dates, commas, or non-ASCII titles. Import the original UTF-8 CSV first. The parser handles quoted commas, escaped quotes, and line breaks inside quoted fields.

Files are limited to 25 MB and the first 5,000 valid bookmarks. Parsing happens locally; normalized records are sent only after you press Import. If a batch fails, retry the same CSV. Already imported URLs will be skipped rather than duplicated.

Audit a few representative items

• Search for an old article and compare its date.
• Search for one item from a custom Instapaper folder and confirm its normalized tag.
• Open a public article whose title contains punctuation or non-English characters.
• Find a forwarded email or private item in the CSV and confirm you have preserved its contents elsewhere; its row cannot become a usable web bookmark.
• Keep the original CSV and your Instapaper account while deciding. Importing deletes nothing.

Is Save This One the right destination?

Move if Instapaper mostly became a pile of URLs and you now want tags, notes, search, browser saving, and integrations. Stay with Instapaper—or another reading-first service—if offline text, highlights, speed reading, text-to-speech, Kindle delivery, or reading progress is why you use it. Save This One stores the bookmark, not a durable copy of the article. The Instapaper alternatives comparison covers that decision in more depth.