Importing from Instapaper into Tagsora
On this page
Instapaper exports to CSV, which is exactly what Tagsora reads, highlights and their notes included.
1. Export from Instapaper
Open Instapaper in a browser and go to your account settings
(instapaper.com/user). In the export section you will find two separate
downloads:
- Articles as CSV: your saved list.
- Highlights as CSV: your underlines with their notes.
Download both. If the menus do not match this description, search for “export” inside the settings: Instapaper reshuffles its site from time to time.
2. Import into Tagsora
File import lives in the web app. Go to app.tagsora.com on a computer and open Settings → Import → Choose file.
Upload the articles CSV first and, when it finishes, press Import another file and upload the highlights one. In that order the highlights attach to articles that are already in your library.
(Doing it the other way round loses nothing either: the highlights CSV carries each item’s URL, so the article gets created regardless.)
What comes across
| From the Instapaper export | In Tagsora |
|---|---|
| URL | Yes |
| Title | Yes |
| Date you saved it | Yes |
| Highlights | Yes, grouped by article |
| Notes on a highlight | Yes |
Folder (Unread, Archive…) |
No |
| Article content | Fetched again from the original |
Folders are ignored on purpose: Unread and Archive are not content tags,
and importing them as such would pollute your library from day one.
How highlights get re-anchored
An imported highlight carries no positions, only the quoted text. Tagsora re-anchors it onto the article the first time you open it, by finding that quote in the text.
It almost always works. When the original article has changed since you highlighted it, the quote may not be found: the highlight stays in your library and stays searchable, it simply is not painted onto the text.
What happens after importing
Links arrive instantly, unprocessed. Each one is processed the first time you open it: that is when the text and the automatic tags are extracted.
Importing uses no AI quota, however big the file. On the free plan up to 100 new links are processed per day; the rest wait for tomorrow without getting lost.
Common problems
“No links found in the file.” Check that the CSV has a column named url
and that it is not still inside a .zip.
The highlights do not show up. Open them from the article: they are anchored when you first open it, not at import time.
Did this help?
If something is missing or does not match what you see in the app, write to us at hola@tagsora.com and we will look into it.