Hardcover Import

Hardcover Import

Import your Hardcover book library into a collection by public username. Hardcover is an online book catalog, and it also shows up as a source in the Books search tab.

What gets imported

Hardcover field	Tonkatsu Box
Book	Book item linked to its Hardcover entry
Reading status	Item status (see status mapping)
Rating (0 to 5)	User rating, normalised to the app's 1-10 scale
Date added	The date you added the book, kept as the item's add date
Owned flag	Book gets the Owned tag
Your review	Added to the item note
Private notes	Added to the item note (only your own library has these)

A link back to the Hardcover page is added to every imported item's note.

Status mapping

Hardcover status	Tonkatsu Box status
Want to read	Planned
Currently reading	In Progress
Read	Completed
Paused	Dropped
Did not finish	Dropped

Books you marked as ignored on Hardcover are skipped.

Requirements

• Hardcover access key - the app needs it to read the library. Set it up
• Internet connection - the app reads the library over the network.
• For your own account the app reads everything; for another user it reads the public part of their library.

How to import

1. Open Settings → Import → Hardcover
2. Enter a Hardcover username (the app remembers it for next time)
3. Pick a mode:
   • Add new only - skip books already in the target collection
   • Overwrite existing - update status, rating, dates and notes from Hardcover
4. Choose target collection:
   • Create new collection - names the collection Hardcover Import - <username> by default
   • Use existing collection - pick one from the dropdown
5. Tap Start Import

If the access key is missing, a note near the top tells you so and the button stays disabled until you add the key.

Import progress

While importing you'll see:

• Current stage: Fetching books → Importing entries
• Progress bar with current / total
• Name of the book being processed
• Live counters: imported, updated

Editions

A book on Hardcover often has many editions with different covers, titles, publishers and page counts. You can pick the exact edition you own so the details match your shelf.

• When you add a book from search, or use Refresh from source on a book, an edition picker opens.
• Editions are grouped by language, so you can narrow down to your reading language.
• Picking an edition switches the book's title, cover, publisher, year and page count to that edition.
• Refresh from source opens the picker; if you close it without choosing, the current edition stays as it is.

Useful when you own a translated or a special edition and want its own cover and page count, not the default one Hardcover shows first.

Duplicate handling

Re-importing into the same collection in Overwrite mode updates existing books rather than duplicating them:

• Status - merged by the standard rules (never downgrades Completed or Dropped)
• Rating - the Hardcover rating wins when set
• Dates - earliest Started, latest Completed
• Note - rebuilt from fresh Hardcover data (link, re-read count, review, private notes)

In Add new only mode existing books are skipped.

Tips

• The username is stored locally and pre-filled next time. It's only used to read that user's Hardcover library.
• Re-import in Overwrite mode to refresh ratings and dates after you've read more.
• Hardcover is also a search source: open Search → Books to look up and add single titles without a full import.

Re-import after a reading session to bring over new ratings and dates, or use the Books search when you just want to add one book.