Import
Omnivore alternative: your library in Readbird
Omnivore shut down in November 2024. Readbird covers the same ground — save a link, read it later, highlight and keep notes — and imports the export ZIP you downloaded, including highlights and, if you choose, full article texts.
What to use instead of Omnivore
Readbird’s “Later” list is a read-it-later list: you save a link by pasting it or by sharing it to Readbird from another app, and the article opens in a clean reader. Saved articles stay readable without a connection.
Highlights are built in: mark passages while reading, add a note to each, reorder them and review them later — they are kept in Notes, under the Highlights filter. Labels and an archive are there too, and articles can be read aloud or translated.
Readbird runs in any modern browser and installs to your home screen or desktop; there is also an Android app. Servers are in the EU, there are no ads, and every feature is free while Readbird is in beta.
If you still have your Omnivore export
Omnivore’s hosted service is gone, so a new export cannot be made. The archive came from Settings → Export Data as a ZIP with many metadata_*.json files, a highlights folder and a content folder. If that ZIP is still on your disk, Readbird can read it.
How to move the file
- Open Readbird, choose “Add content” and go to the “Move everything to Readbird” block.
- Pick the ZIP as it is. Do not unpack it or merge the metadata files — Readbird joins them itself.
- When Readbird finds the content folder it asks once whether to save full article texts for offline reading. That takes about two minutes per 100 articles; “Links and titles only” skips it.
- Wait for the report: links found, imported and skipped.
What moves over from Omnivore and what does not
| What | Result | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Links, titles and descriptions | Moves over | Every saved link with its title and short description. |
| Author | Moves over | The author name is kept. |
| Labels | Moves over | Omnivore labels come across as tags. |
| Save and publish dates | Moves over | Both the date you saved the article and its publication date. |
| Archived state | Moves over | Articles in Omnivore’s archive arrive as archived. |
| Highlights and their notes | Moves over | Quoted passages from the highlights folder, with the note written under each. If a highlights file cannot be matched to an article, the report counts it. |
| Full article texts | Partly | Only if you choose “Import with full texts” when Readbird asks. Without it, the text is loaded from the original page when you open an article. |
| Folders and reading progress | Does not move | These are not read from the export. |
Limits to know about
- One import takes up to 20,000 new links. Run the same file again and it continues where it stopped; links already imported are skipped.
- Up to 200 highlights are kept per article.
- The “Later” list loads up to 5,000 saved items. Imported highlights go to Notes (the Highlights filter): it also loads up to 5,000 and draws the first 500, then more as you scroll or tap “Show more”.
Import
Questions about moving from Omnivore
Can I still export from Omnivore?
No. Omnivore shut down in November 2024, and its hosted data was deleted. Only an archive you downloaded earlier can be imported.
Do my highlights come across?
Yes, if the ZIP still has its highlights folder. Each quoted passage arrives as a highlight on its article, with the note you wrote under it.
Do I have to unpack the ZIP?
No. Bring the whole ZIP: Readbird reads the many metadata files and joins them, and finds the highlights and content folders itself.
Does importing cost anything?
No. Import is free, and so is leaving: one button in Settings exports everything you have in Readbird.
Switching
Bring your library over
Start with the import window, or simply save your first link.