I made a mass edit accidentally and removed all storage box values from my entire collection. I exported to xml before syncing changes, and was going to create a new xml file with the old values for books that were there before the sync…
but I don’t see a way to import xml in the comics cloud. How do I do that? It would let me undo my mistake and save me a huge amount of anguish.
Hi @notadragon
So a couple of things:
I’ve checked your current collection in CLZ Cloud, and none of the books are linked to our Core online comic database. That means a lot of data is missing. How did that data get in there? Or is that a result of the “mass edit” you made?
Importing an XML if exported from your CLOUD, is done by finding the “Import Data”, and then click the “Import your Comic Connect collection” - that is something you can try.
Important: Please note that you should clear your database on CLZ Cloud before doing that. You do this via the Menu top left, then Clear Database
To import the data on phone later (if you’re happy with the import), you do this on mobile device in CLZ Comics app:
We could also restore a backup of your collection in your CLZ Cloud for you. But to do that I need the exact date when everything was still correct. Let me know if you wish to go that route.
That’s a result of me attempting to re-import from a csv file that was generated from xml before the mass edit messed things up. The collection you were looking at had already been cleared and re-imported a few times as I tried ot figure out how to get the data I had locally in xml back into the system cleanly.
This is the information I needed – it was not at all obvious that “comic connect collection” meant “xml file the cloud interface generated”.
We could also restore a backup of your collection in your CLZ Cloud for you. But to do that I need the exact date when everything was still correct. Let me know if you wish to go that route.
No need. I have imported the xml files successfully and lost no progress, which is great.
This is also a great mechanism to do automated cleanups - export xml, edit the xml, re-import it.
My only suggestion is to make it clear that this is the case. I definitely found documentation that suggested there are backup and restore menu entries that don’t seem to be there any more, and having it clear that export xml/import from comic connector are inverse operations would have made me not need to contact you in the first place.
My apologies that the it was not clear that the “Comic Connect collection” was the one you needed to import the XML back in. I agree that can be confusing if you’re looking to export XMLs and import XMLs.
That said, XML export is not meant to modify comics in bulk.
I understand you’re good enough with XML to make big cleanups etc. which of course is possible, but not recommended as it is prone to error or problems. For instance your “own covers” (if you set any of those) will all be lost if you do it like that.
For cleanups/bulk editing, I recommend looking at the “Edit Multiple” feature on your CLZ Comics app. That is the recommended way.
For backup of your CLZ Comics app I recommend just syncing with CLZ Cloud, and leave it at that.
The XML export is something we call a “Comic Connect collection” - sometimes used to transfer someones collection to another account - but not really something we ever tell users to do to go modify their collection. That’s why the import is also called that.
The documentation you found is actually for Comic Connect. The paid web-app version. In there, click on Maintenance > Backup/Restore.
In any case, I think you’re all good to go again now!