Google Reader replacement? Thunderbird!

On 1st July will Google retire Google Reader. Bad news, but I don’t think we can do anything against it. It’s time to move to … well where? Are there any good alternatives? For me, yes … it’s Thunderbird, my email client. It’s very easy and will take just a few minutes. Here is how I did it today:

  1. Login into your Google Reader and go to settings
    replace-google-reader-01

  2. Go to Import/Export
    replace-google-reader-02
    and click on “Download your data through Takeout” link

  3. You’ll get the following screen
    replace-google-reader-03
    after a short time it’ll be ready and you’ll see
    replace-google-reader-04

  4. Click on “Create archive” button and the actual process will start
    replace-google-reader-05

    For my 366 feeds it took less than a minute and you’ll be able to download the file
    replace-google-reader-06

  5. Click on “Download” button, save the file and extract “subscriptions.xml” file
    replace-google-reader-07

  6. Open account setting in Thunderbird
    replace-google-reader-08

  7. Select “Add Other Account” in “Account Actions”
    replace-google-reader-09

  8. Select “Blogs & News Feeds”
    replace-google-reader-10

  9. If you want, you can change the name
    replace-google-reader-11

  10. And then just click on “Finish” button
    replace-google-reader-12

  11. Now select “Blogs & News Feed” (or the name you put there) and click on “Manage Subscriptions…” button
    replace-google-reader-13

  12. Click on “Import” button
    replace-google-reader-14

  13. Change type of files in the lower right corner to XML files
    replace-google-reader-15

  14. Find the folder where you saved the extracted file “subscriptions.xml” and select it
    replace-google-reader-16

  15. Wait a few seconds and you’ll see something like
    replace-google-reader-17

That’s it! You have successfully transferred all your subscriptions from Google Reader into Thunderbird. Congratulations!

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