How to export your comic collection and turn it into a wall

To turn a comic collection into a wall, export it from the app you already use as a spreadsheet file, bring that file into Wall Comics, and place your favorite books on shelves. League of Comic Geeks, CLZ Comics and ComicBase can all export a collection, and any spreadsheet with a series column and an issue column works too. The export takes a few minutes, and nothing you have logged needs typing again.

Why start from an export

A collection app is good at the list: every issue, every variant, how many copies. A wall is good at the picture: the books you are proudest of, covers out, in an order that means something. Starting from an export keeps the list where it already lives and saves you from logging the same books twice.

Bring in the whole collection, even though only a few books will go up. The founder's wall shows 44 books out of 558, and the rest stay one drag away when it is time to swap a shelf.

Export from League of Comic Geeks

League of Comic Geeks exports from its website.

1. Sign in on the website and go to your profile page or your My Comics area.
2. Under Comics, open Bulk Import/Export.
3. Click Export My Comics at the bottom of the page. You get an Excel file.

The file holds your wish list and read list as well as your collection. You do not need to clean it up first: Wall Comics reads the In Collection column and leaves out every row that is not marked as in your collection, then tells you how many it left out.

Export from CLZ Comics

The CLZ mobile app does not export a file on its own, so the collection goes through CLZ Cloud first.

1. In the app, open the menu and choose Sync with CLZ Cloud, then sync your changes.
2. In a web browser, sign in to CLZ Cloud, open the menu and choose the export option.
3. Choose the columns. Include at least the series and the issue number; add publisher, year and variant if you can.
4. Generate the file and save it. A CSV or TXT file both work.

The CLZ desktop program can also export your collection to a text file from its export menu.

Export from ComicBase

1. In ComicBase, choose File > Export.
2. Select the fields you want, including title and issue number.
3. Tick Include Field Headers, so the file's first row names each column.
4. Set the item separator to TAB, then export and save the file.

ComicBase lists items you do not own with a quantity of 0. Wall Comics leaves those rows out, so only the books you own come in.

CLZ and ComicBase files are the newest formats Wall Comics reads, and the column names come from each app's own documentation. Whatever you import, the review screen shows which columns were detected before anything is added.

Any other spreadsheet

If your list lives in a spreadsheet, or in an app not covered here, any file with a series column and an issue column works. Wall Comics reads Excel files (.xlsx and .xls), CSV, TSV and plain text. Publisher, year, variant and quantity columns come in too when the file has them.

Bring the file into Wall Comics

1. Click Import collection and choose your file.
2. Read the Review before adding screen. It shows the worksheet it used, the columns it detected, how many records it found and any rows it left out.
3. Tick the box confirming the rows are comics you own, then click Import.

A new account starts with a demo collection of illustrated placeholders so the wall is not empty on day one. Clear it with Clear demo once your own books are in.

You can import again whenever your collection grows. A re-import adds new books and updates existing ones, and it never deletes books missing from the file or moves anything you placed on the wall. Covers and values you set by hand stay as they are.

If your export includes cover image links, Wall Comics uses them. For the rest, click Search unchecked comics: Wall Comics puts on the covers it can match with confidence and asks you to review the ones it is not sure of.

Place your books on shelves

Every shelf starts with six slots. Drag a book from your collection onto the wall, or tap a book and then tap a spot. Dragging onto a cover swaps the two books, and dragging onto the line between two covers slots it in between.

Add a shelf for each idea, and give it a title in the Shelf title field. The founder's first-issues shelf is one example: six series launches from 1982 to 1992.

Three of the six on the founder's first-issues shelf.

Then set the room. Choose a light Gallery white wall or a dark Midnight wall, turn on warm LED lighting, and add museum labels under the books that deserve one. Our guide to choosing which comics to put on your wall covers how to give each shelf a reason.

Share the wall

There are two ways to show the wall to someone.

1. Share link (view only). Anyone with the link sees the wall, read-only. Send it to a friend who has never heard of Wall Comics.
2. Make this my public wall. Pick a handle, and your wall joins the directory of collector walls in the beta. Members can browse it, comment once you approve them, and offer one of their books for one of yours.

A trade offer on Wall Comics is a message between two collectors. The trade itself happens between you, and our guide to trading comic books safely walks through it.

Questions collectors ask

Do I need to bring my whole collection?

Bring all of it. The wall shows only the books you place, and the rest of the collection sits beside the wall, ready for the next time you change a shelf.

Will importing again undo my wall?

No. A re-import adds and updates books, and it never deletes books or moves the ones on your wall. Covers and values you set by hand are kept.

What if my app is not on this list?

Export to a spreadsheet if your app allows it, or build one with a series column and an issue column. Any Excel, CSV, TSV or text file with those two columns comes in.

Wall Comics is invite-only during the beta. Request an invite.