Google Reader’s end is near, and if you’re still using it, then it’s time to find an alternative and start using it right now. On July 1st, Google Reader will be retiring which means you still have time to export your data from Google Reader.
Those who have only a few subscriptions won’t face any problem, but those who have many subscriptions might want to bulk import the subscription data. However, note that some of the feed readers like Feedly and Digg Reader don’t allow users to import the subscription. In such a case, you can login with your Google Reader account to import your data.
Export/Download Google Reader Data
Even if you’re not thinking to use Google Reader’s downloaded data, it makes sense to download the data and keep it safe. Who knows, you might need it in the future.
Open Google Reader, click on the Settings icon from the top right and then on Reader settings.
Click on Import/Export tab. From the same page, click on “Download your data through Takeout.” Alternatively, you can visit the same page from https://www.google.com/takeout/#custom:reader directly.
Wait for some time and once Takeout shows 100 percent, click on “Create Archive” button.
From the next screen, click on “Download” button to download the ZIP archive of your Google Reader data.
Once downloaded, you can even save the archive to your cloud storage such as Dropbox, or Google’s own Cloud Drive. Don’t worry, the file would be very small and it won’t take much of your free space.
When you open the archive, the subscription data is stored in subscriptions.xml. This is the file which you’ll need to use to import the data to your new RSS reader.
Note that you have only two days to download this data from Google Reader. Hurry, and do it right now before Reader retires.
