Importing

Import an existing comic library into Comicarr with metadata matching and duplicate handling.

If you have an existing comic collection on disk, Comicarr can import it -- matching files to ComicVine metadata, organizing them into your library structure, and beginning to track them.

Import Settings

Configure import behavior under the [Import] section:

Setting	Default	Description
`ADD_COMICS`	`False`	Enable the import feature.
`COMIC_DIR`	`None`	Source directory to scan for import.
`IMP_MOVE`	`False`	Move files (instead of leaving originals in place).
`IMP_RENAME`	`False`	Rename files according to your `FILE_FORMAT`.
`IMP_METADATA`	`False`	Read embedded metadata from files to aid matching.
`IMP_SERIESFOLDERS`	`True`	Expect files organized in series subfolders.
`IMP_PATHS`	`False`	Use file paths to infer series information.

Import Process

Set source directory

Point COMIC_DIR at the root of your existing collection. Comicarr expects either a flat directory of files or series-organized subfolders (controlled by IMP_SERIESFOLDERS).

Queue processing

Comicarr scans the source directory and queues each file for processing. Files are handled one at a time to avoid overwhelming the ComicVine API.

Metadata matching

For each file, Comicarr attempts to identify the series and issue by:

Reading embedded ComicInfo.xml or ComicBookInfo metadata (if IMP_METADATA is enabled)
Parsing the filename for series name, issue number, and year
Querying ComicVine to find a matching series and issue

Library placement

Matched files are added to your library. Depending on your settings, they are moved or left in place, renamed, and the corresponding series is added to Comicarr if not already tracked.

File-Level Metadata

When IMP_METADATA is enabled, Comicarr reads embedded tags from CBZ/CBR files before falling back to filename parsing. This significantly improves match accuracy for well-tagged collections.

Supported metadata formats:

ComicInfo.xml (ComicRack format) -- most common in CBZ files
ComicBookInfo (JSON in the archive comment)

If your collection was previously managed by ComicRack, Calibre, or ComicTagger, embedded metadata will likely already be present and import matching will be highly accurate.

Handling Unmatched Files

Files that cannot be matched to a ComicVine entry are skipped and logged. Review unmatched files in the import log and either:

Fix the filename to include the series name and issue number
Tag the file with ComicTagger and re-import
Manually add the series in Comicarr first, then re-run the import

Duplicate Handling

When Comicarr finds a file that matches an issue already in your library, it uses the duplicate settings from the [Duplicates] section:

Setting	Default	Description
`DUPECONSTRAINT`	`filesize`	How to choose between duplicates: `filesize` (keep larger), `filename`, or `none`.
`DDUMP`	`False`	Move duplicate files to a dump folder instead of deleting.
`DUPLICATE_DUMP`	`None`	Directory for dumped duplicates.
`DUPLICATE_DATED_FOLDERS`	`False`	Organize the dump folder by date.

If IMP_MOVE is enabled, original files are removed from the source directory after import. Make sure you have a backup of your collection before importing with move enabled.

Move, Copy, and Rename

The import file operations work independently from the post-processing pipeline:

IMP_MOVE controls whether files are moved or copied during import (not the FILE_OPTS post-processing setting).
IMP_RENAME uses the same FILE_FORMAT template as post-processing.
Files are placed into folders matching your FOLDER_FORMAT.

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