By now, you’ve probably heard the news that Google’s RSS Reader service is shutting down July 1st. You may have already even searched out some alternatives and found a few to try out before the “big day”. If you haven’t here are a few quick options for you:
So now what?Â
After you’ve chosen a new RSS reader, you’ll want to import your Google Reader feeds so you don’t have to add each one back manually. (That would be a pain if you have as many as I do!)
How to Migrate Your Google Reader Feeds:
1. Go to “Google Takeout” and log in with your Google Login
2. Click the orange “Create Archive Button – it will begin to compile all the Reader feeds, folks you follow (and some other info that you will probably not be able to utilize anywhere else) into a nice, tidy xml file for you.
3. Once it’s finished building your list, click on the “Download” button to get  your RSS subscriptions.
4. Unzip the downloaded file on your desktop and open the “Reader” folder and locate the file that says “subscriptions”. It has an “xml” extension.
5. Finally, in your new RSS Feed Reader, look for an “Import” option – it’s usually in the settings panel or in the admin section. Once you have chosen to import, find the “subscriptions.xml” file on your desktop and click to import. Your feeds should automatically import right into the new feed reader.
Keep in mind that most Desktop RSS Readers are still dependent on using Google’s RSS Reader technology, so unless they make some changes in the next few months (and hopefully they will), you are better off to start with a few of the Cloud readers.
Feel free to share in the comments what Reader you are using – we will add it to our list! Also – we’d love it if you’d pin this tutorial on Pinterest using the image below:
Feedly is making it almost too easy–should I be worried? I merely had to allow it to access my Google feeds and poof! they were there. They claim it will be a seamless change once Reader goes away.
Feedly has been expecting this transition since Google shut down development on Feedburner. So it is only natural that they want to make it as *easy* as possible on new users. 🙂 It’s to their benefit to make the transition as smooth as they can!