Import IMDB Movie Lists

Starting with Movienizer 8.1, you can download existing movie lists from popular services like IMDb and Kinopoisk. This feature can be used to synchronize your database with your IMDb account, add new or missing movies, create your local database by downloading your IMDb list, get your WatchList, etc.

On IMDb, there are two basic lists: your ratings (all movies that you rated on IMDb) and your WatchList. Additionally, you can create other lists (for example, "My favorites" etc.).

To import a movie list from IMDb, select "Tools" - "Importing movies from movie sites" - "imdb":

This will open a small window:

From the "Import type" dropdown list, select the list type you want to download. Basically, there are 3 entries:

"Your ratings" refers to the list of movies that you rated on the IMDb site. "WatchList" has the same meaning as on the site.

Additionally, you can download any custom list by its ID (the "List by ID" option).

User ID is your unique user code. You can see it in your browser's address field when browsing your profile:

So, a typical user ID looks like "ur12345678", where 12345678 is your unique code. Copy it to the clipboard (without the "ur" prefix), then insert into the "User ID" field.

If you select the "List by ID" option from the "Import type" menu, you will need to insert a list ID instead of your User ID. This works in the same way: simply open the corresponding list on the IMDb site and copy the list ID:

There are two further options in the small window:

• Download full information about movies. When enabled, this option will download full movie details according to your settings. Otherwise, only basic details will be downloaded (much faster).
• Skip movies that are already available in the database. When enabled, this option will allow you to save time by skipping all movies that you already have in your local database. Otherwise the program will also update existing movies.

After selecting a movie list type and entering your user ID or a list ID, click the "Download list" button.

You may get the following message:

This message may mean one of the following:

• The user ID / list ID you entered is incorrect.
• The user ID is correct, but your lists are not public (private).

The first problem can be fixed by verifying the ID or by copying and pasting it from your browser once again.

If your IMDb movie lists are private, you can make them public either temporarily (just for the purpose of synchronizing with your Movienizer database), or permanently. Log in to IMDb in your favorite browser, switch to your profile and find the following Checklist (usually on the right):

Click the "Make your ratings public" link. The Checklist will be updated:

Now you can download your lists into Movienizer.

After importing your movie list Movienizer will display a summary message:

In our example, some movies were not imported, because they already existed in our database, and the corresponding option in the import window was enabled.

This feature can be used to import any public lists, including lists created by other IMDb users.