A common question, and the common answer is wrong — including the one we gave here a few days ago. We reopened a real TV Time export, file by file, to state exactly what it holds. Short version: your ratings are in there, your comments are not.
What the export actually contains
A TV Time export is not a small folder of a few tables: the `gdpr-data.zip` archive holds 53 files. Most are of no interest — auth tokens, device identifiers, notification history. A few are:
- `ratings-3-prod-episode_votes.csv` — your episode reactions, with show, season and episode number
- `user_tv_show_data.csv` — one row per show, with favorite and followed
- `lists-prod-lists.csv` — your lists, including favorite movies and favorite shows
- `comments-prod-comments.csv` — despite the name, no text column at all
One important nuance about ratings: TV Time did not rate out of ten, it recorded a reaction per episode. The file keeps which one you picked, as an identifier — but the table that turns that identifier into a label is not included. So we know you reacted, to which episode and when; not yet how to name it properly.
Comments really are gone
The file bearing their name holds only "likes": nine columns, an identifier, a date, and nothing resembling a sentence. The text you wrote is in none of the archive's files. It isn't our importer losing it — it never reaches us.
And that is the real loss in this migration. A reaction can be set again. A comment cannot: it is text written, often, the moment you finished the episode, and it exists nowhere else. If your comments mattered to you, this article does not hold the good news you were hoping for.
What WatchTrail imports today
On import we rebuild shows, watched episodes with their original dates, movies watched and to watch, and followed shows. That is the skeleton of your history, and what brings your stats and calendar back.
Episode reactions and favorites, however, are not imported yet. They are in your file: nothing is lost, our reader simply doesn't go looking for them yet. Keep your ZIP — imports are re-runnable without creating duplicates, so the day we read them, a second pass will do.
How to check for yourself
Open your `gdpr-data.zip` and look at the file sizes. The ones weighing a few bytes are empty for you; the ones weighing a few kilobytes hold something. It is the fastest way to know what you actually had over there, without taking our word for it.
FAQ
Will my ratings ever be recoverable? They are in your file, so yes, technically. What remains is turning reaction identifiers into something readable before importing them without making things up.
What if I copied my comments elsewhere? A text file, a screenshot, a notebook: all of it can be re-entered by hand on WatchTrail. It's slow, but nothing stands in the way.
Does WatchTrail export my data? Yes, in JSON and CSV, ratings and reviews included. That's the question to ask before settling anywhere.