Saving and loading feed lists in IE7 using OPML

One question we get asked occasionally is:

How do I back up my feed list?

Well, it turns out that there is a standard way to save a feed list in a single file for backup or other purposes. It's called OPML, and IE7 supports importing and exporting feed lists via OPML.

Here is the step-by-step process for backing up your feed list to an OPML file in IE7:

1. Click on the Add button (the star and plus button next to the Favorites Center button -- Alt-Z is the keyboard shortcut).
2. Click on Import and Export in the menu.
3. In the wizard, select Export Feeds from the list of options and click Next.
4. Select where you'd like the file to be put (by default, it's called feeds.opml, in your Documents folder)
5. Finish up the wizard.

The OPML file generated will contain your entire feedlist, including any folders you may have created. Simply repeat the process (selecting Import Feeds) to restore a feed list.

As I noted above, OPML is the standard way to save a feed list, and it's supported by pretty much every aggregator out there. You can use the steps above to save your feed list to use in another aggregator or to import a feed list created by another aggregator.

Since IE7 uses the RSS platform, you can also use this technique to import or export lists of feeds from and to any application that uses the RSS platform.

Oh, and by the way -- IE7 is coming this month.

Sean

Comments

• Anonymous
  October 08, 2006
  Will you be supporting online OPML files for the import in  addition to using a locally saved file?  It helps when the sub list changes, or when it's a reading list designed to change periodically.

• Anonymous
  October 08, 2006
  Just one more thing - while importing OPML into IE7 the feed nodes have to contain type="rss" attribute and be UTF-8 compatible, else while importing, after feed count, nothing happens.

• Anonymous
  October 08, 2006
  @Amyloo: We don't support online OPML files. It's something we're looking for a future release of IE. @Tamir: Yes, that's correct. We've tested with a bunch of popular aggregator's OPML output and it works as it should (the developer of the one case we found that didn't work has indicated that they're going to fix their OPML output to include the type="rss" attribute, per the OPML spec).

• Anonymous
  October 08, 2006
  The "standard" link in this post points to the v2 draft spec.  I'm just wondering if that was intentional, or if you are using OPML v1.

• Anonymous
  October 09, 2006
  Didn't I recently see this somewhere else? Oh, yeah... http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/1670/ie7_feed_reader_import_opml_file_feeds

• Anonymous
  October 09, 2006
  Just installed IE7 RC1 (upgraded from IE6) and could not import opml files. I tried exporting the opml file from both live.com and RSSBandit but both could not be imported by IE7. The live.com exported opml file has the type="rss" attribute but the RssBandit one did not have that attr. Did not seem to make a difference though... Any other hoops one needs to jump to import opml files in IE?

• Anonymous
  October 09, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  Importing a opml files results in nothing.. I have a opml exported from onfolio on my xp machine with IE7. Trying to import in Vista. when i choose "import from a file" and choose the OPML file.. no results..any idea why?

• Anonymous
  November 02, 2006
  @Vijay: if possible, can you send us your OPML file at teamrss@microsoft.com, so we can take a look?

• Anonymous
  January 23, 2007
  Here is a description of how to fix an OPML file from Onfolio(and I assume RSSBandit). http://designingoutloud.blogspot.com/2007/01/converting-opml-files-with-xslt.html

• Anonymous
  February 01, 2007
  Hi Is it possible to add an default OPML as part of the install (corpote SMS install)

• Anonymous
  March 21, 2007
  We found an issue with IE 7 and the news feeds database on roaming profiles. On roaming profiles the news feeds are stored under directory %userprofile%Local SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftFeeds Cache and this directory is by design not roaming - so every rss feed gets lost if a user log off and log on again. Is there any possibility to change the feeds db location, to an persisten path? Thanks in advance, Andreas

• Anonymous
  January 18, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  January 18, 2008
  Importing a opml files results in nothing.. I have a opml exported from onfolio on my xp machine with IE7. Trying to import in Vista. when i choose "import from a file" and choose the OPML file.. no results..any idea why?

• Anonymous
  January 18, 2008
  Just installed IE7 RC1 (upgraded from IE6) and could not import opml files. I tried exporting the opml file from both live.com and RSSBandit but both could not be imported by IE7. The live.com exported opml file has the type="rss" attribute but the RssBandit one did not have that attr. Did not seem to make a difference though... Any other hoops one needs to jump to import opml files in IE?

• Anonymous
  January 18, 2008
  Just one more thing - while importing OPML into IE7 the feed nodes have to contain type="rss" attribute and be UTF-8 compatible, else while importing, after feed count, nothing happens.

• Anonymous
  January 24, 2008
  @Janis: Thanks for your comment at my blog. The problem is solved allready. I just realised today that for ompl import/export i can use the same for IE and Firefox. I always saved for both browsers seperately.

• Anonymous
  March 20, 2008
  Everything runs great! Peachy piece of soft.        

• Anonymous
  April 15, 2008
  Hi, Very interesting and useful article, I thank

• Anonymous
  April 17, 2008
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• Anonymous
  May 02, 2008
  Very good article, normal language, thank you. It helped me.

• Anonymous
  May 07, 2008
  I hate vista. XP is better... for me ofcourse?!?!?

• Anonymous
  May 31, 2008
  Thanks for very interesting article. I really enjoyed reading all of your articles. Keep up the good work. See You

• Anonymous
  May 31, 2008
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• Anonymous
  June 14, 2008
  Thanks for very interesting article.

• Anonymous
  June 14, 2008
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• Anonymous
  June 25, 2008
  The live.com exported opml file has the type="rss" attribute but the RssBandit one did not have that attr. Did not seem to make a difference though...

• Anonymous
  July 01, 2008
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  July 05, 2008
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• Anonymous
  August 16, 2008
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  August 21, 2008
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• Anonymous
  August 28, 2008
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• Anonymous
  September 13, 2008
  I tried exporting the opml file from both live.com and RSSBandit but both could not be imported by IE7. The live.com exported opml file has the type="rss" attribute but the RssBandit one did not have that attr. Did not seem to make a difference though...

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  August 16, 2009
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  January 07, 2010
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