Thank you, @WillowMeDown! That sounds like a good workaround, but this paid platform is supposed to have a functioning feature to add vocabulary, so… why not use it? 
I listen to podcasts, read an article in a printed newspaper, etc… so I pick terms or expressions here and there, and I would like to add them on the fly to my lingq database to have all my language learning centralized. Hopefully the “Import Terms” text box can do just that. 
You can add vocabulary. Just make a plain list of vocabulary only, one word on each line, maybe a blank line between them, and just add the words all at once using the add vocabulary function. You can change the status (1-5) and add the definitions yourself later if needed. Similarly if you just have one sentence you want added to your repertoire (including the new vocabulary) there’s nothing preventing uploading a super-short “lesson” and auto-lingQ’ing it, or editing an existing “lesson” to add one additional sentence.
Thanks! Yes, I’ve done that, but my expectation was (and still is) to be able to add the word along with its definition, source sentence, etc. in one go right from that text box (in the same way the CSV method works), by separing the different fields (term, source sentence, definition, etc.) with a given character. The idea is to feed the database with the minimum hassle (no imports, no going back to the lingq later to add necessary information, etc.) whenever I happen to pick a word I don’t know outside Lingq.
Yes, that would be nice. When I purchased LingQ I didn’t even know about the add vocabulary function; the fact that it was possible at all was a nice added perk over and above what I paid for. But I guess if someone were clearly promised this functionality in writing by the company prior to purchase, then they would be a bit disappointed if it didn’t work as promised.
I didn’t see any specific claim as to how the Import Terms box works before signing up, to be honest. I just expected it to allow the user to add terms with all the information needed. From my point of view, it makes sense, but maybe I’m the only one with that expectation! :). Anyway, that’s why I would like to know if there is a post explaining how that feature (the text box, not the CSV file import) works exactly and if it allows to create complete lingqs, including definition, source text, etc.
Edit: Screenshot of the text box malaga.1979 mentions:
I don’t think I saw anything related to this in the Knowledge Base for LingQ. This would be a great recommendation for LingQ to add a guide/how-to under the Importing section of the knowledge base!
I hope LingQ expands their Knowledge Base a bit more/more regularly so users can learn more about LingQ’s features earlier on in their language learning journey’s.
Edit: I did find this post below, but this just shows the .csv stuff like malaga.1979 mentioned:
See this example of a CSV/terms import.
You need to make a google sheet and then download as CSV
Thanks. Yes, I learned the CSV method from the post jpp025 mentioned. However, I can find no instructions on how to create comprehensive lingqs (definition, source sentences, etc.) with the Import Terms text box, without importing anything, but just typing the relevant information in that box instead.
I have tried over and over again, but importing vocabulary lists by uploading a .csv file just does not work. (see also what malaga.1979 writes)
Now I just create a word document with the words I want to add (this way, I can write also the special characters typical for certain languages) and then copy all of those in the box ‘import terms’ under ‘vocabulary import’. That will take a few seconds before LingQ has added them. Then I go over my list of words in the Word document, search them in my vocabulary list (in LingQ) and add for every word the translation in my language as well as grammar tags. It takes quite some time to go over my whole list of words, but for me it’s worth the time.
Of course, it would be better, much easier and less time consuming if it would be possible to import directly from Word, Excel, .txt or .csv INCLUDING the translations and grammar tags from there, but that just does not work.
Thanks for this example. I have tried similar with an Excel which I then save as .csv but it never seemed to work. When I open the .csv file with text editor (from Microsoft) then I see that the separator used in my .csv file is not comma ( , ) but semicolon ( ; ) and I don’t know why that is.
I have also already replaced those semicolons by commas and imported that modified .csv file into LingQ, but it does not help either.
In your Google sheet, I see that you have added a semicolon ( ; ) after the words in the column ‘meaning1’. Is there a reason for this semicolon?
The Tag1 column may not be supported by the LingQ importer. I never got it to work anyway. I added them for my own CSV import mechanism which mimiced the LingQ one.
When CSV importing you need to replace all commas (,) otherwise the import will fail. I usually just mass replace them with ;
Maybe just import to google sheets and download as CSV and see if the problem is fixed.
That’s quick! Thanks.
But honestly, I do not understand what you write:
What about the semicolon you use in column ‘Meaning1’: is that semicolon important?
On the LingQ import page it mentions they support tag1, tag2… etc but I never got it to work. In my extension I use a different mechanism which mimics the LingQ importer and I made sure tag1/2 worked.
From google sheets You just set the columns up as specified on the LingQ import page. Then press download to CSV. Before you download just remove any commas in any of the columns as these will throw out the CSV order.
I’ve found that when I just import the list into a lesson and auto-lingq, many of the definitions and other hard work have already been created by other diligent people who have gone before me, so it really isn’t any harder to create the lingq’s within a lesson than all the work you guys are describing
I’ve been using Lingq for about a week now, so I’m still a new user and learning all these features myself. Initially, I was tagging each word as I came across them, but it became too tedious. After a couple of days of that, I reset the whole language to start over. I then imported about 20,000 Japanese words using the .csv file method with multiple appropriate tags for each word. What I found is if you reimport the same word, it will amend the additional tags. I’m using tags to indicate the JLPT level, whether the word is Katakana, and which textbook (Genki, Quartet, Tobira) along with the chapter number the vocabulary word appears in. Apparently, the tag names allow for spaces. I almost gave up on the .csv file method, until I realized I had meanings with commas in them. After I got rid of the commas, it was a quick and simple process. So yes, the .csv file method does work and is flexible enough for you to set up your vocabulary, meanings, and tags however you want to set it up. I used Google Sheets to create the .csv files. I sourced the various terms and meanings from shared Anki decks that I extracted into Google Sheets.
Maybe someday I’ll take the time to learn about .csv files. … Glad to hear it worked out for you. Personally I’ve got my hands full with the three languages I’m trying to learn, no bandwidth to learn stuff on the tech side.
I had importing issues for ages that totally screwed up my vocab list as the app showed anything with an accent as a ‘?’. I manually deleted the entries, then used Numbers on a mac to save the CSV, which supports special characters - Excel does not, which was the problem. Also make sure you remove any empty columns before you save it. Then you should be able to upload your special characters. Make sure you put a tag against your vocab in the file so if it goes wrong you can easily filter it and try again.
Thank you for this valuable exchange everyone. LingQ support has been absolutely abysmal on this topic - apparently my issue has been filed to look at by the technical team, which is useless because this thread helped me get the Import Vocabulary function to work.
Here’s some things I learned:
I had tons of commas in my list, so I replaced all those using Find + Replace.
The upload won’t be successful if you leave the “Term” column blank. My sheet only had a phrase and the english meaning. When “Term” was blank it wouldn’t upload, so I copied all my “Phrase” column data into the “Term” column. This is the point where I finally got everything to work, so I’m happy enough here. I don’t know if that will create some kind of issue down the line though.
I want to highlight the importance of the ‘tag1’ column as I didn’t use it for my initial upload. Make sure you come up with a unique tag so that when you want to review your vocab, you can search the tag to only review that specific list if you want.
If you are using a Google Sheet from some kind of online course, keep an eye on whether there are multiple sheets/tabs in the file - there’s a possibility that may cause an issue as well, but I can’t confirm.
It’s clear that the Import Vocabulary function is not a high priority for Lingq and also that the support staff don’t have the proper training to even give some basic guidance on how to use it. I suggested they make a video that does a walkthrough, but I’m not holding my breath on that.
Oh well, I got it working and that’s about all the energy I can put into this.
Thanks to everyone here for helping to solve this.
Can you show me some rows of your vocabulary? I would like to understand how the vocabolary import works. Thank you!
I just have tried your Finnish google sheet downloaded by me as .csv file, but the vocabulary’s uploading doesnt work. What mistake I do?
