Cannot import from previous export

[steveman1123]

Steps to reproduce:

1. Under subscriptions tab, select subscritions item.
2. Select "import from" "previous export"
3. select the exported json file
4. subscritions are populated

Expected behavior:
Subscriptions are populated from the json export

Actual behavior:
No files are able to be selected in the file browser, all files are greyed out.

Additional steps taken:
Storage permission is allowed, import also works in newpipe legacy v0.20.8

Android version:
8.0.0

Newpipe version:
0.21.15/0.21.16

[steveman1123]

No template was generated when writing this issue (could be due to using mobile site), apologies for any inconvience. Please comment for any additional info as this is my first issue with newpipe

[triallax]

No template was generated when writing this issue (could be due to using mobile site), apologies for any inconvience.

No worries, this is already better than a lot of issues out there.

I can't reproduce this. What file manager are you using? Can you try https://f-droid.org/packages/me.zhanghai.android.files and see if it works?

(Added template-ignored by mistake, ignore that)

[steveman1123]

I don't seem to have a choice, it just automatically opens the default android file browser (it looks like the legacy one opens its own browser)

[triallax]

I don't seem to have a choice, it just automatically opens the default android file browser

Did you try installing it yet or not?

it looks like the legacy one opens its own browser

The current NewPipe still has that one, but it's used only when SAF is off. I think on Android 8 we enabled it by default at some point. I think you can disable SAF by toggling "Settings > Download > Use system folder picker (SAF)" off, but I'm not sure since I'm using Android 11, where SAF is mandatory.

[steveman1123]

That did it! Updated perfectly after disabling SAF

[steveman1123]

Issue is resolved after disabling SAF

[triallax]

That's a workaround, not a fix, so I'll re-open this.

[mrflamist]

Not sure if it's related to the issue here, but I didn't want to create a new issue just in case. Importing a zip from the subscriptions tab doesn't work with neither of my file managers.

In Settings -> Content, I can only select the exported zip with the Google file manager as selecting it with Material Files will result in "No valid ZIP file" error and even then, it will only reload the app without changing anything.

Android version: 10
NewPipe version: 0.21.16

[triallax]

Importing a zip from the subscriptions tab doesn't work with neither of my file managers.

That's working as intended, as the subscription file format is JSON, not ZIP.

In Settings -> Content, I can only select the exported zip with the Google file manager as selecting it with Material Files will result in "No valid ZIP file" error and even then, it will only reload the app without changing anything.

Maybe the ZIP file was corrupted? What version of NewPipe did you export the ZIP from? Or was it exported from a debug version of a PR or something?

[mrflamist]

That's working as intended, as the subscription file format is JSON, not ZIP.

Aha, apologies. My bad.

Maybe the ZIP file was corrupted? What version of NewPipe did you export the ZIP from? Or was it exported from a debug version of a PR or something?

I exported it on 0.21.15 from F-Droid. I may have just done something wrong.

[triallax]

I exported it on 0.21.15 from F-Droid. I may have just done something wrong.

It doesn't sound like it, but I'm not sure. Can you record your screen while you're trying to import the database but then NewPipe restarts without doing anything?

[mrflamist]

It doesn't sound like it, but I'm not sure. Can you record your screen while you're trying to import the database but then NewPipe restarts without doing anything?

I'm afraid I cannot, because I just tried it one more time and it imported the database without a problem. Unfortunately, I have no idea what I did to make it work

Edit: All I remember doing was restarting my phone, it could have been some Xiaomi bogus... Sorry for not being very helpful.

[triallax]

No problem, at least the issue is solved.

[NewNewPipe]

The application could add its version number to the export file which would make it easier to identify the source of the problem (between different versions).

[codingForCats]

I have this problem. I can import a json file that I export from newpipe, but it greys out any json file I've emailed from freetube

[osopolar]

tl:dr It seems that you need to download the zip archive to your local storage, i.e. Download folder.

---

I migrated my old phone to a new using androids built-in transfer tool. It did not transfer new pipe data (subscriptions, playlists etc.). So I exported the data on the old phone, stored it on google drive, as it was the easiest way to get it to the new phone, and tried to import it from there – directly from the Google Drive folder. I got the "No valid ZIP file" error.

After I downloaded the zip archive from my google drive folder to the download folder (local storage) and imported it from there, it worked.

So if it is the case that NewPipe isn't allowed to access Google Drive there should be a more helpful error message.

[DavidPesticcio]

I also cannot import previously exported subscriptions from the same directory as the export or any other - with the same issue as OP. Restarting device has no effect. 😞

• NewPipe Version: 0.25.2
• Tablet Device: Amazon Fire 7
• Android OS: Fire OS 5.7.0.0

Works fine for the same version on Pixel 6 Pro running Android 12 - both installed from F-Droid.

[sudoshindo]

What's the status on this?

As of this comment, I'm on the latest version. I still cannot use this import function properly.

If there are no plans to fix this then can you instead just bind these items to the Import/Export Database functions found in Settings > Backup and restore?

[opusforlife2]

Tried this? #7802 (comment)

[sudoshindo]

Tried this? #7802 (comment)

Completely irrelevant. I'm not sharing the exported file with Drive.

[opusforlife2]

It seems that you need to download the zip archive to your local storage, i.e. Download folder.

This part specifically.

[fearedbliss]

Hello, I've also been experiencing this issue for a while, but finally got around to filing a bug report and found this one. Below is an export of my subscriber list, we can see that the issue is that the exporter is inserting extra characters in the middle of two json elements, causing the entire export to fail to be read. I haven't looked at the code but it may be around some sort of iteration logic. The below was exported using the built in NewPipe exporting functionality:

{"app_version":"0.27.2","app_version_int":999,"subscriptions":[{"service_id":0,"url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRtAu8OVYVfuNZmTV-Ug0zA","name":"Buddhism"},{"service_id":0,"url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPIyEJzvW7SsbiIrooixjNA","name":"Doug's Dharma"},{"service_id":0,"url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDiKw3GnFIwyNJBzhCoRI-Q","name":"Framework"},{"service_id":0,"url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRIeMHsEdzA9RroG19kXdYg","name":"Jesse Enkamp"},{"service_id":0,"url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy7jKqbTj9DqgIeaQT0_png","name":"Kevin Lee"},{"service_id":0,"url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5UAwBUum7CPN5buc-_N1Fw","name":"The Linux Experiment"}]},{"service_id":0,"url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy7jKqbTj9DqgIeaQT0_png","name":"Kevin Lee"},{"service_id":0,"url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChJQlg1b_cOttPX3SiIh5gA","name":"Lau Dinha in Hong Kong - Hong Kong in the World"},{"service_id":0,"url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXXd3koJ2dagmhR1csXRTfw","name":"Moo-Moo Clips"},{"service_id":0,"url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXYOXWWqgtSrk27402V_JMw","name":"Sensei Seth"},{"service_id":0,"url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU4WVZqK_vuXb6sAArbs8yQ","name":"Supper Moment"},{"service_id":0,"url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5UAwBUum7CPN5buc-_N1Fw","name":"The Linux Experiment"}]}

And we can see the message that was shown by the DuckDuckGo Json Validator:

Error: Parse error on line 1:
...Linux Experiment"}]},{"service_id":0,"ur
-----------------------^
Expecting 'EOF', got ','

EDIT: Another thing I thought about is that my normal flow for exporting is to "replace" (aka "select the previous existing backup file that was made via Android") via the UI. If the application's behavior in this instance is to "merge two dictionaries", then the bug may be in the merging and export logic.

[Stypox]

@fearedbliss I have no idea what might have happened to the export you made, but it seems likely that the file got corrupted in some way, because the file is valid JSON up until the comma that gives the error, and the rest of the file contains duplicate channels. Can you reproduce consistently, or did this happen to just one file?

[fearedbliss]

It may be possible it happened due to some weird interactions with the workflow I described above. I tried to export/import by creating a new file (rather than overwriting an existing file) and that seemed to work correctly. Feel free to consider what I said before as either invalid or potentially a minor bug that can be deprioritized).

[Stypox]

Thanks, I could reproduce by exporting and overwriting the file, I provided a fix PR in #11745 (although JSONs that are already corrupted would need to be edited manually to remove the trailing content)

[fearedbliss]

Thanks for the fix @Stypox. I'm happy you were able to reproduce and it wasn't just me going crazy haha.

[opusforlife2]

This issue is about a different problem. The linked PR fixed the bug mentioned in this particular comment only: #7802 (comment).