Don’t panic!

You may have heard the recent news that Google has decided to retire Reader on July 1st, 2013. Of course, my initial reaction was to panic. Reader is where I consolidate all of my favorite websites and blogs into one, easy-to-use location. What was I going to do?!

But, after doing the proper research, I realized there are a few solutions to make this transition as quick, and pain-free as possible.

1. Import all of your subscriptions to feedly with their Chrome application

Feedly is an excellent substitute for Google Reader, and we are particularly fond of it because of their Chrome application.

To install feedly, simply click on the link above, then click on the icon to ‘Get feedly for Chrome’.

From there, you will be prompted to connect to Google Reader, which is what we’re all looking for.

You’ll notice that all of your subscriptions are immediately added to feedly, and it takes very little time to complete.

Feedly has also made sure to quell everyone’s concerns about what will happen when Reader is finally retired in July.

According to their blog, “feedly will seamlessly transition to the Normandy back end. So if you are a Google Reader user and using feedly, you are covered: the transition will be seamless.”

There are a number of feedly applications for mobile as well, so you can access your subscriptions on your phone or tablet. You can download them for iOS, Android and Kindle.

 

2. Use Google Takeout to export all of your old articles

What about all of your old articles that you’re so attached to?

Google Takeout makes exporting your data from Google services extremely easy. To export your Google Reader data, simply go to the Google Takeout page, select choose services, then click on the Google Reader icon.

This will bring you to a new page, which will show you size of your export. Select create archive.

There you will have the option to download a zip file containing all of your Reader data. This data is portable and in open formats, so it should be easy to transfer to a number of similar services.

 

 

See! The retirement of Google Reader is not the end of the world. Fortunately, there are a number of different ways to make this transition as easy as possible. Reader had a great run, but if it’s time to move on, I hope these tips will make your life a little bit easier, just like Google Reader.

 

 3. BONUS TIP: Keep Google Reader forever with Feedly Reader

The main issue we’ve heard with Feedly has nothing to do with the product itself. Most users are just upset that Feedly is not Google Reader. We’ve found a great Chrome Extension that aims to make the transition process even easier.

The Feedly Reader Chrome Extension takes your Feedly RSS-reader, and turns it into a Google Reader clone. While this Chrome Extension won’t add any additional functionality, it does create an interface that should be much more familiar for Google Reader fans.