# Import from MakerWorld, Printables, Thingiverse, MyMiniFactory, Snapmaker Space, MakerOnline, Creality Cloud, NexPrint, Thangs and Cults3D

Thingport keeps a real copy of every model you import: its files, photos, title, description, tags, author and a link
back to where it came from. If the original page disappears, the model is still in your library.

## Ways to import

- **Paste a link.** Click **Add → Import** and paste a model link from MakerWorld, Printables, Thingiverse,
  MyMiniFactory, Snapmaker Space, MakerOnline, Creality Cloud, NexPrint, Thangs or Cults3D, or any direct link to a model file. Paste several links, one per line, and they're imported one after
  another as a background job. You can also paste a link straight into the search bar.
- **Use Thingport Grab.** The [browser extension](../../extension/README.md) adds a Thingport button to model pages on
  all ten sites (MyMiniFactory, Snapmaker Space, MakerOnline, Creality Cloud, NexPrint, Thangs and Cults3D once you allow them, with a single click in its popup), so you can
  import without leaving the page, file the model into a collection, and import whole collections.
  This is the recommended way to import.
- **Or use the bookmarklet.** Without the extension, drag the [bookmarklet](../guides/bookmarklet.md) to your
  bookmarks bar: clicking it on a model's page opens Thingport with the link already in the import dialog.
- **Import a collection or your likes.** Paste a collection link, or your Thingiverse likes, and pick which models to
  bring in. Your Snapmaker Space likes and bookmarks import from your profile's Interactions tab with Thingport Grab,
  and your Creality Cloud and Thangs likes, and anyone's Cults3D likes, from their page, in Thingport or with Grab. MakerWorld collections are imported with Thingport Grab.
- **MakerOnline goes through Thingport Grab.** MakerOnline hands out its files only to its own pages, so a MakerOnline
  link pasted in Thingport, a MakerOnline collection or your likes imported here, and a synced MakerOnline collection
  all wait for Grab: the next time you open makeronline.com in a browser with Grab, it imports them there.
- **Keep a collection in sync.** A [synced collection](../guides/synced-collections.md) imports models added to it on
  the provider later, on its own.

## What comes with a model

- Every file, and on MakerWorld, Snapmaker Space, MakerOnline, Creality Cloud and NexPrint, its print profiles: the one the link points to, all of the
  designer's, or the community's too. Each profile becomes its own file on the model.
- The photo gallery, the formatted description, tags and the source site's category, which Thingport maps to your own
  [categories](organize-and-search.md).
- The author, with their avatar and profile, linked to an [author page](authors.md).

If a detail couldn't be fetched at the time, such as the author, **Fetch missing details** on the model page tries
again.

## Big imports

Collections and lists of links run as background jobs. A progress bar shows how far along they are, and a notification
says what came in when they finish. A model you already have is never imported twice, so importing the same collection
again only brings in what's new. Failed links can be retried once the cause is fixed, and imports sent to the queue
from Thingport Grab wait in **Administration → Import queue** until they're started.

## Before you start

MakerWorld needs your session cookie, Printables works with no setup, and Thingiverse needs an App Token set by an
admin. The other sites each need a key or your own sign-in, which Thingport Grab mostly hands over for you; MakerOnline's
files come only through Grab. [Providers](../PROVIDER_SETUP.md) compares what each one needs, with a setup page per
site. Admins can also [turn a provider off](../PROVIDER_SETUP.md#turning-a-provider-off) for the whole instance, and
then nothing is imported from it.

Imported models can be categorized and their descriptions cleaned up on the way in with the optional
[AI features](../guides/ai.md).