Instructions For Saving Netflix Rental Histories

Netflix no longer provides detailed rental histories due to the recent class action lawsuit involving delivery times. If you wish to save your rental data you'll have to obtain what's available from the Netflix web site. Netflix will only keep this data for 90 days then it will be deleted. Deleted information includes important shipping dates as well as problematic broken rentals. At the very least, print out your history from the Netflix web site to save for your records. Here are instructions for recreating your rental history. You'll need MS Excel (free trial) to save your history.

Copy-and-paste your history to MS Excel:
1. At the Netflix web site click "Your Account" then under "Rental Activities" click " ".
2. Click your mouse while holding down and drag from "Last 30 Days" to the "Show All Returned Rentals" button.
3. Right-click over any of the highlighted text and select copy.
4. Assuming your PC has Excel installed, click the "Start" button and select "Run" type "excel" and click "OK."
5. Click the first cell then right-click and select "Paste Special."
6. Then select "Text" and click "OK."
Sort by ascending. Note: If a warning appears, Select "Expand the selection" click "sort."
Select empty rows and right-click to delete. To delete multiple rows select first empty row then hold the shift key down and select the last empty row then right-click to delete.
Select rows containing "Last 30 Days" and "Last 31-90 Days" and delete them as well.
Select column "A" then from "Data" select "Text to Columns."
Select "Delimited" then click "Next" check "Comma" then click finish.
Select column "B" and sort descending. Note: If a warning appears, Select "Expand the selection" click "sort."
This step is only necessary if titles became split in 2 cells:
1. Select an empty column, type "=CONCATENATE(A1,",",B1)" then hit enter on keyboard.
2. If more than one title was split in 2, click the cell and move the cursor to bottom on this cell until it becomes a "+" sign then click and hold dragging down rows where title has been split in two. You'll know which rows these are because column "B" should only have a year and 2 dates (no titles).
3. Select all the new cells you have created and right-click to copy them. To select multiple cells, click the first cell you want, hold the shift key then click the last cell you want.
4. Select all the cells in column "A" in which the title was split in two then right-click and select "Paste Special." To select multiple cells, click the first cell you want, hold the shift key then click the last cell you want.
5. When the box pops up check "Values" and click "OK."
6. Select the cells in column "B" containing split titles then right-click to delete these cells. Note: Select "Shift cells left" and click "OK" every time a warning appears when deleting cells.
7. Select the cells created in step a and b then right-click and delete these cells.
This step is only necessary if titles became split more than 2 cells:
1. The steps are similar as in step 8 except you will type "=CONCATENATE(A1,",",B1,",",C1)" if the title was split in 3 or "=CONCATENATE(A1,",",B1,",",C1,",",D1)" if the title was split in 4, etcetera.
2. If some titles were split in 2 and others in 3 or 4, you can only drag down to titles split into same numbers. You'll have to repeat step a again using the same column for titles split in different numbers.
3. Select all the new cells you have created and right-click to copy them. To select multiple cells, click the first cell you want, hold the shift key then click the last cell you want.
4. Select all the cells in column "A" in which the title was split in two then right-click and select "Paste Special."
5. When the box pops up check "Values" and click "OK."
6. Select all the cells in column "B," "C," etcetera, containing split titles then right-click and delete these cells except those in column "A."
7. Select the cells created in step a and b then right-click and delete these cells.
Select column "B" and select "Text to Columns."
Select "Fixed width" and click "Next." If there wasn't a line separating the dates and "Report Problem" just add one then click "Next" again.
Select the columns containing "Report" and "Problem" and select "Do not import column (skip)" then click "Finish."
Select an empty column, type "=CONCATENATE(A1," (",B1,")")" then hit enter on keyboard.
Move cursor to bottom on this cell until it becomes a "+" sign then click and hold dragging down all rows with titles.
Select an empty column, type "=trim" plus the name of the cell you used for step 13 (i.e. "=trim(e1)").
Move cursor to bottom on this cell until it becomes a "+" sign then click and hold dragging down all rows with titles.
Right-click and "copy" this column.
Select column "A" then right-click and select "Paste Special."
When the box pops up check "Values" and click "OK."
Delete the new columns created for concatenating and trimming titles.
Delete column "B."

Note: To expand the columns to display the entire title and date (some dates appear as "#####"), place your cursor in between the columns until the cursor changes into a two-sided arrow then double-click. Netflix had made it difficult for subscribers to analyze their rental histories yet the instructions on this page will help you create spreadsheet that look like this. Suggestions and ideas are welcome.

Instructions for Combining 90 Day History With E-Mailed History

You can combine both your 90 day online Netflix history with those Netflix used to mail. This will provide you with complete records of your Netflix rental activity.

Follow the directions above to save your 90 day Netflix history in MS Excel.
Open the e-mail containing your Netflix history and click your mouse and hold down while dragging from first title to the last then right-click and select "copy."
Assuming your PC has Excel installed, click the "Start" button and select "Run" type "excel" and click "OK."
Click the first cell then right-click and select "Paste."
Select column "A" then from "Data" select "Text to Columns."
Select "Fixed width" and click finish.
Select column "B" and sort descending. Note: If a warning appears, select "Expand the selection" click "Sort."
Click the "1" on row 1 then add additional rows by holding the shift key and clicking on the appropriate number. For example, if your 90 day history has 41 titles click the number "1" on row 1 then hold the shift key and click number "41" on row 41.
Click "Insert" and select "Rows."
On the 90 day history created in step 1, select column "B" and sort descending.
Select column "A" and right-click to copy.
Select column "D" and right-click to paste.
Select column "A" and right-click to delete.
Select all the rows with titles as in step 8 then right-click to copy.
Where you left off at step 9, right-click and "paste" your 90 day history into your e-mailed history. Click "OK" if a warning pops up when pasting.
If your 90 day history and e-mailed history overlap, delete identical entries.

Here is my combined e-mailed history and my 90 day online history. Suggestions and ideas are welcome.

Instructions For Analyzing Rental Histories At TallRock.net

I've shown you how to save your Netflix rental history before Netflix deletes important data like shipping times and problematic rentals. Here's instructions for using this data at Tallrock.net to analyze your rental history. After you save your rental history using the instructions above there are a few additional steps to make your history compatible with Tallrock. TallRock wants dates to appear in the following format: mm/dd/yy (i.e. 08/26/04).

Select the columns with shipping and return dates.
Right-click the columns and select "Format Cells."
Under category, select "Date;" under type, select mm/dd/yy format then click "OK."
Select your entire history by clicking the button at the top left then right-click to copy and paste your history into MS Notepad (don't add any extraneous text).
Save this file on your PC using any name you want.
Go to TallRock's Rental stats page using the directions for step 3.