How to Import a Compendium in Foundry VTT

Foundry Virtual Tabletop has become one of the most powerful platforms for running tabletop RPGs online, and its Compendium system is a big reason why. Compendiums let you store, organize, and share large collections of game content — monsters, spells, items, journal entries, scenes, and more — without cluttering your active world. Knowing how to import from a compendium efficiently can dramatically change how you prepare and run your games.

What Is a Compendium in Foundry VTT?

A compendium in Foundry is essentially a compressed archive of game content. Think of it as a library shelf sitting outside your active world. Items stored in a compendium don't load into memory until you specifically call on them, which keeps your world running smoothly even when you have thousands of entries available.

Compendiums can come from several sources:

• System compendiums — bundled automatically with your game system (e.g., D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e)
• Module compendiums — added when you install a content module or ruleset module
• World compendiums — ones you create yourself within a specific world
• Imported compendium packs — .db or .json files shared by the community or publishers

Understanding which type you're working with matters, because the import method differs slightly depending on the source.

How to Import Content From a Compendium Into Your World

The most common task is dragging content out of a compendium and into your active world so you can actually use it at the table.

Step 1 — Open the Compendium Tab

In the right-hand sidebar, click the Compendium Packs icon (it looks like a book). This shows all available compendium packs installed in your current world and its active modules.

Step 2 — Browse and Locate Your Content

Click any compendium pack to open it. You'll see a list of entries — actors, items, journal pages, or whatever type that pack contains. Use the search bar at the top to filter by name if the pack is large.

Step 3 — Import Individual Entries

To bring a single entry into your world:

• Right-click the entry and select Import Entry
• Or drag the entry directly from the compendium into the relevant sidebar tab (e.g., drag a monster into the Actors tab)

The entry now lives in your world's directory and is fully editable.

Step 4 — Import an Entire Compendium Pack 🗂️

If you want to pull everything from a pack at once:

1. Open the compendium pack
2. Click the gear icon or the settings button at the top of the pack window
3. Select Import All Content
4. Confirm the prompt — Foundry will import every entry into the appropriate world directory

Be cautious here. Importing thousands of entries at once can create significant clutter and impact performance, especially in worlds that are already content-heavy.

How to Import an External Compendium Pack File

Sometimes you'll download a compendium pack directly — often as a .db file or as part of a module folder — from a community creator or a publisher's asset bundle.

Installing via a Module

The cleanest method is packaging the compendium as a Foundry module:

1. Place the module folder in your Data/modules/ directory
2. In Foundry, go to Add-on Modules and click Install Module
3. If you have a manifest URL, paste it in; otherwise install manually via the folder
4. Enable the module in your world under Manage Modules
5. The compendium packs from that module will now appear in your Compendium tab

Manually Adding a .db File

If you have a raw .db file without a module wrapper:

1. Locate your world's folder inside Data/worlds/[your-world-name]/
2. Place the .db file in the packs/ subfolder
3. Edit the world's world.json file to register the pack — you'll need to add an entry under the "packs" array with the correct name, label, path, and type values
4. Restart Foundry and relaunch your world

This method requires comfort with file navigation and basic JSON editing. An error in the world.json file can prevent your world from loading, so keeping a backup before editing is strongly advised.

Key Variables That Affect Your Import Experience

Not every import goes the same way. Several factors shape what you'll encounter:

Common Import Issues

🔧 Pack not appearing after install — Check that the module is enabled in your world, not just installed in Foundry.

Wrong document type error — This usually means you're dragging content into the wrong sidebar tab. A spell item won't import correctly if dropped onto the Actors panel.

Broken links or missing art — Art paths in community packs are sometimes relative to a specific folder structure. If images don't load, check whether the module's assets folder is in the expected location relative to your Foundry Data directory.

v9 vs v10+ format mismatch — Foundry changed its internal database format between major versions. Packs built for v9 use LevelDB; v10 and later use a different structure. Most reputable modules are updated to reflect this, but older community packs may need manual migration using Foundry's built-in migration tools.

The Variables That Are Specific to Your Setup

The steps above cover the mechanics reliably — but how smoothly this process goes in practice depends heavily on your specific Foundry version, whether you're self-hosting or using a hosted service, which game system you're running, and how the compendium pack itself was built. A pack that installs in two clicks for one user might require JSON editing and folder restructuring for another, simply because of differences in environment and pack format.

That gap between the general process and your actual outcome is the part only your own setup can answer.