StoneSoup

Q: How to undo an iBooks conversion and revert back to iTunes

Apple listens if enough people complain.  If you hate the current implementation of iBooks, send Apple feedback here:

 

http://www.apple.com/feedback/ibooks.html

 

 

I'm starting this thread as a central place to collect ways of either:

 

A. Preventing a conversion from iTunes to iBooks

 

B. Reverting back to iTunes after a conversion

 

Here's what I've seen in the community so far:

 

Kevin Edgecomb's solution for reverting back:

 

Re: Not impressed! No edit info, no library management!

 

Andy Epprecht's solution for reverting back, building on Kevin's:

 

Re: Not impressed! No edit info, no library management!

 

Any other solutions for prevention or reversion?

Posted on Oct 26, 2013 8:06 PM

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Q: How to undo an iBooks conversion and revert back to iTunes

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  • by davamb,

    davamb davamb Nov 11, 2013 3:26 PM in response to StoneSoup
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 11, 2013 3:26 PM in response to StoneSoup

    Hey Guys,

     

    I found a solution to iTunes/iBooks syncing almost by mistake after many days trying, searching and tearing my hair out. And it doesn't require any messing with services or any tech knowlwedge at all!

     

    1. Import your book into iBooks - drag and drop, or whatever.

     

    2. Click the "File" Menu item and select "Move Books from iTunes..."

     

    3. Sync your iPhone or iPad and the books will be added to iBooks on your mobile device provided you have them selected for import in iTunes - I have "All Books" selected, so there is nothing extra to do here.

     

    And that's all there is to it. See attached screenshot.

     

    Don't ask me why the menu item says "from iTunes" and not something more accurate. I'm sure they have their reasons...

     

    David

     

     

    2013-11-11_15-23-24.png

  • by Camping Doc,

    Camping Doc Camping Doc Nov 12, 2013 6:22 AM in response to mikebrown
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Nov 12, 2013 6:22 AM in response to mikebrown

    I have to seem uninformed, but what is Calibre? If it is an ibook reader, it is not listed in the Mac App Store. It may be in the app store for iPad, I don't know, but this doesn't solve the problem. Other than using email, how can I move a PDF from my Mac to my iPad - and from my iPad to my Mac? Obviously, as everyone else here is saying, iBooks for Mac is a train wreck that does not work. Period. There is not a single useful thing about it. So I am still looking for a useful way of syncing PDFs between my iPad and my MacBook Pro.

  • by StoneSoup,

    StoneSoup StoneSoup Nov 12, 2013 11:58 AM in response to StoneSoup
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Nov 12, 2013 11:58 AM in response to StoneSoup

    And for the sake of consolidation, here's another approach from user Xyzzy42 in a different thread:

     

     

     

     

     

    I tried your method and some of the others linked to it, to no avail. When I got to the point of adding my books back to iTunes, most of them ended up under the Music tab with all the metadata and other information stripped. Attempting to add epub files one at a time completely failed.

     

    Thought I would share what DID work for me, and I really don't know why it did work:

     

    • Stopped the bookstoreagent process as Kevin/others mentioned. Located that program file at

                   (/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CommerceKit.framework/Versions  /A/Resources/bookstoreagent) and moved it to my Docs folder.

    • Used AppZapper to delete the iBooks app.
    • Deleted all the new iBook Book folders under

                   ~/Library/Containers/com.apple/BKAgentService/Data  /Documents/iBooks/Books.

    • Restored my iTunes Media Library (had a backup before Mavericks install).
    • Upgraded iTunes to 11.1.3.
    • Dragged a copy of my original Books folder back to ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media (where it was originally stored).
    • Launched iTunes and all my books were back.
    • Deleted the bookstoreagent file from Docs folder.

     

    Obviously this won't work for you if you don't have a complete backup of your books from the iTunes Media folder, but it may help you if future Mavericks updates include changes to iTunes that starts the whole set of shenanigans again.

  • by rlaperche,

    rlaperche rlaperche Nov 15, 2013 4:07 PM in response to StoneSoup
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 15, 2013 4:07 PM in response to StoneSoup

    Thanks

     

    Your solution was the only one that I was able to do and it truely helped me

  • by Julian G,

    Julian G Julian G Dec 10, 2013 1:27 PM in response to StoneSoup
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 10, 2013 1:27 PM in response to StoneSoup

    Thank you StoneSoup, Kevin and all others who shared their solutions.

     

    My situation was probably a little bit different, I needed to try several things before it worked out. Like StoneSoup, I needed to remove iBooks entirely (using AppCleaner) before the problem was finally fixed. I don't regret this step in the slightest.

     

    The special thing about my situation is that I was managing my files completely manually before the unfortunate switch to iBooks. I told iTunes not to organize my iTunes Media folder and to not copy files when they were added to the library. However, my procedure might also work for people who let iTunes do the organising. The following steps worked in order to restore the old situation:

     

    • Quit iTunes and iBooks (obviously).
    • Force-quit the "bookstoreagent" process using Activity Monitor (as mentioned before) as well as the closely related com.apple.BKAgentService.
    • Run "launchctl remove com.apple.bookstoreagent" from the Terminal. (This step might not be necessary).
    • Delete or move /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CommerceKit.framework/Versions/A/bookstoreage nt.
    • Delete or move /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/BookKit.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/com. apple.BKAgentService.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.BKAgentService.
    • Restore ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Library.itl from the last backup before the iBooks catastrophe.
    • Restore all book files (wherever you used to store them) from that same backup. (In my case there was a complicated directory structure where only some of the files were abducted by iBooks. I filled in the gaps using rsync.)
    • Restore ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iTunes.plist from that same backup. (This step might not be necessary).
    • Delete or move ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.bookstoreagent.plist. (This step might not be necessary).
    • From ~/Library/Caches, delete the subfolders com.apple.bookstoreagent, com.apple.iBooksX and com.apple.iTunes.
    • Delete or move the folder ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService (as mentioned before).
    • Delete iBooks using AppCleaner (it might also work with TrashMe or similar app-deleting apps, but I didn't try).
    • Restart the computer.

     

    After this iTunes behaved exactly like before the iBooks conversion.

  • by kerryeoneill,

    kerryeoneill kerryeoneill Jan 9, 2014 3:51 PM in response to StoneSoup
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 9, 2014 3:51 PM in response to StoneSoup

    Thank you so much for posting this suggestion.........it worked for me

  • by Mark Armitage,

    Mark Armitage Mark Armitage Sep 24, 2014 3:53 PM in response to StoneSoup
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 24, 2014 3:53 PM in response to StoneSoup

    To my horror iTunes 12 puts it all back.

     

    This seems to work though:

     

    • quit iTunes
    • kill the process com.apple.BKAgentService
    • delete /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/BookKit.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/com. apple.BKAgentService.xpc
    • use appzapper to remove iBooks
    • restart iTunes


    Books should be accessible again in iTunes!


    It's pretty much the same as before. I haven't rebooted yet but all seems to be working again. I downloaded a book on the iPad and transferred my purchases, the book copied over and it's in the same place as all my old books (on my external drive). There is a 'Books' icon in iTunes 12 on the top bar and when selected it shows all my books, the 'Books' playlist that was there (and empty) has vanished. and under Library I have a 'My Books' item with them all in. So basically it is looking good. If you don't delete the file then it will restart when you re-open iTunes. I hope that any updates will not break it again.


    I wish they would let me select the location to store my content (I have 20GB+ and can't fit that on the internal drive), or else give me an option to remove iBooks and let iTunes keep control - which seems to be the better option if you want to use them on iOS devices too. It really is a mess.

  • by jmstacey,

    jmstacey jmstacey Oct 17, 2014 6:47 PM in response to Mark Armitage
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Oct 17, 2014 6:47 PM in response to Mark Armitage

    Mark, brilliant! This worked for me too in iTunes 12 and Yosemite.

     

    I was very concerned that this functionality would have been removed with the iTunes 12 revamp in Yosemite, but I'm glad it's still lurking around for a while longer until the iBooks team gets their act together. Having all my books and PDFs stuffed away into ~/Library and given UUID names really irritates me.

  • by StoneSoup,

    StoneSoup StoneSoup Oct 17, 2014 8:43 PM in response to Mark Armitage
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Oct 17, 2014 8:43 PM in response to Mark Armitage

    I'm so glad Mark did this first -- I hate breaking new ground when carving up a new OS X installation.  Thanks, Mark!

     

    This worked for me in Yosemite with iTunes 12, too. In a burst of optimism, I had converted to iBooks again after I upgraded from Mavericks, so all of my books disappeared from the iTunes folder structure again.  In case you're curious, you can actually modify some metadata in Yosemite's version iBooks:  Title, Author, Genre, and a few others.  However, you can't change book covers or sort fields.  <Sigh>

     

    Here's Mark's process:

     

    • quit iTunes
    • kill the process com.apple.BKAgentService
    • delete /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/BookKit.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/com. apple.BKAgentService.xpc
    • use appzapper to remove iBooks
    • restart iTunes

     

    My own additions to Mark's process (since I converted to iBooks):

     

    • Restore the ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Books folder from Time Machine
    • Deleted all the new iBook Book folders under ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks/Books
    • Reboot


    After I did that, the Books-related options reappeared in iTunes:

     

    Screen Shot 2014-10-17 at 8.26.47 PM.png

     

    Screen Shot 2014-10-17 at 8.27.52 PM.png

     

    Regards,

    Steven

  • by David Winter,

    David Winter David Winter Oct 18, 2014 5:27 AM in response to StoneSoup
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Oct 18, 2014 5:27 AM in response to StoneSoup

    THANK YOU SO MUCH! Really appreciate you posting a simple walk through as well - it worked perfectly and all is now right with the world.

  • by Azmodeman,

    Azmodeman Azmodeman Oct 18, 2014 9:37 AM in response to Mark Armitage
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 18, 2014 9:37 AM in response to Mark Armitage

    Thanks you!!!!!

  • by RolandGosebruch,

    RolandGosebruch RolandGosebruch Oct 19, 2014 4:00 AM in response to StoneSoup
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 19, 2014 4:00 AM in response to StoneSoup

    Many thanks to Mark and Steven.

     

    After being burned by iBooks when I upgraded to Mavericks, this time I never opened ITunes or iBooks before following the described steps to remove this poor excuse of an app.

     

    Now iTunes 12 shows my books and PDFs, just like it shoud be.

  • by wendyfromhouston,

    wendyfromhouston wendyfromhouston Oct 19, 2014 10:40 AM in response to Mark Armitage
    Level 1 (14 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 19, 2014 10:40 AM in response to Mark Armitage

    Thank you so much...  I have spent the last day in tears..  I have over 4,000 books and every time i tried to put them in ibooks, it just stopped adding them..

     

    I am so happy to have them back in iTunes where they belong : )) 

     

    Thank you thank you...

  • by Xyzzy42,

    Xyzzy42 Xyzzy42 Oct 19, 2014 11:17 AM in response to StoneSoup
    Level 1 (50 points)
    Oct 19, 2014 11:17 AM in response to StoneSoup

    Me, again. ☺️

    adding to thread...downgrading iTunes 12 to 11 in Yosemite.

     

    remove itunes 12

  • by RoelVeldhuyzen,

    RoelVeldhuyzen RoelVeldhuyzen Oct 20, 2014 12:25 PM in response to StoneSoup
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 20, 2014 12:25 PM in response to StoneSoup

    /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/BookKit.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/com. apple.BKAgentService.xpc doesn't exist on my system. That might be because I haven't started iBooks to keep my file structure safe.

    AppZapper removed iBooks but iTunes does not want to bring back the books tab here. Any ideas on how to proceed?

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