HT202075: Use iBooks with PDF documents on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

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Anderson328

Q: How do you sync PDFs in iBooks across devices (iOS 9.2)

I found an older set of instructions for iBooks on the Apple support web site that reads:  "If you turned on Sync Collections, iBooks will keep your PDFs (and non–iBooks Store books) in the same collections across all your iOS devices and Mac (if you're using OS X Mavericks or later)."  This has actually never worked for me.  Has it worked for others, and if so, how did it appear in iBooks on your second device?  The reason I ask is that I just got a new iPad Pro and would like to get all of my PDFs from my old iPad, but I don't want to reinstall from my old iPad backup.  Any and all insights welcome.

iPad, iOS 9.2.1, IPad Pro, iPad 3

Posted on Mar 11, 2016 8:28 PM

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Q: How do you sync PDFs in iBooks across devices (iOS 9.2)

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  • by Jay-Ray,Helpful

    Jay-Ray Jay-Ray Mar 11, 2016 8:55 PM in response to Anderson328
    Level 4 (2,692 points)
    iPhone
    Mar 11, 2016 8:55 PM in response to Anderson328

    So this is kinda misleading in the way its written.  The collection list (the actual index file) is synced, but not the actual PDFs (and non-iBooks Store books).  The best solution is to ensure all of your PDFs are loaded on your computer an viable in iTunes for syncing.  Use iTunes to sync the actual PDFs to each device.  The collections list will sync via iCloud and put the PDFs in their proper collections once they are on each device.

  • by Anderson328,

    Anderson328 Anderson328 Mar 11, 2016 8:38 PM in response to Jay-Ray
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 11, 2016 8:38 PM in response to Jay-Ray

    Yeah, that has been my experience, too--i.e., the names of the collections appear on all my devices but not the actual PDFs.  And, sigh, I was afraid that I'd be relegated to syncing via iTunes.  But what do you mean "will sync via iCloud and put the PDFs in their proper collections."  I think I must be a Luddite here; I just don't understand how syncing via iTunes will enable me to sync via iCloud.  Right now, I back up wirelessly to iCloud but don't sync wirelessly.  If my PDFs are already on my desktop in iTunes if I turn on wireless sync with iCloud, will it then sync via iCloud?  Sorry to be so thick headed here, and thanks for the guidance!

  • by Jay-Ray,Solvedanswer

    Jay-Ray Jay-Ray Mar 11, 2016 8:56 PM in response to Anderson328
    Level 4 (2,692 points)
    iPhone
    Mar 11, 2016 8:56 PM in response to Anderson328

    On your iOS devices, in Settings > iBooks, if you have "Sync Collections" turned on, this will keep an updated index (or small text file) on iCloud for all of your devices to received.  This is not the PDFs or books themselves, only a file that says "this book goes here in this collection, this one goes there in that collection, etc."  You will still be able to sync the actual books and PDFs via iTunes with this "Sync Collections" option turned on.  Likewise, if you went online to wherever you got the PDFs or books form and downloaded them directly to your iOS devices with the same exact name, the collections list that is syncing will do the same thing.  It's just easier to have the "library" of PDFS (and books) all managed in one place on your computer then sync to each device to ensure they have all the same PDFs (and books).

     

    iCloud: Only used to sync the collection file (little files that says where each book goes, by name)

    iTunes: Used to host the actual books/PDFs themselves and sync them all to multiple devices.

  • by Anderson328,

    Anderson328 Anderson328 Mar 11, 2016 8:55 PM in response to Jay-Ray
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 11, 2016 8:55 PM in response to Jay-Ray

    Wonderful, thanks for clarifying.  I get it now....  Really appreciate the help.

  • by Jay-Ray,

    Jay-Ray Jay-Ray Mar 11, 2016 9:00 PM in response to Anderson328
    Level 4 (2,692 points)
    iPhone
    Mar 11, 2016 9:00 PM in response to Anderson328

    No problem.  Glad I could help at least add clarity