Adding cover art to PDFs in iTunes

Question

Adding cover art to PDFs in iTunes

Has anyone done this successfully? I'm trying to add cover art to a PDF file I've imported into iTunes (for the iBooks app), and although iTunes allows me to manually select a JPEG file to use as cover art for a specific PDF, the file always reverts to no cover art (or the first page of the PDF file) when I click OK.

Anyone else having this problem?

iPhone 4 / iTunes 9.2, iOS 4

Posted on Jul 2, 2010 7:45 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

kkeith

Level 1

0 points

Jul 6, 2010 12:57 PM in response to carolinacharlie

I am also having the same problem. I have a cover art I want to use, but it never stays (using the same method). I don't want to have to download an expensive PDF editor just for this.

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Answer 2

Jul 13, 2010 7:04 AM in response to carolinacharlie

Has anyone had any experience with using a PDF editor to fix this problem? Any suggestions on specific software would be helpful. Of course what would be really helpful is if the selection of new cover art would sticky in iTunes, but what are you gonna do? 🙂

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Answer 3

Jul 13, 2010 12:15 PM in response to carolinacharlie

Found a solution, Use acrobat to add a page in at the beginning with the cover art. Document -> insert pages -> from file .. Choose Jpeg at file type and find your cover. Make sure you insert it into the beginning and not the end. Done.

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Answer 4

Jul 14, 2010 10:55 AM in response to jessewilkes

That would be more helpful if I had Acrobat... 🙂 Thanks, though!

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Answer 5

Jul 18, 2010 6:42 PM in response to carolinacharlie

You don't need Acrobat to do this, you can just use Preview (assuming you're on a mac). Just open your PDF in preview and drag a picture into the sidebar to make it the first page. Save and you're done.

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Answer 6

Jul 19, 2010 12:56 PM in response to orangejuice128

Yeah, that won't work for me (PC user), but thanks!

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Answer 7

kkeith

Level 1

0 points

Jul 19, 2010 2:34 PM in response to orangejuice128

Thanks, I'm going to try that out soon!

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Answer 8

Jul 19, 2010 5:29 PM in response to carolinacharlie

It's possible that tonight's iTunes/iBooks update may have fixed this problem. I'm updating now and will post when I've checked. *fingers crossed*

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Answer 9

Jul 19, 2010 5:48 PM in response to carolinacharlie

Nope, doesn't look like the recent update fixes the cover art problem with PDFs in iBooks. Sigh.

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Answer 10

cmoran4

Level 1

0 points

Aug 7, 2010 3:26 PM in response to carolinacharlie

I'm in the same boat. I figured out a way to do this, but it wasn't simple. If you've used a torrent client to download things, that's how I downloaded Foxit PDF editor. I used Adobe Photoshop CS3 (which I already had) to convert a .jpeg of the cover art into a .PDF file. Then using the Foxit program I added the cover art as the first page of the .PDF file. Then that's what shows up in iTunes and iBooks as the cover. Once I got the programs, this only takes a minute to do for each book, but I have not found a simpler way unless you have Adobe Acrobat Professional.

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Answer 11

Oct 13, 2010 12:34 AM in response to carolinacharlie

You don't need Acrobat, just Preview. It's several steps and makes sense only for those of us who can't stand the generic or blank covers.

Find the picture you want to use and save it in Preview as a PDF.
Use iCombiner or something like it to add this page to the original PDF.
Re-add the new file to your iPad.

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Answer 12

Sep 19, 2011 10:13 PM in response to orangejuice128

Thanks! Totally worked!

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Answer 13

Allypet

Level 1

8 points

Jan 21, 2012 6:11 PM in response to carolinacharlie

What I do because I have a PC is make a cover in Word and save it as a PDF, I then use a free program like PDFsam to merge it into one PDF with a self made cover. works great!

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Answer 14

Cobalt99

Level 1

0 points

Jul 20, 2013 3:42 PM in response to carolinacharlie

This thread's kinda old, but for anyone still looking for a remedy, here it is. Google search for 'free pdf editor'; you'll find CutePDF. It runs online, no need to download or install anything. Once you're in, select the PDF you want, then click on the Merge PDF button. The Add File button is next, then search for, select and Open. Make sure, at the bottom of that window, you check Add Before Page 1; once it's done merging, the right side display will show your newly-covered PDF. Save the PDF, then in iTunes, delete and re-add the new file. The cover art won't appear in the Artwork field, but the Summary will have it, and the iBooks display on your iPad or e-reader, it should look just fine.

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Answer 15

Jorryme

Level 1

0 points

Sep 8, 2014 8:17 PM in response to Cobalt99

Cobalt99,

You're awesome!

I've been using cutePDF writer for awhile to print to pdf, but did not know about this! It worked perfectly! (The only downfall of the program is that your files go online and that may not be wise, depending on what you're editing.)

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