Catalina Books Error - BKAgentServiceErrorDomain error 8

This is how I solved it:

Close Apple’s Book. 

On “Finder” go to “Go” and from there to “Go to folder”

Type the following:

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

You will go to a folder with two files inside. Delete them or, if you want to be on the safe side, move them to your desktop.

Open Apple’s Books. Now you should be able to open your books and pdf files.

Hope this helps. 

I think you are on to something here. That did work for me. I would modify the process a little though.

1. macOS 10.15.1
2. Reboot macOS to make sure Books and all related background services are idle.
3. Instead of resetting the entire home directory, just reset permissions on ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks. This takes a lot less time and doesn't mess with files unrelated to Books.
4. I didn't do the diskutil stuff. Did you find that to be necessary?
5. Launch Books app. Books that wouldn't open previously now open.

The issue seems related to the books that are in the library. So, what I'm finding is that the condition can reoccur if I add certain books, in which case it seems I need to run the process again. So my advice would be to get all your books added, then run the process, and I'm guessing you'll be good to go until you add additional unlucky books.

SUCCESS!

To recap, I did a combo of the above, with instructions for newbies. Please pardon me that I don't give the cites from the previous posters; username/copy paste in live post is squirrely.

Check you are Catalina MacOS 10.15

• In Finder, choose About this Mac [NB: this is the OS X version for this thread until today; God help anyone reading this in the future with your !@#$ups :) ]

Delete any crap in a folder which you will get to this way

• Copy this: ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks/Updates
• In Finder, Choose: Go, then Go to Folder
• Paste there what you have copied, and hit return
• Delete all files; if there is an .epub or .pdf there, don't check what is, which will only launch Books or Preview, and possibly screw things up. Consign it to oblivion, it and you a victim of Apple

Disable (don't delete) all "Launch Agents" and "Log-in Items"

• HereI don't know _how_ to do this via OS X internal file-handling; I hope one of the mavens in this thread will spell that out. I used a third-party app CleanMyMac, with which it was a piece of cake.

Restart the computer

• Go to Finder, choose Restart

Start Books

• Be happy if things work. If they don't, mutter and keep monitoring this thread.

Re-enable all "Launch Agents" _and_ "Log-in Items"

• Again, I hope one of the mavens in this thread will spell out how this can be done w/o a third-party app.

Restart computer

• Go to Finder, choose Restart

Restart the computer

• Go to Finder, choose Restart

Renable the

Good news...maybe. I reset the permissions one more time. This time, for now, the books open. The covers are correct although many are generic on my iPad.

I've been dealing with Apple Support at some high level. They have provided no solution as of yet. Hope mine stays working. If not ....

I keep clean copies of all my EPUB’s and PDFs in a separate folder, so I have been able to access those files and transfer them to a Blue Fire reader as an alternative. I find it easy to use and completely functional. Syncing is without glitches. However, I have lost access to prior notes and highlighted passages. This is a terrible blow to productivity for me, as most of the work I do on the tablet is for academic purposes, therefore, the loss of annotations presents a real issue.

VERY happy to report that the latest Catalina update solved this problem for me. Of course, it would have been nice to have been notified somehow that this was on the way or available. But that is old school I guess. That it happened is a plus.

Here is something strange. I also cannot open any of my books. The error BKAgentServiceErrorDomain error 8.) keeps looming at me.

However, if I switch to a made up NEW user, with the same apple id and iCloud identity, then all the books are fine. WHY???

There has got to be a solution.....

Here's the breakdown of how this issue has progressed for me over the past many weeks:

I'm an avid reader, mostly fanfiction (i.e. fewer purchased epubs), so my library is a labor of love. I've used Calibre for years to amass my library. After updating to Catalina on my old MacBook pro, any new epubs imported to Apple books from Calibre would not open...error stated it was corrupt (same as an earlier post on this thread). Concerned about my library, I used Pages to reformat my most important books into epubs, (weeks!) added the covers, then imported them into Apple Books. Worked like a charm. Then, because of keyboard issues, I purchased a new MacBook Pro, updated to Catalina, migrated all data from the old mac, and thought all was well.

My spouse had the issue first since she purchases most of her books...new epubs would import to Apple Books (on her MacBook) and open just fine. However, when syncing through Finder, while the new books appeared on the list and were selected, they will NOT sync over to any device. No error message at all, just no new books. UNLESS...you make it a PDF. However, while PDFs sync over, they do NOT sync across devices for annotations or place keeping.

Last night, I had to edit an existing book (previously synced to ipad pro and iphone 8 plus). I deleted the old versions from all devices and Apple Books (Mac), then imported the updated epub to Apple Books. It opened just fine, but would not sync to my iPad or iPhone. I ended up having to use the PDF version.

Seriously, this could very well be the final straw for me. Over the past several years, it seems Apple has become lax in its care and maintenance of the Books app. While it may not be the most popular app, that's no reason to let it fall by the wayside. Considering many of us have invested YEARS of work and loyalty, not to mention the money, it would seem logical to be more proactive and diligent.

I've had repeated issues that almost never get addressed, leaving me to find workarounds. Apple, we shouldn't have to work so hard to use what we've relied on for years. Please, fix this.

Me too after the update, but only for one aspect discussed here (although naturally we thank god for small favors):

1. The full information and retrieval (but see 2 below) across my IOS on iPad (but not, I believe, on iPhone) and OS X is available and now synced (provided you choose that option wherever the **** it is (either/both iOS--can't remember at the moment all the choices--they're spelled out Books/Help on OSX);

1. On OS X (not iOS) the PDFs open in Adobe Reader (and maybe the full Adobe); most everybody has that one, and if you don't (I checked by deleting it briefly) PDF will open in Preview.

This was discussed above and is still not fixed. No matter if you go to the discrete file via Finder, and then choose "Open with Books" AND (to save time from a suggestion above) you go to that file or any other and go to file information and apply Open with Books, either to that one file or you let it loose on all PDFs. No joy.

[Digression on this issue beyond my report from the trenches]

Which, I must say, intrigued me as an OS thing--I would have thought if a) the "open with" app *******, the OS would at least kick back some sort of error message; and b) even more so, or arbitrary,is that it goes ahead and opens it with whichever they'll pdf reader it finds; and c) even more so than b), when you multiple PDF readers on your system, eg, as mentioned above, Preview (an Apple OSX integrated product, of course) and Adobe Reader, this continuing error defaults to Adobe (indeed, I have a number of third-part PDF apps for fancy markup, etc).

Which means--what?

a) Skullduggery at the crossroads by Adobe? Can't be. As we know, nobody, which here includes Adobe as we know with Flash, can **** with Apple.

b) Apple cut a deal with Adobe? Can't be, because the of this (non-reported) error condition -- the discrete command "open with Books" not working but pretending it is -- does not even defaultly ******* to an Apple product. Can't be.

Curious and curioser.

[/Digression]

I have exactly the same problem as you. NONE of my audiobooks, epubs, or pdfs will open. I get the same BKAgentServiceErrorDomain error 8 message for each one. I assumed it was perhaps due to the fact that my audiobooks were ripped from CDs rather than purchased at the Books Store. Its scary to think that even books you purchased from Apple don't work either.

I only hope that this issue is fixed in an update soon.

I have the same problem too. epubs and pdfs open fine on iphone and ipad ios. But they do not open on macbook air Catalina 10.15.1

But strangely they do open on a macmini, also running 10.15.1 . this has got me a bit stumped at present...