3rd-party book sync still impossible???

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Level 1

9 points

3rd-party book sync still impossible???

I’ve seen questions on this with no solutions going back several years, in these forums.

Now the problem seems even worse. After spending hours with support today it was confirmed that I am SOL in terms of syncing my books from my Mac Pro to my iPad(s) & Iphone because they are third-party purchases. I can’t sync with finder because the content doesn’t show up to be synced, and it doesn’t sync with cloud either and no longer with iTunes.

Sorry to inform you Apple, but you do not have a monopoly on all books so sometimes we must buy things elsewhere. As it happens my reading is specialized & 99% of my content is not through the Apple store.

Support is seriously telling me that I must download each 3rd-party ebook purchase to three (or more) devices manually because Apple provides no method to sync such third-party purchases.

For real? And if there are no recent complaints, did everyone give up or is there a secret method or a non-Apple app that will make this easy because Apple is brain dead? I normally try to stay constructive on a support forum but this absurd obstacle appears to be Apple’s deliberate choice. WTH?

I did see a user article that says that I could email the EPUB file to myself on each of the other devices and open that attachment in Books. again, that’s a lot of tedious manual work for each purchase. Actual syncing is what’sneeded

I would love to know about any such secret method or non-Apple app before I start tossing my several pieces of Apple gear out the window. Thanks In advance for any help.

Mac Pro, macOS 10.15

Posted on Mar 1, 2020 1:50 PM

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Answer 1

LD150

Level 10

101,279 points

Mar 8, 2020 10:44 AM in response to Streyy

Yes, totally acceptable arguments, and you are obviously well read; it was just my own preferences, and nobody else wanted to contribute.

I didnt mention converting from Apple books to standard format as I suspect it may be against the terms of the Books licence, you probably don't actually own the Apple books. Same as if you close your Amazon account the Kindle books disappear into the ether.

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Answer 2

LD150

Level 10

101,279 points

Mar 8, 2020 7:57 AM in response to Streyy

No replies for 6 days.

I think if you criticised Amazon for not selling or syncing Apple books for Kindle it would be unreasonable. Same applies here.

Assuming you can only read one book at a time why not use other reader apps for third party books?

This is a personal view but Amazon Kindle app works better syncing for example pdfs, and has a number of classics eg Shakespeare, DH Lawrence, either for free or pennies.

I haven't found that in Apple books, where prices tend to be high and range limited. And pdfs wont sync.

(I am outside USA so pay duty on some Apple products)

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Answer 3

Streyy Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 8, 2020 9:10 AM in response to LD150

I appreciate your view, but in mine ePub is a standard format, just like mp3 or mp4. Apple software has no problem with media in those formats purchased elsewhere; why should epubs be any different?? Especially when it USED TO WORK, using the old iTunes code.

PDF is another standard format and certainly these are supported in Books and synced (you’ve said not, but it works for me) and Apple advertises that. So much for the claim that they will/should only sync Apple-purchased, files.

as for Kindle, they do indeed support Apple-purchased files. I just have to use third-party software to convert them to mobi — standard — format.

It’s telling, if annoying, that depending on who you contact in support you get contradictory answers; several of their own “senior advisers” have acknowledged there should be no obstacle, meaning no technical obstacle.

My reading is specialized and most of the material I use is not in the Apple store so I don’t have much choice there. I prefer Books to Kindle reader & it’s not been a problem until they removed the sync code from iTunes and put it in Finder. (Better in Finder.. if it worked.)

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Answer 4

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,984 points

Mar 8, 2020 11:40 AM in response to Streyy

I sync 3rd party books all the time but, perhaps unusually, I don't use Books to manage them I use the freeware - and extremely capable - Calibre. I use it to to manage any books from other sources. I can send them from Calibre to the iPad/iPhone, Here's the odd thing tho': when I send the book to the iPad it opens in Books... and then syncs back to the Mac and the other iOS devices in Books!

https://calibre-ebook.com

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Answer 5

Streyy Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 8, 2020 11:54 AM in response to Yer_Man

Interesting, because Calibre is also what I use to convert between formats. I haven’t tried to convert an epub to an epub though! Sometime when I have spare minutes I will try converting one of these to a mobi then back to an ePub, hoping not to lose too much in the process, and see if it then behaves as you describe. If so it would be very helpful; tedious at first but at least it would be only once per book.

As a side topic, one of the things that got me into calibre in the first place was the quest for a way to search all iBooks in a collection for specific text. I know of many others would like this, but afaik no one (including us) has made the time to try to create such a tool.

back to on topic: thanks for the tip & I’ll try that as a workaround :)

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Answer 6

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,984 points

Mar 8, 2020 3:35 PM in response to Streyy

one of the things that got me into calibre in the first place was the quest for a way to search all iBooks in a collection for specific text.

The DRM on the Apple Books means there is no tool that can do that. But for other formats - including pub and pdf and converted mobi - there are plenty depending on exactly what you're looking for.

I use Foxtrot Professional Search to search my collection of 3k books and articles, and it is extremely thorough. It creates its own index, and so is not reliant on the limitations of Spotlight, and well bring you to the individual examples of your search query in each book / article in turn. Expensive, but well worth checking out. I set it to search the Calibre Library Folders and the repository I use for individual artless as well.

http://www.ctmdev.com/foxtrot/professional_search/index.html

DevonThink also creates its own index and is equally searchable, but aims to be a more complete researching tool. I've tried using it in the past but found it too cluttered for my purposes. Again, it creates its own index.If you want to search pfd and other book formats it is well worth checking out:

https://www.devontechnologies.com

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Answer 7

a brody

Level 10

85,314 points

Mar 8, 2020 3:57 PM in response to Streyy

Some things to consider, any book App if it offers a print function can print to PDF. While not as elegant as ePub, at least the formatting is preserved and you can use Preview to capture it.

Furthermore, the Grab application can grab a screen capture, save to PDF and you can later modify it for use with Preview or Adobe Acrobat Reader, or other PDF reader.

iPad, iPhone, the home and the sleep button together will make a capture image that can be saved to PDF on a Mac or even added to the Books App on the device.

Now as far ePub, applications, there are dozens of them out there,

https://www.socialpositives.com/2016/04/5-best-epub-reader-for-mac/

lists a few you might be interested in.

Warning: most books you find are copyrighted, so distribution is limited to use on your device for your own sole use unless other rights are specifically granted by the publisher. Be mindful of sharing openly on the Cloud as you may open yourself to legal problems. We can't discuss illegal activities on this forum.

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3rd-party book sync still impossible???

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