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How do I delete books from iTunes?

I have a bunch -- a whole bunch -- of sample books and read-and-done-with books in my iTunes library that I've downloaded on my iPhone and iPad. I'm finished with them and would like to remove them from my iDevices and iTunes library.


I have deleted them from my iPhone, my iPad, and iTunes (deleted and moved them to the trash), only to have them reappear the next time I sync. I understand that they are permanently listed in my Purchases list, but why do the book files keep reappearing on my iPhone/iPad/iTunes library? How can I permanently remove them from the iTunes library?


Thanks!

iMac 27, Mac OS X (10.7), 1TB TC, Airport Express, Airport Extreme,

Posted on Aug 6, 2011 11:20 PM

Reply
17 replies

Dec 11, 2011 11:40 PM in response to Steve Porritt

Well, it has been several months now, and these darned books keep rising from the grave like zombies. I delete them from all of my devices and throw the files out of itunes and into the trash, but at some later point, they all reappear in both iTunes and on my devices. Grrrr!


Am I to be haunted by these zombie-books forever? I like the concept of downloading samples -- I"ve bought and enjoyed several books as a result -- but if I can't throw away the books I'm done with and must forever deal with them in iTunes and on my devices, I'm going to stop downloading and, yes, buying books.


I know I'm repeating myself, but...grrrrrr!

Feb 22, 2013 1:34 PM in response to SSFromIN

This worked for me. I had to read carefully and figure out that in iTunes 11 the left hand sidebar is hidden, and make it visible again. Then the books appeared, looking different than when you click iPhone in the upper right, but they were deletable: I got rid of the lot of them by selecting all, and using the delete key. I had copied the actual files from the medial folder to make sure I could get them back after consigning the iTunes library copies to the trash, but that was not needed, as I had the option of keeping them in the media folder, just taking them out of iTunes.

Thanks for the fix!

Feb 23, 2013 12:56 AM in response to Louis Agassiz

Here is a detailed method for you all.

  1. In iTunes go to the top toolbar & go to "View". In the dropdown select "Show Sidebar". The side bar will appear on the left
  2. Now under Library select "Books" which should show all those books you have in iTunes
  3. Select the ones you dont want (i do this one at a time but i imagine you can multiple select as well by shift clicking)
  4. Now right click while these are selected& near the bottom of the pop up menu is "Delete". So select this.
  5. iTunes will ask you if you want to Delete these books so select "Yes".
  6. The next prompt will ask if you want to "Keep" file or move to "Trash". Upto you what you do here. "Keep" will remove it from iTunes but keeps a copy on you Mac so if you want it again at a later date then you have it. "Trash" removes all trace.

Thats it, simples! 🙂

Feb 23, 2013 12:57 AM in response to Steve Porritt

Here is a detailed method for you all.

  1. In iTunes go to the top toolbar & go to "View". In the dropdown select "Show Sidebar". The side bar will appear on the left
  2. Now under Library select "Books" which should show all those books you have in iTunes
  3. Select the ones you dont want (i do this one at a time but i imagine you can multiple select as well by shift clicking)
  4. Now right click while these are selected& near the bottom of the pop up menu is "Delete". So select this.
  5. iTunes will ask you if you want to Delete these books so select "Yes".
  6. The next prompt will ask if you want to "Keep" file or move to "Trash". Upto you what you do here. "Keep" will remove it from iTunes but keeps a copy on you Mac so if you want it again at a later date then you have it. "Trash" removes all trace.

Thats it, simples! 🙂

Feb 16, 2014 12:54 PM in response to SSFromIN

Thank you! This one has been plaquing me.


I use ibooks to organize song "cheat sheet PDF's" but as I now have over 100 songs searching thru the list can be tough. Especially when you're at a gig and you only need 10-20 of them at any time. Is there a way to organize them into subsets like you can lists in itunes song managment? Or is there an app that would do that?

Feb 16, 2014 3:19 PM in response to serfy

You can create single-level "subsets" in iBook using the "Collections" feature. At the top of the iBooks window is a row of buttons. Click (tap) the second button, Collections. That will bring up a sidebar on the left listing the various collections you have. At the moment, they're probably just the default collections. Click (tap) the "+" button in the lower left corner of the sidebar to add a new collection, then go to your default collection containing your pdf ("PDFs", natch) and drag them individually (or command-click (tap) to select several) to your new collection.


iBooks can't create nested collections, however, so if you want to organize your files in a hierarchal set of nested folders, you'll have to use another app. Lots of good ones out there, some free, some not. Free apps include Readdle's excellent "Documents" app that allows nested folders as well as annotation and even a built-in web browser for finding and downloading pdfs. The app syncs with iCloud, Dropbox, and other cloud services and lets you browse files on your Mac. It also keeps your files synced across your iOS devices (there are iPhone and iPad versions of the app), which can be VERY handy. Readdle also makes another app called "PDF Expert" that offers other features you may need (but no web browser). I have both, but can't decide between the two and find myself switching back and forth for no real reason at all. Start with Documents, but check out PDF Expert. I think you'll find both will do a better job of organizing and accessing your pdfs than iBooks.

How do I delete books from iTunes?

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