Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

PDFs missing from iBooks ( iOS 5 )

I have updated to iOS 5 & the PDF's are all missing from iBooks

iPhone 3GS

Posted on Oct 13, 2011 7:08 AM

Reply
17 replies

May 13, 2017 2:23 AM in response to theflb

One of my pdfs disappeared all of a sudden one day, took me forever to fix it but I figured it out by chance. I had even tried multiple times re-downloading the PDF from the website I had originally got it from, but it would never re-download. How I fixed it was I opened iBooks, went to the main page that lists all the books, clicked on "All Books", at the bottom I turned off the slider beside "Hide iCloud Books", and clicked "Done" at the top. The missing PDF was now listed with an iCloud symbol beside it, along with all the other pdfs I hadn't even noticed went missing, I just clicked on it to redownload it from iCloud and now it works. Hope this helps someone fix their issue.

Oct 13, 2011 3:12 PM in response to theflb

Even I had the same problem. After the 4 hour download & upgrade to iOS 5, all my PDF medical books in the iBook library got clean. Even I tried to delete & reinstall the app & still it's not working. I tried copy & paste of some books from my MacBook pro & ite shows in iTunes, but not in the iBooks app. Can anyone help?

Oct 13, 2011 3:14 PM in response to dragonauta

I'm just wondering when you restore from a back up, does it restore everything? or can you just restore the PDF's


The bugger is that I probably lost some between the last back up and the latest update. Not the first time iOS has made me loose lots of work. So much easier on a mac to drag a copy of a doccument to keep a back up

Oct 13, 2011 3:53 PM in response to theflb

Found the Solution


Go to iTunes / select your device (iPhone) then under the books tab if you have sync all books selected, it doesnt. So you need to click sync selected books and click all of them manually. Your PDF should all still be there. Then resync your iPhone


PS To APPLE, I dont think of PDF's as being books. There should be a sync books and a sync PDF's option. But if you are going to lump them all together, then when I have selected sync all, then please make it sync all

Oct 16, 2011 3:32 AM in response to drbobbyfromabu dhabi

After connecting your iPad 2 to the MacBook pro, once the sync is over & when the device shows up, go to the "store" tab on the left. Click on "purchased". Now copy PDF books from your backup & paste it in iTunes. The PDF book comes under the purchased item with "sync" icon on the left. Now sync your iPad & the PDF book shows up in the iBooks shelf. Now this's good if you've had a backup like me. Otherwise it's quite a frustrating experience to lose a lot of ebooks.

Oct 30, 2011 3:31 AM in response to theflb

What "books" tab?


I presume the one you get when you show it in the iTunes prefs, (it's off by default). I've found that, but my Mac swears blind I have a couple of free classics... all the tech info and timetables I've spent a long time gathering from all over is apparently gone. I use this a lot, and the fact this update appears to erase them is really not good enough.

If someone can tell me where they are, and how to make this work,I would be most obliged. I get messages about Home Network and iCloud; I don't want any of that, just to work as I always have.I think Apple are being a bit too clever here.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Nov 5, 2011 10:31 PM in response to theflb

This has happened to me too. It is extremely serious as I am a medical student and I have meticulously collected pdfs on my ipad and then put them in ibooks. I am engaged in research and barely scraping by on no sleep and trying to become a doctor. I cannot complete my current projects and presentations because all of my pdfs are gone now. Some people say you can just manually add them back in, but the pdfs never existed on my macbook. I acquired them all on my ipad directly. So they are not in my itunes library.

I did backup before doing the ios 5 update, but when I restore from backup the pdfs are there momentarily, then vanish, maddeningly.

This is a very serious matter. Imagine if you were in college and someone burned all your books, notes, and data. I don't think I will pass this semester and this seriously throws my goal of becoming a doctor into question. If there is anything anyone can do for me i would really appreciate it. I have the backup file but the pdfs get erased each time I restore. Please someone help me for gods sake.

Nov 6, 2011 1:15 AM in response to theflb

That so called "solution" is not a real solution. You can't just declare this issue fixed when it isn't. Most of my pdfs where acquired through email so they were not in my itunes library. Even though I backed up, those pdfs didn't go into my library. So when I sync with them they are not replaced but instead lost forever. Huge problem. I've been reading dozens of web pages devoted to this problem but no one has posted a solution. Most of the threads just have people saying "I accept that Apple is not going to fix this and we have lost our pdfs forever". That is not good. I hope someone from Apple can reply to this issue.

Feb 14, 2012 2:23 PM in response to theflb

I have the same problem, and tried the fix. Checked every box in iTunes, and synced. Still the pdf's are not in iBooks. (So the solution doesn't work for me neither). It's also weird that iTunes puts everything in the "only books" category, the "only pdf files" is empty (BUT, the kind of those in "only books" are PDF documents). So I have no clue what I should do :/... It just doesn't work...


It's ridiculous that Apple makes such mistakes/bugs.

Jun 2, 2012 4:56 AM in response to theflb

I just updated my ipad and all the ibook library disappeared despite iTunes seemingly 'backing up' the ipad.

IT DID NOT. Seriously, many of us ipad users have spend months-years accummulating our ibooks library. Many of my documents were important pdf articles and not ibook purchases.


How can Apple let something as serious as this to just slip through to the 'too bad' box?

If you make a product that people rely on, it should be reliable.

iTunes have alot of issues that make Apple users go to Windows/Android, where a better product can be found.


I think that if I cannot restore all the pdfs that I have spent the last 18 months collecting, it is serious enough to stop buying any more Apple products. I have tolerated alot of problems with iTunes and Bad Apples but this is really the last straw...Nothing spreads faster by word of mouth than the bad experiences endured by customers.

PDFs missing from iBooks ( iOS 5 )

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.