Can't Open iBook Author File - index.xml "missing"

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Level 1

0 points

Can't Open iBook Author File - index.xml "missing"

I've been working on a new book for about two weeks now. I've opened, closed, saved and changed it many times. I went to open the book today in iBook Author to continue adding content and I got this error message:

"'Book Name' couldn't be opened. The required index.xml file is missing."

I've tried re-installing iBooks, accessing the the file under a different user name, but everytime I'm getting the same error message. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I've already spent about 40 hours with this book and I'd hate to loose all my work.

Thanks,

Jacob

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Feb 11, 2012 3:19 PM

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Answer 1

Fabe

Level 3

622 points

Feb 11, 2012 3:54 PM in response to Jacobburton

Are you double-clicking on the IBA icon to open it? My thinking is that if the IBA package is ot damaged, it will open by double-clicking. It's my only suggestion. - Fabe

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Answer 2

Jacobburton Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 11, 2012 3:58 PM in response to Fabe

Thanks for the response. Yes, I've tried double clicking it, opening it through the iBooks program, right clicking on it and selecting open; it still gives me the same error message. The frustrating thing is when I preview the document I can still see all the info is there, I just can't get the actual file to open.

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Answer 3

Feb 12, 2012 3:00 PM in response to Jacobburton

Is the backup file with the ~ still there? Could that earlier version be opened?

IBA used to keep its own backup from the previous version.

Stefan

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Answer 4

Jacobburton Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 12, 2012 2:57 PM in response to MediaTycoon

The backup file isn't present. I did this book completely from my laptop and failed to do a time machine back-up. Stupid, I know, but it's still odd to me that the file all of a sudden wouldn't open because it somehow lost track of it's XML index.

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Answer 5

Feb 12, 2012 3:22 PM in response to Jacobburton

Here's some more info on IBA's own backup...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3707538?tstart=30

You could check in Spotlight if there's still a copy somewhere around.

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Answer 6

Jacobburton Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 12, 2012 3:15 PM in response to MediaTycoon

Thanks. There's no back-up because the file was saved before I closed IBA. Sadly, I think I'm screwed.

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Answer 7

Mar 28, 2012 4:57 PM in response to Jacobburton

I know this is a few weeks old, but I just had this happen and here is how I fixed it:

Duplicate the .iba file (the iBooks Author project) to your desktop or wherever you'd like.

Next, delete the .iba extension and make it .zip and click "Use .zip" when the dialog box pops up.

Then, double-click your newly created ZIP file. It will extract to a folder in the same directory.

Now, add the .iba extension to this folder. It will pop up another dialog box asking if you want to do this, click "Use .iba".

Your file should work now.

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Answer 8

May 9, 2012 9:09 AM in response to j0shb3ck3r

Thankfully the .zip trick worked. Apple needs to resolve this bug soon. This is the second time this has happen to me. The first time I didn’t know the solution so lost a ton of work.

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Answer 9

Dokoma

Level 1

0 points

Sep 29, 2012 4:30 AM in response to Jacobburton

Hey folks. Is it possible to word with xml-marked-up-files in iBA? I need to markup for things like morphology, etymology etc. ??

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