Can't open PDF files in iBooks on my iPad

For me the issue was with the file name. I had sent a pdf file to my email but it wouldnt open up in Ibooks. Just tried to rename to file to a short name & resend it again & it worked

This is driving me crazy. I tried shortening the file name and it still didn't work. My frustration is that sometimes PDF's I email myself will give me the option of opening in iBooks but just as often, they will not. Usually PDF's from other sources will open fine but if I create them, even in Acrobat, they often don't give me that option. And I don't know if I can explain this but I have noticed the deciding factor. If, when the icon arrives in the email, if it has a down arrow on the icon, it will only sometimes convert to show "PDF" if I touch it but if the down arrow persists, it will just open and display in my email. If it does convert to show the letters "PDF' on the icon or if it shows PDF when it arrives, it will give me the option of opening it in iBooks, etc. On my hard drive the files are all listed as PDF's and show the PDF symbol and open on my Mac as regular PDF's. Has anyone else experienced this with the icons and does anyone have a solution.

I use my iPad a lot. But I share the same confused problems discussed here. Hope Apple will fix them.

Hey AppleSupport wake up,are you reading these posts and what is your advice?!

thomasx1 wrote:

Hey AppleSupport wake up,are you reading these posts and what is your advice?!

No, they aren't. you are just addressing fellow users, and any suggested solutoin have pretty much already been proposed. Read the thread.

You can offer Apple feedback here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/

No James, I know that I am in a usercommunity,I hoped that APPLE up there reads this too,because there is still no solution to see.........

See previous post.

I am not sure what happened but just in the past day or so, I can no longer use "open in" to transfer PDF's from Safari, email, or other PDF apps to iBooks. iBooks has disappeared from the list of "open in" applications. I haven't had a problem moving any type of PDF files into iBooks up until now. I recall a recent iBooks update this week and that must have caused this problem. I have hundreds of PDF's in iBooks for work and personal use and this is a major went in my work flow. I will have to use one of my other PDF apps, but now I will have PDF's in multiple locations and won't remember we're to look when I need something.

How many apps do you have installed that can open or otehrwise handle PDF files? I seem to recall there being a limit on the number of apps that can appear in the "Open in ..." menu, but not sure how many or if that is dated information. You might try deleing something that appears in the list. Also make sure you are swiping through all of the available pages of those apps.

how can I delete the apps that appear in the list?

It isn't the list you are editing. You actually delete the app: On teh Home screen, tap and hold any app until all start to wiggle, then tap the X for any you wish to deleteAny that do not have an X are built in and cannot be deleted. NOTE: Any data assocazited with the app will also be deleted, so you will want to transfer files to another app if possible.

Apple eliminated the limit on the number of apps in "open in" with iOS 6. That hasn't been an issue for almost a year now. I have isolated the cause of this recent issue with ibooks not appearing in "open in" when trying to export a PDF into iBooks. Apple recently rolled out an update to ibooks last week. I updated two of my iPads and two of my iPhones but never got around to updating one of my iPAds and one iPhone. They two devices have no problem using "open in" to import PDF's into ibooks, so this was definitey caused by the recent update. All of my other PDF compatible apps show up in "open in" on all my idevices and ibooks shows up in the devices where ibooks was not updated last week but doesn't show up in the four idevices where ibooks was updated. Apple must have changed something in the coding in iBooks that causes it not to be recognized as a PDF compatible app in "open in". That's my laymen's explanation.

I have found that if one adds PDF files to iBooks using "file/add to library" in iTunes a default icon of the file appears in the library but it will not open . However dragging the PDF file to the Books icon in iTunes seems to install an openable copy in the iTunes library..

I solved the issue by deleting Dropbox.

I have found you need to turn your .pdf file into to .epub to be read into iBooks as all other ebooks.

I am trying this app that seems to work: Calibre. Just look for "calibre e-book". I hope this will be useful!