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Why can't i transfer pdf files from my ipad to mac?

And why is itunes so ridiculously complicated to back up my ipad?

Posted on Dec 8, 2012 10:43 AM

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Posted on Dec 8, 2012 10:46 AM

If they are in the iBooks app, then even though they aren't iTunes purchases they should copy over into the Books part of your iTunes library via File > Transfer Purchases.

12 replies

Jan 11, 2013 4:54 PM in response to King_Penguin

King_Penguin wrote:


If they are in the iBooks app, then even though they aren't iTunes purchases they should copy over into the Books part of your iTunes library via File > Transfer Purchases.

They do not I just tried it, Same problem here no matter what I do my pdfs in ibooks on my ipad wont transfer to my mac. So when I sync a new playlist of music they most likely will be deleted. I usually manually manage my music but I created some playlists for a wedding and want to sync them, why does I tunes say it is going to erase everything, movies and tv shows, just to get a playlist from itunes onto the ipad. Should be easier,

Oct 16, 2014 11:08 PM in response to bvidc

I had the same issue, even after following king_penguin's advice. "Transfer Purchases" would run through a whole long sync process, and then the PDFs from my iPad would still not be in iBooks.


Then it finally occurred to me that the issue might be that I have 2 apple IDs. The first one is shared with my wife: it's her primary apple id, and the one we use for purchases. The second is the one I use for iCloud and is intended to keep my personal stuff separate from hers. The shared ID was already authorized in iTunes, but...


Sure enough, when I first authorized my iCloud ID in iTunes, then did the Transfer Purchases thing, the PDFs appeared in iBooks on my Mac as promised. Phew!

Feb 4, 2015 3:56 AM in response to King_Penguin

Well. I was having the same issues

i had many pdf's on my iPad ibooks library, but after back up and sync, could not see them on my Mac. Which was only going to be a problem for me when I buy a new ipad and want to upload everything to it.


i Followed your instructions. plugged my iPad in to my Mac. transferred purchases to itunes, then transferred purchases to Mac.

all there on both machines without an issue..


im not sure what others are doing wrong, but, the simple instructions you posted work easily. Thank you

May 3, 2016 8:44 PM in response to bvidc

You can bring local pdf files into your ipad via iBooks


I had a similar problem, was trying to get pdf into the ipad. But I could not get the Books Tab to appear in iTunes

Was currently using a Macbook Pro on OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 with an IPad pro on iOS 9.3.1

The trick was to 1) first launch ibooks from my mac. 2) I added a pdf, (actually I add the Library of all the folder where all my pdf files were stored)

3) I closed my ITunes app and relaunched it.(The equivalent of shutting down Windows and reboot)

It worked and the ibooks Tab appeared in itunes with everything synced to my ipad

The problem appears to be that iBooks is not added into ITunes by default.

You can bring local pdf files into your ipad via iBooks. But you have to set-up iBooks in iTunes (in unintuitive manner)

Why can't i transfer pdf files from my ipad to mac?

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