Q: Can't edit epub info in iBooks on OS X 10.9 Mavericks

The iWork people got a response from Apple: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6049?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Isn't it unusual for Apple to post a list of future features, even if they are re-introducing them?

Hopefully iBooks isn't far behind.

If you really want to update the epub info like I did (as in right now as opposed to waiting for an update) here is a process that works for me at least to update the Genre for the file.  I use Genre and author to sort my library so it's fairly important to me:

1.  Find the downloaded .epub file and drag/drop it into ibooks which will most likely add it either uncategorized or some other Genre tag.

2.  Drag/drop the .epub doc back out of ibooks to a blank folder (I use just "temp" on my desktop)

3.  Bring up a command prompt and go to the folder you copied the .epub to and run "unzip <name>.ipub".  you may have to play with quotes and such to get a name that has spaces in it or special characters but doing "unzip <first letter><tab>" works pretty easily.

4.  remove the original .epub file from the command prompt by doing "rm *.epub" in the temp directory

5.  now the interesting part, edit with your favorite editor (Mine is vi) "vi *.plist"

6.  Search for the tag Genre and under that is the string it is set with (it's a pretty small file so it's not hard to see in a single screen), just change the word between <string> and </string> and then save the .plist file (you can update any other metadata you want while doing this, the .plist file is really only important to ibooks.  I only really use the Genre tag and the rest seem to import just fine so....)

7.  rezip the file using "zip -r <name>.epub *"

8.  Remove the file from ibooks by highlighting it and just clicking delete (I'd suggest you have an original copy stored somewhere else just in case)

9.  Add the updated .epub file back into ibooks using finder and drag/drop the file from the temp directory back into ibooks.

It's a pain but I didn't want to wait on an update.

Mike

On step 3 it should be "unzip <name>.epub" (gotta love auto correction)

Mike

see the post

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5544657?tstart=0

this is so much easier than all that zipping and unzipping and it solved all my editing concerns so far.  not ideal, but a whole lot of improvement

The book folder is in the media section of the itunes folder.  Same place where your music and stuff is all stored.  Mine stayed in the same place it was before.  It never actually moved.

That's very strange. The iTunes folder is where everybody else had their Books folder but it got moved. What is the structure inside yours?

Please, Apple Devs, do something.

iboox is the biggest bunch of bs ever ... you have little access to the metadata and when you buy a book there seems to be no epub file at all.  This is blatant fraud on the part of apple.  (unless someone can tell me where the epub file is hidden).

R.

The iBooks location is now

/Users/<user>/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks

That's where everything's been moved. If you buy a book, it goes into that location. If you buy from iBooks, I would expect it to have an iBooks extension. If you had an epub in your iTunes Books library, it was moved to the above location and given a new name. I don't know if anyone has deciphered the names.

We all agree that not being able to edit metadata directly is an issue. I've created a symbolic link to the above location for convenience. Unless something's specifically made for iBooks, I buy  the best price and use Calibre first.

Hopefully Apple has heard the complaints. They've started to issue updates to iWork and iLife. Hopefully iBooks will be soon.

Bob

yep,,,,,i found it just as you said....the folders have an epub extension .... but there is no epub file of any sort.... and, once a library becomes large, can you put all of these books on an ancillary disk?  Do they have to stay on your main disk where iboox is installed?  Could eat up a bunch of disk space in a hurry, especially for those who might be on ssd's.  I have my whole iTunez deal on an external disk and everything was working "swimmingly" until this fiasco.  What, the JD got a judgement against them so now they're angry and they have to find a new way to screw customers?

I think you're right "bobbd" ... bypass the whole deal and just work with calibre until they sort this mess out.  Calibre ain't great, but until someone writes a nice new app or iboox is straightened out ... well it seems you are correct about which way to go.

Thanx for the location information.

I use both Calibre and ibooks with my priorly described work around.  it's all painful but it is something that can be worked around for a bit.

iBooks is ....

I download Calibre to edit my ebooks metadats, on one author, then i imported the ePub from tje Calibre database i have the same problem, iBooks recognize different authors :

- Berry Steve

- BERRY, Steve

- Steve Berry

Any idea of what to do to get the right metadatas ?

Thanks

Nemrod

Hi Nemrod,

For my part, i found this procedure working :

Using Calibre, I modify metadats first, then i convert my books even if they already are in epub format. Then, i import the 'new' books into Ibook and it is ok.

Let me know it this works for you too.

Yours,

Bernard

Here is how to delete iBooks and get book management functionality back to iTunes (including the ability to edit metadata):

1. Open Activity Monitor and kill the bookstoreagent service.

2. Delete the file for that service:/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CommerceKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources/boo kstoreagent

3. Use AppCleaner to remove iBooks app completely.

4. Restart iTunes and Books menu will appear again there.

5. Copy our ebook files from our backup back to internal storage. This is mainly for ebook files that we didn’t purchase from iBookstore. Don’t worry about books that we purchased from iBookstore, we can re-download them again.

6. Delete the ebook files from~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks/Booksso iTunes library will detect them as missing. Right click for each book, choose “Get Info” and it will ask the location of the file. Point the location to the ebook file that we have restored. Yes it’s probably a long and tiring process especially if we have plenty of books.

7. An alternative way of step 6 is to delete all the books from iTunes library and re-import them from the files. All the metadata we created before should remain unchanged.

8. Re-download books that we purchased from iBookstore. Or alternatively if we have those books in our iPhone or iPad, we can just sync them with iTunes and choose to transfer those books.

Enough with the work arounds, here is the fix.

Here is how to delete iBooks and get book management functionality back to iTunes (including the ability to edit metadata):

1. Open Activity Monitor and kill the bookstoreagent service.

2. Delete the file for that service:/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CommerceKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources/boo kstoreagent

3. Use AppCleaner to remove iBooks app completely.

4. Restart iTunes and Books menu will appear again there.

5. Copy our ebook files from our backup back to internal storage. This is mainly for ebook files that we didn’t purchase from iBookstore. Don’t worry about books that we purchased from iBookstore, we can re-download them again.

6. Delete the ebook files from~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks/Booksso iTunes library will detect them as missing. Right click for each book, choose “Get Info” and it will ask the location of the file. Point the location to the ebook file that we have restored. Yes it’s probably a long and tiring process especially if we have plenty of books.

7. An alternative way of step 6 is to delete all the books from iTunes library and re-import them from the files. All the metadata we created before should remain unchanged.

8. Re-download books that we purchased from iBookstore. Or alternatively if we have those books in our iPhone or iPad, we can just sync them with iTunes and choose to transfer those books.