Transfer PDF from MacBook to iPad

Question

Level 1

58 points

Transfer PDF from MacBook to iPad

I want to transfer some PDFs from my MacBook Pro to my iPad and iPhone and have them in iBooks. I am using Mavericks. Previous posts said to drag them to the "Books" section on the sidebar in iTunes. The only problem with this suggestion is that there is no Books section in Mavericks. I found a thread that said that Mavericks was different that past OSX versions and that I should open iBooks in OSX and place the pdfs there, the implication being that they would sync with my iPhone and iPad. I got them into iBooks but no dice. I even added a Collection in iBooks on my laptop and placed the pdfs in the collection. The collection name shows up in iBooks on the iPad and iPhone but there are no documents in the collection. I am going on vacation and I have important document that I want on iCloud and on my iPhone and iPad. This is much more difficult than it should be. Any suggestions?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.1)

Posted on Jan 25, 2014 11:00 AM

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Answer 1

sberman

Level 10

263,625 points

Jan 25, 2014 1:19 PM in response to baddabing

Open iBooks on your iPad, click the "Books" button and make sure you are looking in the PDFs section there.

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Answer 2

Jan 30, 2014 10:31 AM in response to baddabing

I'm in the exact same situation as you are and it's been a frustrating experience. I went to the Apple Genius Bar and they suggested emailing the PDF docs to myself (then opening in iBooks). Problem is...my Gmail has a size restriction of 10 MB. In the end, I finally got the big files to iBooks on my iPad Air by using a third party app for transferring large files via email. I agree that this is way more complicated than it should be. Hope you found a way to transfer your docs before your vacation.

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Answer 3

baddabing Author

Level 1

58 points

Jan 30, 2014 10:57 AM in response to elguajironyc

The solution is quite simple. Open iBooks in Mavericks, select the Collections tab along the top, select the PDFs tab on the sidebar, then drag and drop the your pdfs to iBooks. To get them to synced to iPad and iPhone go to iTunes select your device (you probably have to have it connected) from the list on the left side under "Devices." Then along the top select "Books" and make sure the "Sync" option is selected. You should see your PDFs and either be able to select all of them or just some. This worked for me. Now, every time I put a PDF in iBooks it shows up on my iPad and iPhone.

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Answer 4

mshamer

Level 1

0 points

Feb 21, 2014 5:14 PM in response to baddabing

This won't work anymore, they got rid of the "Books" tab in iTunes. When I save a PDF to iBooks on my mac or send it to iCloud it does not show up on my iPhone. I sync my phone to my mac and they still don't show up. The only way I can seem to get a PDF from my mac to my iPhone is to email it.

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Answer 5

Feb 21, 2014 5:27 PM in response to mshamer

I found a suggestion on another forum that worked for me. There were two suggestions, one was a solution using iTunes while the other uses iBooks. I can't recall which worked for me. Here are both:

-from iTunes: File > Devices > Transfer Purchases

-from iBooks: File > Move Books From iTunes

I found this out after going to the Apple Genius Bar (and getting nowhere...) as well as emailing huge PDFs to myself. A welcome relief to say the least. Hope one of the two methods works for you.

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Answer 6

Feb 22, 2014 5:59 PM in response to mshamer

I have iTunes 11.1.4 on my MacBookPro and the "Books" tab is back.

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Answer 7

May 8, 2014 5:56 PM in response to RogerThornton

With iTunes 11.1.5 it's gone on my MacBook Pro.

And, trying the other sync settings gets the Collections names there but none of the PDF content across devices (e.g, my iPad, iPhone & MacBook Pro).

😕

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Answer 8

picas

Level 7

20,678 points

May 8, 2014 9:02 PM in response to Karl Schubert

Are your pdfs in iBooks on your computer? If not, put them in iBooks. Connect your device/s to your computer, open iTunes if it is not already open, select device in Sidebar, and select the Books tab (it's up the top near Summary etc. Check sync books and select each book/pdf.

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Answer 9

May 8, 2014 9:08 PM in response to picas

Did all that; doesn't work. Have you tried it yourself?

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Answer 10

picas

Level 7

20,678 points

May 8, 2014 9:17 PM in response to Karl Schubert

Well, yes, and I've never had a problem. When you select the books tab, do you then check Sync books and select the pdfs? Can you show a screen shot like mine above, but with the actual books/pdfs selected?

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Answer 11

May 9, 2014 5:52 AM in response to picas

Will do later this morning (not where I can do it at the moment).

Thank you!

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Answer 12

May 22, 2014 1:52 AM in response to baddabing

This helped me - a bit convoluted by Apple.

Thanks,

Keith

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Answer 13

Jun 23, 2014 10:41 AM in response to baddabing

1. Start iBook on Mac

2. Go to Collection tab

3. On left side click PDF

4. Drag the files directly from your desired location

5. Connect iphone and open itunes

6. You will see the Books automatically in the tabs near movies and photos

7. Click on Sync Books and select accordingly

8. Finally click Apply

Thank you

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Answer 14

ksalno

Level 1

0 points

Oct 6, 2015 1:51 PM in response to Community User

This definitely works for iPad, Macbook Air w/ Yosemite, and iTunes 12.3.44 but a third party app like Air Transfer+ works with a lot fewer steps.

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Answer 15

Jul 16, 2017 9:22 AM in response to baddabing

Must use file command "add to library" in iBooks to add PDFs. I dragged and dropped into iBooks and iTunes did not see them to sync to iPad. Then I used the command and bang iTunes sees the new PDFs.

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