iTunes does not recognize my iPad when it is plugged in?

visit this link for troubleshooting: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3540?viewlocale=en_US

iPad not appearing in iTunes

http://www.apple.com/support/ipad/assistant/itunes/

iOS: Device not recognized in iTunes for Mac OS X

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1591

iOS: Device not recognized in iTunes for Windows

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1538

iTunes for Windows: iTunes can't contact the iPhone, iPad, or iPod software update server

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1814

iTunes for Windows: Device Sync Tests

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4235

IOS: Syncing with iTunes

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1386

Apple - Support - iPad - Syncing

http://www.apple.com/support/ipad/syncing/

iTunes 10.5 and later: Troubleshooting iTunes Wi-Fi Syncing

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts4062

iOS: "Not enough free space" alert when trying to sync

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1503

 Cheers, Tom 😉

Try this

Go into the control panel of your computer, add/remove programs

Uninstall iTunes, apple mobile device services, apple application support.

redownload and reinstall iTunes then try again.

If that doesn't work there are some more in depth things you can do.

Good. Glad to hear it

I was having a similar but different problem. I ran a search and found this thread.

I have the latest iTunes on a late 2010 MacBook Air, an iPhone 5 and a new iPad Air. In iTunes, I enabled "Sync over wifi" for both the iPhone and iPad. When I open iTunes, it will wirelessly recognize both devices - most of the time. iTunes will always "see" the iPhone, but not always the iPad. At that point, the only way to sync the iPad is to plug it into the Mac via USB. Then, iTunes will see both devices.

After being connected to iTunes this way, I can unplug the iPad and both devices awe still listed as connected. This works for a while, but I still occasionally lose the wireless connection to the iPad.

Any solution would be appreciated.

Ryan

After lots of frustration, this solution is what worked for me. Thanks. It is unbelievably inconsiderate of Apple to realize this can happen and practically be invisible with respect to a known workable solution (at least as far as I could tell).