updated ipad to ios 8 lost books and pdfs in ibooks

How did you update to iOS 8 ? If via your computer's iTunes then the update process would look to copy back the books and PDFs from your iTunes library (or iBooks app if using a Mac with Mavericks on it) - no iTunes downloads are included in a device's backup, nor the contents of the Videos, Music and iBooks apps.

Do you have the books and PDFs in your iTunes library (iBooks app on Mavericks) ? If you do then you should be able to sync them back to your iPad. Or if the books are ibooks then you might (if they are still in the store and you haven't changed countries since buying them) be able to redownload ibooks via the Purchased tab in the iBooks app, and the Purchased link under Quick Links on the right-hand side of the iTunes store homepage on your computer's iTunes.

The contents of the iBooks app are not included in a backup, neither to the cloud nor to a computer's iTunes (nor are the contents of the Music and Videos apps) - an iTunes restore looks to copy them back from your iTunes library, an iCloud restore can only potentially redownload your ibook purchases.

Did you do File > Devices > Transfer Purchases on your computer's iTunes prior to starting the update to copy them over to your iTunes library - that should have copied PDFs and/or epubs in the iBooks app, not just actual ibooks. If you did then they should be in the Books part of your iTunes library, or if you are using a Mac with OS X Mavericks on it then doing File > Move Books From iTunes in its iBooks app should copy them over to the app and they should then be available for resyncing.

For Pages and Numbers you had been saving them to the cloud, anddid you say that you wanted to use iCloud Drive when you updated to iOS 8 ? I don't use either of those apps, you might be better off asking about them either in the Using iPad forum : Using iPad

or the iWork forum : iWork for iOS

I think that iCloud Drive changes how documents are stored/accessed, but as I don't use those apps I'm sure of what has/hasn't changed.

For the books, are you using a Mac or a PC ? With a PC or Mac (without Mavericks) of they show in the Books part of its iTunes library, or if using Mavericks on a Mac does File > Move Books From iTunes in its iBooks app get them to show in it ?

Hi there!

I have read your thread and I've got exactly the same problem.

I've been on the phone to Apple, and because the documents were downloaded from a third party, Apple refuses ( as they've got no rights to) reinstall them. So they are all lost for good. The same can be said about the tracks in iTunes.

Also there is no possibility of going back one step, and get back on iOS 7, in the hope everything would be reinstated.

So, sorry to say, they're all lost for good.

Very disappointed Apple acted like this, and can't help but feel the bitter taste for loosing over 100 documents this way.

Guys,

They are actually not gone at all you just have to search for ITUNES MUSIC on spotlight and then you will find a folder among your songs called BOOKS it is all there! No idea why but I found this on another forum and I was hoping it was true. Turns out it is. I have massive smile on my face right now , I thought I had lost years worth of my collection. No Idea how to transfer them back to Ibooks on the iPhone but at least they exist on my Mac.

Take a deep breath and go look for them!

If you have a Mac with Mavericks on it then open iBooks on it and do File > Move Books From iTunes. If you don't have it on Mavericks then in the General tab in iTunes > Preferences tick the Books tab and you should see a Books section in your iTunes library (kitafraya : on a PC go into Edit > Preferences and on the General tab tick the Books tab ; if you hadn't copied your purchases over to your PC from your iPad then your books/PDFs won't be there)

To sync them back to your device, connect the device to your computer, select it in iTunes, and select its Books tab e.g. if you have the left-hand sidebar enabled option-command-S on a Mac, control-S on a PC) then select the iPad on that sidebar and on the right-hand side of the iTunes screen one of the tabs there should be Books.

Thank you! I have Mavericks and now the process of transferring everything back to normal is complete! thanks again!

this morning I realized my PDFs aren't showing up on my iPad. I tried the music search on spotlight but absolutely nothing happens. so....how did you find them? when the search bar opens in spotlight you typed in iTunes music?

You are doing this on a Mac ? If you are then by default your iTunes library is stored under :

/Users/username/Music/iTunes

If you have Mavericks installed then do File > Move Books From iTunes in its iBooks app to copy any books/PDFs that you had copied from your iPad to your computer's iTunes. They should then show for syncing back to your iPad

No, I was just trying to find them on iPad. on a previous post i saw a comment about using spotlight search & search for iTunes music & look for a books folder. That's what I was trying but the search doesnt seem to be searching. I haven't tried connecting ipad to PC to look for my missing PDFs. I don't have maverick. My fiancé did the same upgrade, the same way as I did mine & all his PDFs are still there.

That poster was referring to using Spotlight on a Mac to find the Books folder, which is where the PDFs had been copied over to from their iPad.

You updated directly on your iPad, and didn't have any problems doing so - you didn't need to restore to a backup ?

And had you connected your iPad to your PC in the past and copied items over from the iPad to it ? If you had done File > Devices > Transfer Purchases on your PC's iTunes then that should have copied any PDFs and/or epubs that were in the iBooks app at the time, as well as any actual iTunes downloads (ibooks, apps, music etc), and they should show in the Books part of your PC's iTunes library if you had - if they do show there then you should be able to sync them back

Not only did my books go bye-bye, but now it won't allow me to either download them again or download

any new books.