updated ipad to ios 8 lost books and pdfs in ibooks

What happens when you try to redownload them ?

Nothing happens. I hit the download link, then choose "Open in iBooks" like I always do, and... nothing. Limbo.

You've tried closing iBooks app via the device's taskbar and done a soft-reset, and you have the 'all books' collection selected in the app ?

I'm having the same problem. At the moment I am checking and unchecking each item in itumes and repeatedly syncing my iPad until the pdfs appear in ibooks on my iPad.

My happy little PDF collection (mostly manuals) also disappeared from my iPad Min Retina after updating to iOS 8. iBooks on my Mac has them all. Syncing didn't seem to help. I had "all books" selected in iTunes sync.

Then I noticed that iTunes had originally set itself to "Selected books" and only the ones I saw on my iPad were selected. I had "all books selected". I ejected my iPad and reconnected it to my Mac, which restarted a sync. iTunes now had "selected books" set, and had ticked all the documents I was missing.

After the sync, lo and behold (as my old Grannie used to say), all my beloved PDFs had returned to my iPad. 🙂

I've reset iTunes to "all books" and will be keeping a wary eye on it.

I Was having the same problem all my PDF files disappeared but they are all back now . Go to I Books . Under the time you will see BOOKS with a little down arrow. Tap on books and all your saved files are there.

i only have an I pad so nothing was backed up any where nor was it syncced

Hey, Apple.

You know what? I just lost all my pdfs and unpurchased book in the iOS8 update too.

Unlike many here, I did not opt to "Transfer Purchases", because, as the term implies, this would mean-- in any clear, reasonable interpretation of any English-speaking person-- ****PURCHASED ITEMS ONLY****.

If you, Apple, are going to use a term such as TRANSFER PURCHASED ITEMS or TRANSFER PURCHASES, well, gee whiz Apple, people might become confused by that, especially since you've used the term "BACKUP" to describe a process that DID NOT IN FACT BACK UP MY DATA!!!!! Which is now gone.

So now, ALL my pdfs are gone, ALL my stuff is gone from iBooks-- much of which consisted of important manuals that I use for work. There is NOTHING in my iTunes iBooks section whatsoever.

Instead of onnly using the now-apparently-vague-but-formerly-quite-specific terms "BACKUP" or "TRANSFER PURCHASES", perhaps ALL THIS CONFUSION AND MISERY COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED HAD YOU CHOSEN TO SIMPLY INFORM THE USER, PERHAPS IN A SHORT PARENTHETICAL NOTE, THAT THE TERM "TRANSFER PURCHASED ITEMS" OR "TRANSFER PURCHASES" IN FACT REFERS ALSO TO ITEMS THAT WERE *******NOT******** PURCHASED!!!!!!

The terms are vague-- incredibly annoyingly vague-- they DO NOT effectively, clearly, or even honestly communicate what data is being transferred, or what is actually transpiring-- they are misleading-- and, judging by the vast array of problems it has created for users in this forum, these terms have been a DISASTER for many.

Furthermore, this data loss has been occurring again and again and again and again and again to countless people in these forums during EVERY SINGLE iOS update...

So FIX IT!!!!!

I did the soft reset. But I'm not sure what you mean by closing the app from the toolbar.

Closing an app via the device's taskbar : iOS: Force an app to close.

Oh, yes. I done that more than once.

What's strange to me is that after the update, when I entered iBooks, all my book were there for a millisecond before going to iBook Heaven.

How did you do the update ? The contents of the iBooks app are not included in a device's backup, so if you updated via your computer's iTunes then the update process would look to copy the app's content back from the Books part of your computer's iTunes library (or iBooks if using a Mac with OX 10.9+ on it)

Honestly, I don't remember if I updated from my PC or directly from the iPad. But what I don't understand is why it doesn't allow me to download the books again. These are free downloads from jw.org. I try at least once a week to re-download them and It will not happen.

What happens when you try to redownload them ? You should be able to do 'open in' in Safari to copy them to the iBooks app, or download them on your computer's iTunes and sync or email them ('open in' in the Mail app)

iTunes 12.01 doesn't appear to manage iBooks anymore. It only knows about iBooks on your device. There doesn't appear to be a transfer mechanism for devices in iBooks either. So how do you get items added to your iBooks Mac App onto your device?

Nothing happens. It says in limbo.