books and pdf on IPad don't appear in IBooks on MAC

Question

Level 1

15 points

books and pdf on IPad don't appear in IBooks on MAC

I've read through several solutions to this similar problem and none of the solutions work for me. I've uploaded several ebooks to my mac and they don't appear on the IPad. I've got content (PDF's) on my ipad that doesn't appear on my mac. For example, I've purchased 14 books that appear in the "cloud" and available for download on the Ipad but the purchases in Itunes show 2. I've updated my ipad, mac, ibook and itunes on both devices.

I've had my mac for 6 months and absolutely HATE it. I thought I'd be able to use it to work with files on the Ipad and that has yet to happen. I was hoping to have access to content across devices and that's not happening. At this point I'm feeling very disappointed in Apple products. I've even been to the Apple store and after 3 support people, they couldn't figure it out either.

I'm hoping someone here will know how to fix this.

thanks

iOS 6.1.2

Posted on Dec 21, 2014 2:22 PM

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Answer 1

rwright Author

Level 1

15 points

Dec 22, 2014 9:17 AM in response to King_Penguin

Thanks for the reply. I've actually tried all the recommendations you've made to others. The 'transfer purchases' doesn't work for the PDF because they were added to my Ipad from email (or so the Apple support says). When they couldn't fix the syncing problem they said I'd have to reset my device because it doesn't sync correctly. For example, when I try to backup my ipad to the cloud using itunes, I see the message that the last time it was backed up was in November. I can back up the device to the computer just not to Icloud. They also suggested airdrop which doesn't work either. The mac sees my device but doesn't show documents I send it.

I actually found a program, IExplorer and paid $35 to get my content off my ipad and to my computer. I also had the same problem with my Iphone (couldn't transfer memos and pictures to itunes) so it turns out to be a good investment. I'm not sure how icloud is supposed to work but I assumed I'd have similar functionality to dropbox. I'm not quite sure what my subscription pays for. I'm only using 4G of data and there are images on both my devices that aren't in the cloud.

According to Apple, I need to reset both devices, I think this is a cop-out, how can neither of my devices not work. I know there are loyal Apple fans, for me this has been a $4000 waste of money.

thanks again.

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Answer 2

rwright Author

Level 1

15 points

Dec 22, 2014 11:01 AM in response to King_Penguin

see attached images. According to ibook2 image all the PDF's have been deleted. According to ibook image, the PDF's still show in "all books" menu. The ibookMac images shows what's on my MAC (which matches Itunes). The itunesIpad image shows there are still 35 documents on my device.

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Answer 3

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,318 points

Dec 22, 2014 12:36 AM in response to rwright

What are the other solutions that you've tried ? As you don't say what you've tried I don't know whether you've done the following or not.

ebooks and/or PDFs that you've added to the iBooks app on your Mac will not show on your iPad unless you sync them to it, only ibooks bought from the iBookstore will potentially show in the cloud in the iBooks app on your iPad for redownloading on it. If not all of your ibook purchases are showing in your Mac's iTunes or iBooks apps (I'm assuming that you have Mavericks or Yosemite on your Mac) then try logging out and back into your account on it and see if they then show.

If you are using the 'sync collections' setting in Settings > iBooks on your iPad and in the iBooks app on your Mac then that does not copy books and/or PDFs between devices/computers, all it does is if you put a book/PDF into a collection on, say, your iPad, then if it is also in your Mac's iBooks app then it will be moved into the same collection on that - but if a book or PDF is not already on it then it won't copy it onto it.

If you want the PDFs (and/or epubs) that are in your iPad's iBooks app to also be on your Mac then you need to connect the iPad to your Mac's iTunes, do File > Devices > Transfer Purchases to copy them over to your Mac's iTunes, and then in the iBooks app on your Mac do File > Move Books From iTunes to move them into it.

Similarly to get PDFs and/or epubs from your Mac to your iPad, connect the iPad to your Mac, select it in your Mac's iTunes, and use its Books tab to select and sync the books/epubs that you want in its iBooks app.

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Answer 4

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,318 points

Dec 22, 2014 9:33 AM in response to rwright

The Transfer Purchases has always copied PDFs (and epubs) from the iBooks app on my iPad (not just ibooks bought from the iBookstore) to my computer's iTunes, and (with Mavericks and Yosemite) I've then been able to copy them from iTunes to its iBooks app - I've just tried it again with a new PDF downloaded from a website and it still works (iPad is on iOS 8.1.2, Mac is on 10.10.1).

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Answer 5

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,318 points

Dec 22, 2014 11:48 AM in response to rwright

Do you have other collections in the iBooks app on your iPad ? If you've moved the PDFs out of 'PDFs' and into other collections then they won't show in the 'PDFs' collection - a book and/or PDF can only be in one collection at a time (plus the 'All Books' collection).

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Answer 6

rwright Author

Level 1

15 points

Dec 23, 2014 1:31 PM in response to King_Penguin

Actually, I'm not sure why the PDF's are empty but show up in "all". I'm giving up with the Apple way of doing things. The IExplorer program helped and I think the $35 is a worthwhile investment. I've spent so many hours (50+) trying to do the transfer I can't spend any more time on this.

Thanks for your quick responses.

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