Add book (pdf) to iBooks

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Level 4

3,377 points

Add book (pdf) to iBooks

What I would really like is for iBooks to be scriptable, but as this is another example of an Apple app that doesn't support its own technology I'm looking for another way (UI scripting would be fine, but I have always been sketchy on how to be successful with that unless I get help here).

I'm looking for an iBooks equivalent to the 'Automatically Add to iTunes' folder (that doubtless has some hidden folder action to trigger a hidden script) so that I can drop a pdf and have it added to my iBooks library. The holy grail would then be for the same book to be selected in my iPad's list of selected books to sync, but that is probably pushing my luck.

Any help/pointers gratefully accepted!

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1), 16GB RAM

Posted on Feb 20, 2015 9:39 AM

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Answer 1

Camelot

Level 9

58,299 points

Feb 20, 2015 9:55 AM in response to Arkouda

It's trivial to add a .pdf to iBooks - just tell iBooks to open the file.

The key is how to invoke it - whether you want a folder action (drop a .pdf into a specific folder and it gets added), as a drop app (drag the .PDF to your script), or as a service (ctrl-click on a .pdf and choose 'Add to iBooks' from the list of applicable services).

Ultimately, the process is the same:

tell application "iBooks"

openthe_PDF_file

end tell

it's just a matter of how to invoke it. What's your preference?

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Answer 2

Arkouda Author

Level 4

3,377 points

Feb 20, 2015 11:27 AM in response to Camelot

I hadn't thought of trying to ask iBooks to open the file. I can handle the rest of it myself, thanks.

I don't suppose part 2 of my question will be that straightforward.

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Answer 3

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,248 points

Feb 20, 2015 11:32 AM in response to Arkouda

Do not overlook that by default, the File ▸ Print ▸ PDF submenu has an Add PDF to iBooks menu item.

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Answer 4

Camelot

Level 9

58,299 points

Feb 20, 2015 11:46 AM in response to Arkouda

I don't suppose part 2 of my question will be that straightforward

Honestly, I don't know - I've never looked at the syncing... all my books have automatically synced via iCloud, but I don't know how that applies for manually-added PDFs... I fear you might be right 🙂

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Answer 5

Arkouda Author

Level 4

3,377 points

Feb 20, 2015 12:13 PM in response to VikingOSX

Thanks. What I didn't say is that the Mac that hosts iTunes, iBooks etc is headless. When I add a movie to the aforementioned dedicated iTunes folder I can do so by mounting that folder locally and it appears on my AppleTV with no further intervention.

I suppose if I change my sync option to add all iBooks to my iPad that will do the same thing. The problem I then have is how do I cease syncing a book if I can't (programatically) remove it from the sync set (the whole of iBooks)? (Obviously, I can manually delete from the Mac host.)

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Answer 6

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,248 points

Feb 20, 2015 12:40 PM in response to Camelot

Something that I was not expecting with iBooks is that when you drag/drop a PDF into iBooks, it will not sync with IOS iBooks, until you enable the PDF for syncing within iTunes > Books — and actually click Sync. The PDF would not sync in iBooks via iCloud as I had expected.

IOS 7.1.2, Mavericks 10.9.5. iTunes 12.1.0.

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Answer 7

Arkouda Author

Level 4

3,377 points

Feb 21, 2015 1:22 AM in response to VikingOSX

I decided to abandon iBooks (for pdf reading) in favour of Readdle's Documents app. It will sync to iCloud so I can get at them on all my devices. Of course, it would make more sense if iBooks behaved as you (all of us) would have expected. I expect it will one day!

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