iTunes 12 & PDF Books - How To Delete?

Question

Level 1

9 points

iTunes 12 & PDF Books - How To Delete?

I wanted to sync some homegrown PDFs with my iPhone, and tried to use iTunes to do it. (Yes, I know now I should have used the iBooks app on my Mac.)

On iTunes I added the PDFs to my library, and then thought that I should change the MEDIA TYPE of each file to Book, to get them to sync, since normal PDF files (such as digital booklets accompanying albums) don't sync.

After changing the MEDIA TYPE, the files disappeared from the library. Unlike digital booklet PDFs, they didn't appear in the list window anywhere, and there is no BOOKS tab among all the other tabs for other media types (Audiobooks, Podcasts, Movies, etc.)

But the PDFs were still in my library. When I tried to sync my iPhone, a BOOKS tab for sync purposes is available, and it is here that my PDFs are shown, and could be selected for sync. Syncing worked, and I could look at things on my iPhone successfully.

The problem now comes when I want to remove the PDFs. I can deselect them from syncing, to remove them from the iPhone.

But how do I remove them from the Mac? The files (on the Mac) can only be seen via the Books tab that appears when my iPhone is attached, and there is no way to remove them in those windows.

I can locate the PDF files in the finder (they live in an obscure iBooks folder in my Library folder) and if I manually delete them, iTunes still remembers the files, and they still appear in the Books tab (when the iPhone is connected) but with an exclamation mark attached, and ITunes says "The Original File Could Not Be Found."

Finally, if I create a smart playlist that shows me onlly Media Types that are Books, I can see my PDF files without a problem in the main window. But I can't do anything with them!

Any thoughts on how to delete PDFs once they have been (foolishly) converted to Books?

Many thanks!

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10), null

Posted on Mar 21, 2015 12:41 AM

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Answer 1

Ldoris

Level 1

4 points

Mar 28, 2015 12:14 AM in response to Richard Carr

Not sure if this will work for you, but ...

I started iBook. It asked you to "get start". You click that and there will be an option to move all the iTune books and pdfs to iBook. You can then delete them in iBook and they will also disappear in your iTune as well.

Hope this helps.

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Answer 2

SylCliff

Level 1

0 points

Mar 30, 2015 8:59 PM in response to Richard Carr

The PDFs are managed using the iBooks program on your MBP. If you go to 'LaunchPad' and start 'iBooks', the left hand column should have Purchased-Books-PDFs. If you select PDFs, you should see the same list that you are viewing in iTunes. Select the PDF you want to delete, right-click and delete.

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Answer 3

Richard Carr Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 31, 2015 1:42 AM in response to SylCliff

Sadly SyCliff this does not help. The PDFs were added directly to iTunes, and iBooks does not seem to see them at all.

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Answer 4

SylCliff

Level 1

0 points

Mar 31, 2015 5:10 AM in response to Richard Carr

A couple of simple things first........on your MBP, in iBooks - Preferences - General, make sure the 'Sync bookmarks, highlights, and collections across devices' is checked. Make sure the iPhone is synced. If this has been done and you still don't see the files in iBooks on the MacBook, walk me through how you added the files to iTunes and changed the names.

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Answer 5

Richard Carr Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 31, 2015 5:52 AM in response to SylCliff

Thanks for the tips.

The option in iBooks was already checked. Phone is synced.

The history of this issue (described at length in the OP) is, in summary:

ADDED PDFs to iTunes

They appear in iTunes but do not sync to iPhone

Changed MEDIA TYPE of each to BOOK on MBP iTunes

They no longer appeared in iTunes on the MBP.

When trying to sync iPhone, however, the PDFs appear in the BOOK section, and can be synced to iPhone.

PDFs appear on iPhone OK.

When I came to delete PDFs:

With iPhone connected, can choose to remove filed from iPhone via MBP iTunes

PDFs are successfully removed from iPhone

But I cannot delete the PDFs from MBP iTunes

If I manually delete the PDF via the Finder, iTunes still "remembers" them, and shows them greyed-out

I cannot make iTunes "forget" any PDF it has used, even if the file itself is deleted in the finder

So, how do I make iTunes forget old PDFs?

Thanks for any more tips!

Richard

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Answer 6

Richard Carr Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 31, 2015 7:57 AM in response to Richard Carr

Well, I've fixed it.

I made a smart playlist on iTunes to find everything with media type BOOK in my library.

Then, for each of those which was a greyed-out file during the sync process, I made a new PDF file with a matching file name.

From within the smart playilst I could GET INFO for each item, and convert it from a BOOK to MUSIC.

The file would then disappear from the smart playlist, but instead be available in the main music library, from where it could be deleted.

All greyed-out files now gone, and iPhone/iBooks/iTunes behaving properly.

It's weird. I had tried exactly this solution a few weeks ago, but was unable to GET INFO and change MEDIA TYPE from within the smart playlist. Maybe something has changed.

Thanks for your assistance.

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Answer 7

spoulsen

Level 1

9 points

Dec 21, 2016 7:40 AM in response to Richard Carr

Podcasts with PDF notes also end up stuck this way. This answer helped me solve it as well.

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