After updating my iPad Air 2 to iOS 9.3, all my pdf files in iBooks went missing. Anyone have suggestions on how to get them back?
iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi, iOS 9.0.2
Sure,
The problem, for most of us in this thread, is that we cannot add them back, since our only backup is in the iCloud and that backup is inaccessible.
Try looking here
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks/Books
I don't have a Mac..
Try this;
On our iPad / iPhone - Go to settings > iBooks > check sync collections.
It has just happened yesterday to my boss at work after the iOS 9.3.2 update.
In our case the solution was quite simple … for an unknown reason the update had disabled the iCloud Drive usage for the iBooks app on the phone. On the Mac we could see all the files. So we just had to re-enable iCloud Drive usage for iBooks on the iPhone and magically the PDF appeared back on it!
Mine came back with a reboot. Question: are you talking about APPLE-sourced PDFs or NON-Apple-sourced PDFs? When I updated to 9.3, I lost the ability to add NON-Appled-sourced ePubs, but was still able to add the equivalent PDFs.
Hi, kOoLiNuS, I am so glad that I find you here!
My story .... I use PC and own an iPad2. I have never purchased a single book from Apple Store. The iBooks on my iPad contains only books from other stores and PDF files. After upgrading my iPad2 to OS 9.3.2 last night, the contents in iBooks all vanished. I have spent all day looking for solutions to no avail as most suggestions involved sync'g with iTunes or Mac computers that I do not use/have. Then, I came across your "solution".
After turning the iCloud Drive back on, all my PDF files (not books) returned. For that I thank you. I am still, however, looking for solution(s) to regain my books that I bought from non-Apple Store (they apparently were not backed up by iCloud). Should you have an answer/solution, please send it this way.
My problem is similar. Everything was fine last night. This morning, while I was reading a PDF, it disappeared from my iPhone 6S+, together with the vast majority of books (including quite a number that I had purchased from the iBookstore). Now I have ~850 books in iBooks on my Mac, ~650 books showing in the iTunes window (which is set to sync all books), and 52 on my iPhone. When I look at iCloud Drive on my iPhone it says that iBooks are not enabled, although it also shows that 778 MB of iBooks are stored on iCloud. I have not found a way to access these books. I am disturbed that some books that used to show up in iTunes, and still show up in iBooks, are no longer listed in iTunes.
Note: I re-enabled iBooks in my iCloud app, and over half of the books that disappeared are back. I do not know how it got disabled in the first place; I have been using it for over a month. And a large number of my books are still unavailable. Tonight I'll try re-adding them.
iBooks in the iCloud is such a good idea...once the bugs are worked out.
I don't use iCloud, my books are on my iMac in iTunes. It looks like I'll have to use email or iMessage until I decide on a replacement for iBooks. Once I have and have my books in the replacement, iBooks will be deleted from my iDevices.
This is something that was recommended to me by an Apple Senior Adviser. For me, the problem is converting the books that I only have on iBooks, including those that I purchased from the iBookstore, into a form that can be used on the other book reader. Even the books that are DRM-free, such as those that I scanned myself, are put into an encrypted shell when they are loaded into iBooks, and to release them you have to take them out of the "package." It is difficult...plus, any books that have DRM can't be copied.
Russell Kurtz wrote:
This is something that was recommended to me by an Apple Senior Adviser. For me, the problem is converting the books that I only have on iBooks, including those that I purchased from the iBookstore, into a form that can be used on the other book reader. Even the books that are DRM-free, such as those that I scanned myself, are put into an encrypted shell when they are loaded into iBooks, and to release them you have to take them out of the "package." It is difficult...plus, any books that have DRM can't be copied.
Russell, I just tested this using Stanza on my iMac with the following results:
ePub file NOT in iTunes library opened just fine
Same ePub that was in iTunes library also opened just fine
ePub file that was in iTunes library and had been made by converting from another format opened just fine
Protected ePub from Apple (Apple Watch User Guide) would not open
Purchased ePub from Apple (iPad User Guide for iOS 9.3) opened just fine.
ePub (NOT protected) purchased from iBook Store (The Naval War of 1812 by T. Roosevelt) opened just fine
ePub (protected) purchased from iBook Store would not open.
So only books listed in your iTunes Books library as "Protected" have DRM. You'll need to purchase non-DRM copies from another source for those "protected" books.
After two months, the Apple support was finally able to get my PDFs back. If you still didn't get your PDFs back, there is hope! Just keep on bugging Apple.
PDFs are fine on my iPad; it is ePubs that I have a problem with along with the destroyed book sorting/arranging I had done.
My problem is similar. The new "iBooks in the iCloud" is great – when it works. Now I have access to all my PDFs and all my non-Apple ePubs without having to sync them to my phone. But, the method Apple has for getting back your iPubs purchased from the iBookstore is to redownload them. Unfortunately they no longer carry a number of the books I bought there. Plus, there are some that they do have, but that refuse to download to my Mac.
Fortunately I have a number of backups and was able to salvage most of my ePubs (about $100 worth are not available any more, though).
iBooks PDF's lost after updating to iOS 9.3
