How do I get the pdf of the iPad manual?

Unfortunately, Apple in their unbelievable infinite wisdom, seems to have done away with the PDF manuals after iOS 8 was released. They offer the web version and the free book in the iBooks store.

This link takes you to page where you can find the two manuals, one of which you already have.

Apple - Support - Manuals

Sometimes, Apple just can not leave well enough alone.

What you need to do is get iBooks up and going and use that to obtain the manual(s).

iBooks is now Standard Issue in OS X 10.11 and probably the same in iOS 9.x. So locate the program or app, sign in (use your AppleID) to the iBookStore then search for "Apple" or browse down to technical/computer books. You'll find the general Using iPad for iOS 9.3 eBook that covers all the models.

I Guess that I am showing my age and revealing the curmudgeon in me, but I long for the days when one actually received a printed manual with a new device, appliance, television set, etc.

Geoff K wrote:

To Demo's second post, AMEN, AMEN. And bring back the paper clips for the frequented pages.

Geoff

I am a post-it notes kind of guy. Nice fluorescent paper sticking out and making it easy to identify .... I still use them in my office every day!

Well.... At least you acknowledge that Johannes Gutenberg has already graced this green Earth and no longer resort to hand penned manuscripts produced on papyrus. 😁

Geoff, the advantage of the eBook on iBooks is that you can carry it on the device at all times (offline reading), can search for any keyword instantly and it gets kept up to date at all times. Yes, eBooks get updates as well, in the case of the iGadget manuals, every time a new iOS version or subversion comes out.

I own and operate a small commercial printing business. I endorse paper and paper products emphatically. Trees are a sustainable resource and reforestation provides jobs for American workers. Paper is also recyclable. Win, win, win as far as I'm concerned. 😉

Demo wrote:

Unfortunately, Apple in their unbelievable infinite wisdom, seems to have done away with the PDF manuals after iOS 8 was released. They offer the web version and the free book in the iBooks store.

Always wondered why they did this. PDF is so commonplace now and virtually all documents are available in the format. 😐

I never understand what Apple does. I suppose they want to be on the cutting edge of everything, tradition (or what really works) be ******. PDF files are a very important part of what I do. Most of the digital artwork that we receive for printing or copying is emailed to us in PDF format.

If you absolutely have to have the PDF turn on scrolling view. Your User Guide magically turns into the format used in the PDF manuals.

I believe this only works on the device itself. This whole PDF issue (Apple dropping the format for it's iOS manuals at least) affects a lot more devices than just an iDevice.

It used to be you could download the PDF from any PC/Mac/iDevice and use/read it on any device or PC that supports the PDF format. You cannot do that now...you need to use iBooks (iOS/Mac) to read the iBooks manual or use the web-based manual (for which you need to be connected to the internet).

The last couple of versions of the iBooks iOS manual actually crashed iBooks (on my MacBook Pro running OS X 10.11.3) repeatedly. I could never open it. Every time it crashed when I tried to open it, I'd send the crash log/report to Apple. I'd have to use the web-based manual exclusively. This was finally corrected in OS X 10.11.4 (updated OS X iBooks possibly) or the updated iOS 9.3.1 iBooks manual...I could never pinpoint what exactly fixed it. It does work now.

It would've been a lot easier on my end if the PDF were available as it used to be.

https://help.apple.com/ipad/9/