How can I print (or export) a list of the books in iBooks?

I don't want to print the books themselves, just a list of all the books I own. I'd rather print the list directly from iBooks, but it would also work to export the list to pages or numbers and print from there. I have quite a lot of books and can never remember what I have. I've even bought the same book twice.

Posted on Aug 7, 2016 5:12 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 8, 2016 12:33 PM

Hi, Krasna!

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. The information you provided tells me you're wanting to know how you can keep track of your iBooks purchases. I have a lot of iBooks myself, so I definitely understand wanting to keep track of them all--I'd be happy to help!


While there isn't a way for you to export a list of all your books from the iBooks app, you can see all your books within the app itself. On a Mac, you have a several options to viewing your iBooks, all listed across the top center of the app.

  1. Under the All Books section, you will see all of your books and their covers. A cloud icon in the upper right corner means you have purchased the book, but it is not downloaded to your device.

  2. Under the Collections section, you will have the option to search through All your iBook purchases as well as different categories such as Books, PDFs, and Current (which displays iBooks you are currently reading).

  3. The Authors section lets you see all of your iBooks, sorted by author.

  4. The Categories section lists all of your iBooks by category, such as Action & Adventure, Fantasy, or Biographies.

  5. Finally, the List section will display all of your iBooks, alphabetically, in a list format. You'll also be able to see the title, author, category, collection, last read date, date added, size, and whether it's downloaded to your device or still in the cloud. This is likely the view you'd be most interested in to keep track of what iBooks you already own.

You can take screenshots of the list of books you have and you can print that if you would like a printed list of books you own. You can find out how to take a screenshot here:

How to take a screenshot on your Mac - Apple Support

You can get some additional information on utilizing iBooks by checking out the following article: About iBooks


Happy reading!

10 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 8, 2016 12:33 PM in response to Krasna

Hi, Krasna!

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. The information you provided tells me you're wanting to know how you can keep track of your iBooks purchases. I have a lot of iBooks myself, so I definitely understand wanting to keep track of them all--I'd be happy to help!


While there isn't a way for you to export a list of all your books from the iBooks app, you can see all your books within the app itself. On a Mac, you have a several options to viewing your iBooks, all listed across the top center of the app.

  1. Under the All Books section, you will see all of your books and their covers. A cloud icon in the upper right corner means you have purchased the book, but it is not downloaded to your device.

  2. Under the Collections section, you will have the option to search through All your iBook purchases as well as different categories such as Books, PDFs, and Current (which displays iBooks you are currently reading).

  3. The Authors section lets you see all of your iBooks, sorted by author.

  4. The Categories section lists all of your iBooks by category, such as Action & Adventure, Fantasy, or Biographies.

  5. Finally, the List section will display all of your iBooks, alphabetically, in a list format. You'll also be able to see the title, author, category, collection, last read date, date added, size, and whether it's downloaded to your device or still in the cloud. This is likely the view you'd be most interested in to keep track of what iBooks you already own.

You can take screenshots of the list of books you have and you can print that if you would like a printed list of books you own. You can find out how to take a screenshot here:

How to take a screenshot on your Mac - Apple Support

You can get some additional information on utilizing iBooks by checking out the following article: About iBooks


Happy reading!

Aug 29, 2016 9:55 AM in response to G Michael Otto

It’s a lot of reaching around behind your back to scratch your nose……but here it is:


This involves a mobile (iOS) device and a computer. It assumes that the iBooks library has been synced with the mobile device iBooks.


  1. Connect iOS device to computer and open iTunes
  2. Click on the Device
  3. On the left side click on the device so you see the content
  4. Below the list of things under the device there is another list “On My Device”
  5. Select Books in that list
  6. On the computer click on File>Print
  7. Select Song List instead of CD Insert — gives you Title and Author
  8. In the print Dialog Box under PDF select Save As PDF
  9. Print the PDF



IF, however the objective is to get at the ISBN this won’t give you the ISBN


You could then:


  1. Convert the PDF to Excel
  2. Open the Excel File Copy the column with the Titles in it and use one of the ISBN lookup tools to get and then add the ISBN


IF, you’re trying to get them into eatyourbooks.com that should let you add by Title.


Calibre would spit out a catalog listing with the ISBN, but you have to get the books into it first and I’ve not tried importing the books with their weird obfuscated names from the iBooks library.


Hope this is helpful.


Mike

Aug 28, 2016 8:55 PM in response to Lindsay_B.

Lindsay, I appreciate the time you took to respond and all the details you offered. I already, however, know how to use iBooks, and I know how to take screenshots, and these are not what I asked about. So, the answer to my question, apparently, is simply "no." Bummer. I truly don't understand why I can't simply have a sortable list of my own books--or at least a list of ISBN codes so I can use another app to compile such a list. To be fair, I can't export a list of my books on Kindle, either--but then, I don't expect great things from Amazon as I do from Apple. Krasna

Sep 13, 2016 1:16 PM in response to Krasna

Krasna wrote:

I don't want to print the books themselves, just a list of all the books I own. I'd rather print the list directly from iBooks, but it would also work to export the list to pages or numbers and print from there.

Krasna wrote:

I'd like to consolidate my iTunes and kindle lists so I can see everything at once. I'd have thought someone would write an app for doing this by now!


Hi,

See my answer in this thread.

Aug 29, 2016 1:13 PM in response to Krasna

Mike,

This looks very helpful. Now all I have to do is find someone with a PC.

No, the ISBN idea was another workaround and would only keep me from retyping the whole list.

The problem isn't capturing it once, it's keeping it up to date. Once I get it into a pdf, I can "unpdf" it. Ideally, of course, I'd like to consolidate my iTunes and kindle lists so I can see everything at once. I'd have thought someone would write an app for doing this by now!

Anyway, thanks for your creativity. It might take a while to find a PC to do it on, though.

Also, do I need the iOS device? Why couldn't I just sign into my iTunes account from that PC and do from there? (This may be an ignorant question. I know almost nothing about Windows).

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

How can I print (or export) a list of the books in iBooks?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.