Bernard A

Q: Books in iBooks not visible in iTunes

This problem emerged in Yosemite and persists in El Capitan.  It is still occurring in iTunes 12.5.1.21 which was just released (Sept 2016).

 

The books in my iBooks library can only be transferred to my iDevices through iTunes.  When I boot my Mac, start iTunes, select a device (e.g., iPad) and click on Books in the sidebar I see all the books in my iBooks library.

 

However, if I close iTunes then reopen it again the books are not visible.

 

This is repeatable.

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014), OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Sep 14, 2016 12:54 PM

Close

Q: Books in iBooks not visible in iTunes

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by sterling r,Helpful

    sterling r sterling r Sep 15, 2016 3:08 PM in response to Bernard A
    Community Specialists
    Sep 15, 2016 3:08 PM in response to Bernard A

    Hello Bernard,

     

    It sounds like your iBooks library seems to be disappearing from iTunes when you close and re open the application and this has been going on for a long while. First we need to know if this happens in another user on your computer. Use this article to test that out and let us know how it works in another user:
     

    OS X El Capitan: Set up users on your Mac
     

      •  
      •  

        Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Users & Groups.

         
      •  
      •  

        Click the lock icon  to unlock it, then enter an administrator name and password. 

         
      •  
      •  

        Click the Add button  below the list of users. 

         
      •  
      •  

        Click the New Account pop-up menu, then choose a type of user.

          
            
        •   

          Administrator: An administrator can add and manage other users, install apps, and change settings. The new user you create when you first set up your Mac is an administrator. Your Mac can have multiple administrators. You can create new ones, and convert standard users to administrators. Don’t set up automatic login for an administrator. If you do, someone could simply restart your Mac and gain access with administrator privileges. To keep your Mac secure, don’t share administrator names and passwords. 

            
        •  
         
      •  
      •  

        Enter a full name for the new user. An account name is generated automatically. To use a different account name, enter it now—you can’t change it later. 

         
      •  
      •  

        Enter a password for the user, then enter it again to verify. Using a password hint is recommended to help the user remember his or her password. 

         
      •  
      •  

        Click Create User.

         


    You may have to copy over some of the books to the new user using iCloud Drive or download your past iBook purchases for testing purposes. See these articles for more help:
     

    iBooks for Mac: Import books or PDFs

    Download your past purchases

     

    Sincerely.

  • by Bernard A,

    Bernard A Bernard A Sep 15, 2016 3:13 PM in response to sterling r
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 15, 2016 3:13 PM in response to sterling r

    Sterling,

     

    I ran a test with a new user and did not have the problem.  On investigation I find that in the new user books are stored in:

    /Users/[user name]/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks/Books

     

    but in the user I'm having problems with my books appear to be stored in:

     

    /Users/[main user name]/Library/Containers/com.apple.iBooksX/Data/Library/Caches/com.apple.iBooks X/ic-BKLibraryImageSource-2.cache

     

    I believe I have all my books as epub or pdf files in a backup folder.  Should I delete everything from iBooks and re-add?  This is a lot of work as I have added considerable metadata in iBooks for each book and suspect this will be lost.

     

    Anyway, I can't do any of this for a couple of weeks but I'd be interested to hear you thoughts.

     

    Bernard

  • by chris_g1,

    chris_g1 chris_g1 Sep 15, 2016 7:10 PM in response to Bernard A
    Community Specialists
    Sep 15, 2016 7:10 PM in response to Bernard A

    I think that dragging them out to a folder on the desktop to copy them, deleting them from iBooks, then restarting and re-adding them to iBooks would be the best idea here.