Remove Books From Local Storage Only

Question

Level 1

9 points

Remove Books From Local Storage Only

I’ve looked in the Apple iBooks resource material and have not found an answer to this question.

I usually order iBooks from my IMac. They synchronize to my iPhone, my MacBook Pro and my iPad Air that I most often use as a reader. On all four devices, the book list shows a cloud icon with a down arrow for those books that are not downloaded to that device. Those books that have been downloaded to that particular device have a blank where the cloud/down arrow icon would be (iPhone and MacBook Pro) or a [Read] notice (iPad Air).

I see no reason to continue to store the books that have been read on these devices. But I don’t see a way to remove them from the devices but continue to have the ability to read them if I care to sometime. I see that there’s a Delete choice but I fear that they will be completely removed from my library if I use it.

How do I undownload (is that a word?) them but retain access to them?

Posted on Apr 20, 2017 5:27 PM

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Answer 1

pmillen Author

Level 1

9 points

Apr 21, 2017 3:49 PM in response to Drew Reece

Thank you for the prompt reply and the backup advice.

To clarify my question—this screen shot from my MacBook Pro shows my books' status.

Several books have the cloud icon with a down arrow. They apparently downloaded to my MacBook Pro yesterday (I don't know how this happened). The top three—without the cloud and down arrow icon—evidently haven't been downloaded but are listed, indicating that I could download and read them on my MacBook pro.

So I want to change the bottom 8 to be listed but not resident on my MacBook, just like the top three.

I don't see a way to accomplish that.

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Answer 2

pmillen Author

Level 1

9 points

Apr 22, 2017 9:07 AM in response to Drew Reece

Thanks again, Drew, that accomplished my goal.

As I wrote in my original post, " I see that there’s a Delete choice but I fear that they will be completely removed from my library on that device if I use it." I decide to test it even though I was apprehensive. It worked fine, thanks for your diligence.

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Answer 3

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,684 points

Apr 20, 2017 11:58 PM in response to pmillen

Are you backing up your computer?

There really is no reason to worry if you make a backup of the Mac. Apple made Time Machine very simple to help you make backups - use it or use something else if you are not already doing so.

You can delete the books from your iOS device. They will remain on the iMac. They will also remain in your iCloud purchase history & should remain downloadable from the store. Apple do remove some items from the store so this is why you need your own backups - sometimes you cannot redownload items you once purchased. That includes music & movies too.

Ask if you need help to backup - there is no excuse not to, please ignore if you do so already.

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Answer 4

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,684 points

Apr 21, 2017 4:45 PM in response to pmillen

The cloud icon indicates that those items are not on your Mac only in you iCloud purchases. The lack of a cloud means those items are on the Mac. You seem to conflict this statement in your post so I really don't understand how you are interpreting the list.

There are only 2 states - downloaded or not downloaded. The top 3 are downloaded the bottom 8 are not.

Double click the top 3 & they should open for reading unless something is wrong on your Mac, in which case reboot, retry & then post back here if it still fails.

Click the cloud icon on the bottom 8 if you want them to download to the Mac. They take a time to download so look in the toolbar for the download status icon, I think it lists them as they download & then disappears.

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Answer 5

pmillen Author

Level 1

9 points

Apr 21, 2017 6:43 PM in response to Drew Reece

You are right. I "flipped" the meaning. So I believe I understand, now. The cloud/arrow icon means that I may download the books. Other indicators—blank on my iPhone 7, MacBook Pro, and iMac; and [READ] on my iPad Air—show that the book has been downloaded to that device.

So here's what I want to accomplish—I want all books except the one that I'm reading at the moment to be not downloaded (have the cloud/arrow icon) on all devices. In other words, I want to "undownload" them but retain them in the list with the cloud/arrow icon.

How do I do that?

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Answer 6

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,684 points

Apr 21, 2017 7:29 PM in response to pmillen

pmillen wrote:

In other words, I want to "undownload" them but retain them in the list with the cloud/arrow icon.

How do I do that?

You just delete them from the device.

iOS

Tap 'Select' then tap every book you want to delete & use the delete button at the top to remove them

Mac OS

Select the books, right click & choose delete or use the Edit menu to choose delete instead of right clicking.

I assume you already have a backup of them? Also look at the sizes in your list - they are quite small. You have around 200MB listed in that image (for all the books) - if you are removing to save space you are not really freeing very much. I can understand doing it on an iOS device but it seems a little pointless deleting on Mac OS?

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