With iTunes no longer supporting books (PDF and epub), I don't see an Apple-ecosystem way to transfer books to iOS devices by USB. As far as I can see, there's no sync arrangement through Mac iBooks. For clarity, I'm talking about third-party books, not those bought from Apple.
Is there a way?
iMac with Retina 5K display, macOS Sierra (10.12.6)
Yes. While there is no longer an iBooks section in iTunes, if you connect the iPad to the computer and then select it in itunes so the side bar is visible, you can drag the epub and pdf files onto the device directly and it will still sync them.
Make sure you have Manually Manage content set for your device:
More info here:
Hi Phil0124, and thanks for your reply.
I'm obviously doing something wrong. I drag an epub or PDF from a finder window on my Mac to Device>Books in iTunes, as your screenshot shows, and … nothing happens. Same result on an iPhone with iOS 11 and on an ancient iPad with iOS 7.
Well that was interesting. I set Manually Manage, successfully dragged a couple of ePubs onto the iPad icon — and all existing books vanished from the iPad. My fault, I’m sure, but I’ve had enough of iTunes for today. I’ll look at it again tomorrow.
Regards.
How to transfer books from Mac to iPad?
