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This step-by-step tutorial demonstrates how to transfer ePUB books and PDF documents from your PC to the iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch regardless of whether you got the books from the iTunes Store or downloaded them from another location.

Nowadays eBooks are inevitably becoming more and more popular due to their accessibility and portability. Just a single device, be it your favorite iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, can comprise all the books you want to read. But you might face some problems, for example:

❌ I can’t transfer ebooks to my iPhone
❓ Why can’t I send PDF files on my iPhone?
❌ Airdrop not sending/receiving PDF files
❌ Can’t save PDF file to iBooks

Please, don’t panic! We will help you! The method described works for adding books and PDF to any iOS device.

Select what you want to do next:

Let’s add ePUB books to iPad

    Before adding books to iPad or iPhone, install an iOS app which supports ePUB format. There are many such apps on the App Store, paid or free. If you’re going for a free option, use, for example, Documents.

  1. Once you have an eBook reader installed on the iPad/iPhone, download CopyTrans Filey to your PC:

    Download CopyTrans Filey

  2. Run CopyTrans Filey and connect your iPad to the PC. From the list of device apps in the lower-left corner, select an eBook reader app. For this tutorial, we chose Marvin: select ipad ebook reader app with copytrans filey
  3. On your PC, open a new Explorer window and navigate to the location where you have your ePUB books. Select all the ePUB books you wish to transfer to the iPad, then drag and drop them to the middle of CopyTrans Filey window. Stand by until the transfer is complete:
    browse for epub books on pc with copytrans fileyTIP: You can switch between the apps in the top part of the app screen.
  4. The eBooks are now added to your iPad/iPhone! epub book on ipadepub book on ipad

Let’s add eBooks to iBook

If you wish to copy the files transferred to iBooks, do the following:

  1. Select the eBook, tap on the arrow at the top, choose “Open in…” and select “Copy to iBooks”: Add your ebooks to iBooks
  2. Here we go! The files are waiting for you in iBooks: Ebook added

This is how to add ePUB books to iPad / iPhone.

Let’s add multiple eBook folders to iPad/iPhone

If you want to import multiple folders from PC to iPad/iPhone and preserve the original folder structure, you will need our new app, CopyTrans Filey, and an iOS app that knows how to work with file archives: we used unZip for the purpose of this tutorial.

So, let’s do it:

  1. Put all the eBooks to one PC folder and compress the folder into an archive.
  2. Download a ZIP extractor app to your iOS device: it will help you unpack the archive.
  3. Open CopyTrans Filey and select unZip (or any other ZIP extractor) in the drag-and-drop window. Select the archive you formed, then drag-and-drop it to the middle of CopyTrans Filey window.
    Add your folder to unZip with CopyTrans Filey
  4. On your iPhone or iPad, open unZip and select the archive:
    Select Files in your unZip
  5. Now you can move unzipped files wherever you want on your iPad/iPhone: just select a file, click “Edit” -> “Move” and select the destination.

Adding eBooks to iPad via iTunes – alternative method

In order to transfer eBooks to your iPad or iPhone via iTunes you need to have iBooks installed on your iDevice already. You can download iBooks for iPad and iPhone directly from the App Store.

  1. First, open iTunes and navigate to the “Books” section. itunes library main window selecting books section
  2. Now all you need to do is to drag and drop the ePUB files from your PC to the open iTunes window. drag and drop epub books to itunes library on pc
  3. The books are added to your library. With the iTunes window open, connect the iPhone or iPad and click on the device once it appears listed. click on iphone once it appears in itunes main window
  4. Click on the “Books” tab on top. iphone books section in itunes window
  5. Make sure to tick the options “Sync Books” and “Selected books”. Now tick the checkboxes next to the ePUB books you wish to transfer to the iPad and click “Apply”. sync epub books from itunes library to iphone
    NOTE: To avoid “Automatic synchronization” with iTunes, hold down Shif+Ctrl while launching iTunes. If you need help, we have a guide on how to avoid automatic synchronization with iTunes.
  6. The ePUBs are now added to the iPad or iPhone and you can access them from the iBooks app!ibooks app on iphone displaying opened book

Transfer PDF to iPad

    Transferring PDF files to iPad or iPhone is done in much the same way as adding ePUB books. First, ensure that you have a PDF reader app on your iPad. Free examples include Adobe Reader for iOS, Marvin, or Bluefire.

  1. Download CopyTrans Filey from the page below:
    Download CopyTrans Filey
  2. Start CopyTrans Filey and connect your iPad or iPhone to PC. Once the iPad apps populate at the bottom of the program window, select a PDF reading app: pdf reader for ipad selected on pc
  3. On the PC, open a new Explorer window and navigate to the location where you have your PDF files. Select all the PDF files you wish to transfer to the iPad, then drag and drop them to the middle of CopyTrans Filey window: add documents button in main copytrans filey windowTIP: You can also add movie files to any video player app switching between the apps at the top of the screen in the drag-and-drop section.
  4. The PDF documents are now accessible from the iPad. PDF on iPad

Enjoy the ePUB books or PDF documents you just added to your iPad!

Add PDF to iPad via iTunes – alternative method

The method below only works if you already installed iBooks on your iPad or iPhone.

  1. First, open iTunes on your PC and navigate to the Books section. books section in itunes library on pc
  2. Click on the “PDFs” tab, then drag and drop the PDF files to the open iTunes window. drag drop pdf document to open itunes window
  3. Connect the iPad or iPhone and click on the device button once it appears in iTunes. connected iphone appears in itunes on pc
  4. Click the “Books” tab and make sure “Sync books” is checked. Then choose “Selected books” and check the box next to the PDF documents you’d like to transfer to the iPad or iPhone. Finally, click on the “Apply” button. sync pdf files to iphone in itunes
    NOTE: To avoid “Automatic synchronization” with iTunes, hold down Shif+Ctrl while launching iTunes. If you need help, we have a guide on how to avoid automatic synchronization with iTunes.
  5. You can now open the PDF documents you transfered on your iPad or iPhone pdf document opens in ibooks on iphone ios 7

This is how to transfer ePUB books and PDF files to iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.

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By krasimir

Krasimir is an avid marketing aficionado and a tech-support specialist in charge of the English-speaking market. He grew up in Bulgaria and on the island of Mauritius where he became passionate about windsurfing and photography.