PDF-files to iBooks

[PalacePlayers]

I have some textbooks in PDF-format that I would like to read in iBooks for Mac and iOS. iBooks can open both PDFs and ePub, but it treats them differently. Only with ePub files you can mark text, take notes and make quiz-cards and such. I would like these features for my textbook in PDF.

I've tried various PDF to ePub-converters, but it seems like all the pictures is missing when I add the ePub file to iBooks, and also the formatting is horrible.

Any tips on how to get my textbook in iBooks as an ePub-file without losing pictures and formatting?

 

[onekerato]

Try a PDF to Word or Pages converter, and then use Pages app to export to EPUB.

 

[neutrino23]

1. You might try another App such as Goodreader or PDFexpert. These provide for annotation and such.

2. As suggested, convert the PDF to Pages.
I'm not advocating for this site, just found it with a quick search. It lists several converters.
http://www.iskysoft.com/edit-pdf/pdf-to-pages-mac.html

After getting the PDF doc in Pages I would export it to Apple's iBooks Author. This is a free app for OS X that make ebooks in Apple's format. The advantage of this is that it preserves formatting of pages including image location. So if you have something with lots of images and charts and such this is the way to go.

The epub format does not provide for accurate positioning of any sort of data such as images. This is why there are competing formats from Apple, Adobe, Aquafadas, Inkling and maybe others for laying out ebooks with rich content.

Once you have a document open in iBooks Author you can send directly to your iPad if the it is attached by cable. You can also export the document in an ebook format. Move this to your iPad and open it in iBooks. Dropbox works. I have yet to try AirDrop or iCloud but I suspect these would work as well.