Remove "old" PDFs from iTunes: iBook Duplicates

[Traverse]

Hi everyone,

I did my researcher and tinkered with it, but I can't find out how to fix this. I guess now PDFs sync through iTunes from iBooks to iOS devices. Well, I had several PDFs from the pre-Mavericks era in iTunes ("iTunes Media" >"Books" folder).

Well I imported my PDFs into iBooks so that I could start adding new and managing them, but now all my devices have duplicates showing in iTunes (in the books tab when I select a device) and it tries to sync the old and new. I deleted the Books folder from iTunes Media, but it still attempts to sync those books and I get an error "can find file" when I sync, but most annoying of all is that on the books tab there is duplicates of all the PDFs that were in the old "books" folder and now in iBooks.

How can I get iTunes to delete and "forget" the old PDFs without restoring my device?

 

[aritjahja]

Same here...
I've search for a solution around the internet and nobody seems notice this problem nor has a solution.

 

[leijoninna]

Possible solution

I also had this problem with a few books, both pdf:s and ePubs. Not sure if they are pre-Mavericks, but still a duplicate problem. I did however experiment and found a solution. It is tedious, and requires iBooks for Mac, but it worked for me.

I only sync "checked" books on iTunes. I had the copies of the affected books unchecked prior to this. Not sure if there will be any difference if they are checked. It seems like the old copies are the one that comes first in the list.

1. Make sure you have an extra copy of the PDF or ePub somewhere on the computer that is not in the Books folder (User/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks/Books).

2. Open iBooks for Mac, locate the affected books in your library, right-click and remove them. It might take a few moments before they disappear from the library. They should now also disappear from the Books folder I mentioned earlier.

3. In iBooks, choose File -> Move books from iTunes (you might have to do this first of all if you haven't used iBooks on Mac before). Not sure if this step is necessary but I did it just to be sure. In my experience it moves books to iTunes rather than the other way around, or both ways. Never really sure.

4. Plug in the device, open iTunes and sync. If you have the affected books/files in your device library they will disappear from there. On the Books tab for your device in iTunes, all copies of the books will have disappeared. Close iTunes again.

5. Drag the extra copies of the PDF or ePoub files to iBooks. Open iTunes to find them in the Books tab, this time with one copy only. If not there, do the "Move from iTunes" trick in iBooks again. If you are only syncing "checked" books, you might have to check the books again if they are unchecked. Either do a complete device sync, or just sync the books directly from the bottom of the tab.

Done. You can now remove the extra copies of your PDFs or eBooks from your computer.