7 iBooks insights

Oddly enough, Apple’s book-reading app isn’t just for reading – you can also use it to collect and comment on books

Use iCloud 1

When first used, iBooks asks if you want to use iCloud. If you do, items you add to your library will be synced across your devices that use the same account. To activate it later, turn on iBooks in iCloud > iCloud Drive in System Prefs on your Macs and Settings on iOS devices.

Don’t use iCloud 2

Yes, we know what we just said, but if you keep your books only on one Mac, you can use the app purely as a reader for eBooks and PDFs – the latter open in Preview. (If your iCloud account has plenty of free storage, you might leave iCloud on anyway.)

Sort and view more 3

By default, iBooks puts recent additions at the top left, which you can change in View > Sort By. Books are represented by a thumbnail image; View > Show Title & Author adds those details under the book covers.

Create collections 4

Click Collections and you may see iBooks has sorted your documents into Books and PDFs. To make a new collection, select some items, ≈- click one, choose New Collection from Selection, and name it in the sidebar.