Master the BOOKS APP

Your reading room now comes with audio

fOur yeArS AfTer

iPhoto became Photos, the iBooks app is now Books, although Apple refers to it as Apple Books. The iBooks Store is now the Book Store (not the Books Store, nor the Apple Book Store). Names aren’t the only confusing thing about this app: it also hides its iCloud sync settings in a rather discreet place, which we’ll remind you about on the opposite page.

Once that’s sorted, the app itself is straightforward, with tabs across the top to show your library of ebooks and access the Book Store and also the Audiobook Store. Covers without a cloud icon are already on your Mac; others can be downloaded to read (you can’t stream books).

collected works

Previously accessed from the top tabs, Collections are like photo albums: create your own, then drag a book onto a collection to include it. A book can be in multiple collections.

liBrary card

Library shows books you’ve got from Apple or imported. Add more via File > Add to Library. Oddly, your Books library is deeply hidden in your user Library folder and can’t be moved.

checked out

A cloud icon means you’ve purchased this title (whether free or paid–for) from the Store, but it’s not currently on this Mac; click this to download and read the book.

BurN those Books

Right–click a cover for this menu. In a collection view, Delete means “no longer include this book in this collection”; in the All Books view, it means erase it (you’ll be asked to confirm before it goes).