How to add PDF files to read in iBooks on your iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone

Although I am fairly addicted to my Kindle I like to keep books on my iPad too, especially work related manuals. I found fairly quickly that I cannot just drag my .pdf books straight into iBooks.

Firstly open up iTunes on your computer. Select File, and then scroll down to Add to Library. Navigate your way to your .pdf file(s) that you want to transfer onto your device. You can select one or a few, or alternatively the entire folder. Once you have made your selection, click Choose.

Now go and select Books from you iTunes Library. You should see the .pdf files you have just selected in the Books Library. Right-Click (PC) or Ctrl+Click (Mac) on the added .pdf files and select Get Info.

First select the Options tab to make sure the Media Kind is set to Book.
Secondly select the Info tab. It’s in this tab you can add all the relevant information you are going to want to store about the book : author, genre, year published and so forth. When you are done click on OK.

Finally select you device (iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone) from the Devices list in iTunes. Select the Books tab from the list at the top. Make sure that Synce Books is selected. If you want to select all the books you’ve add, select the All Books button. Now simply press Sync.

Alternatively if you only want to sync a few selected for now, you select the button next to the relevant book, and then press Sync.
Now once you open your iBooks, tap the PDF button at the top. This will bring up all the .pdf books you have added. You can now enjoy your books.
Remember at any point you can tap the screen and a menu will appear at the top. From here you can change the displays brightness, search the PDF, bookmark a page etc in the same way you usually do with your iBooks.