iPad FAQs for iPad with a heavy dose of civility

[fraunthall]

Yesterday I spoke to an Apple "tech" about syncing ebooks, apps, etc., using iTunes from my PC and my iPad2 to my iPad1 and asked if it was possible to just sync one book or one app at a time. The answer was an emphatic NO. I was told one had to resync the entire app and/or ebook library just to get a new ebook or app over. I also took that to mean that even leaving one of the iPads out of the equation I would encounter the same difficulty. This is, as you can imagine, time consuming and wasting.

Question: If I attempt, using Calibre, to sync one ebook file from Calibre to one of my iPads, will it work simply, or will the process remove all of the other ebooks on my iPad and replace them with the new ebook only? Does anyone know?

By the way, if this is an old thread, where do I create a new thread?

[DaleDe]

At the top of the forum is a box that allows you to start new thread.

Dale

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by fraunthall

...By the way, if this is an old thread, where do I create a new thread?

Originally Posted by DaleDe

At the top of the forum is a box that allows you to start new thread.

Dale

(Click to enlarge)

[kjk]

Originally Posted by fraunthall

Yesterday I spoke to an Apple "tech" about syncing ebooks, apps, etc., using iTunes from my PC and my iPad2 to my iPad1 and asked if it was possible to just sync one book or one app at a time. The answer was an emphatic NO. I was told one had to resync the entire app and/or ebook library just to get a new ebook or app over. I also took that to mean that even leaving one of the iPads out of the equation I would encounter the same difficulty. This is, as you can imagine, time consuming and wasting.

Question: If I attempt, using Calibre, to sync one ebook file from Calibre to one of my iPads, will it work simply, or will the process remove all of the other ebooks on my iPad and replace them with the new ebook only? Does anyone know?

By the way, if this is an old thread, where do I create a new thread?

You can sync one, some, or all books and apps from iTunes to your iPad.

[phnphunk]

Greetings to the list...
I did a quick search but didnt find anything so I hope this is not a common problem.

I have an iPad 3 and when launching Calibre on OSX 10.7.3 i mistakenly said I wanted calibre to talk to my iphone. So i ran the welcome function again and said ipad, but i still dont have it in the tools menu. Any suggestions?

Can I delete a preference file or should I reinstall calibre totally?

Thanks for all the help!

[DaleDe]

I would suggest you ask your question where the Calibre experts are. We have a full forum devoted to Calibre.

[soundwaves]

I figure this is a pretty commonly asked question, so I'll ask it here. I've just gotten an iPad 2 (it arrived today!) so that I can read my image-heavy, full colour, .pdf (ugh) uni text books. I was planning on just reading them through iBooks, but when I loaded one book through DropBox into iBooks, there's a chunk at the top and bottom of the pages where I can see that grey iBooks background. Is there a (preferably free) app I can use for .pdfs that allow the .pdf to cover the entire screen?

(I'm sorry if this is really obvious! I'm brand new to Apple devices - I've never been much of a fan in the past. I don't even have an iPod!)

[pshrynk]

Good Reader does a god job. Available in the store.

[soundwaves]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

Good Reader does a god job. Available in the store.

Thanks. I saw all the recommendations in the first post, but I wasn't sure which ones would get it to cover the whole screen.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by soundwaves

I figure this is a pretty commonly asked question, so I'll ask it here. I've just gotten an iPad 2 (it arrived today!) so that I can read my image-heavy, full colour, .pdf (ugh) uni text books. I was planning on just reading them through iBooks, but when I loaded one book through DropBox into iBooks, there's a chunk at the top and bottom of the pages where I can see that grey iBooks background. Is there a (preferably free) app I can use for .pdfs that allow the .pdf to cover the entire screen?

(I'm sorry if this is really obvious! I'm brand new to Apple devices - I've never been much of a fan in the past. I don't even have an iPod!)

Did you try tapping on the page to make the top and bottom border go away?

Dale

[soundwaves]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Did you try tapping on the page to make the top and bottom border go away?

Dale

Um... I'm not entirely sure what you're asking, so I hope it's okay if I link a screenshot! This is what I'm talking about, I've tried to highlight the areas where the grey background pokes out. I noticed that I could zoom in to cover the grey area, but it wouldn't apply with every page. It's not a huge difference, really - I just want the text book to be full screen. :3

I'm also noticing that Good Reader is $5. Are there any free alternatives that work fairly well? I've downloaded Stanza, but it keeps freezing after a few seconds.

[FlorenceArt]

If you double-tap in the middle of the page, it will be enlarged to remove the grey margins.

Good Reader is a bit expensive but it's worth it IMO, mostly for the great file management functionalities. It's also useful to annotate PDF files, for example if you want to fill a form, and you can crop the margins of a PDF file which are often too large for comfortable reading in the iPad.

But if you are looking for free apps, I suggest you try searching for PDF in the iTunes store, I'm sure you will find a lot of them.

[WT Sharpe]

I have GoodReader also and find it to be an excellent program. I use it mainly for catalogs and magazines.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by soundwaves

Um... I'm not entirely sure what you're asking, so I hope it's okay if I link a screenshot! This is what I'm talking about, I've tried to highlight the areas where the grey background pokes out. I noticed that I could zoom in to cover the grey area, but it wouldn't apply with every page. It's not a huge difference, really - I just want the text book to be full screen. :3

I'm also noticing that Good Reader is $5. Are there any free alternatives that work fairly well? I've downloaded Stanza, but it keeps freezing after a few seconds.

I think the gray margins are due to the aspect ratio of the document you are viewing, not due to the iBook. It is flush with the left and right edges. To maintain a correct and accurate aspect ratio you will occasionally see this sort of thing. I have some PDF's that have gray bars on the left and right sides as they happen to be a bit taller than they are wide.

Dale

[soundwaves]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

I think the gray margins are due to the aspect ratio of the document you are viewing, not due to the iBook. It is flush with the left and right edges. To maintain a correct and accurate aspect ratio you will occasionally see this sort of thing. I have some PDF's that have gray bars on the left and right sides as they happen to be a bit taller than they are wide.

Dale

That makes a lot of sense... In fact, I should have realised it was the aspect ratio myself. Thanks for your help! I guess it's time to just deal with it and pick my favourite reading app!