MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Advice on using calibre to manage PDFs on iPads

mistert20 · 10-02-2014, 08:05 AM

Hello,
Looking for some workflow advice, rather than reinvent the wheel. I hate the new iBooks mess, and so I'm looking to move to other book solutions for my iPads. I have a well-organized calibre library. I have just started using Marvin, but now realize that it won't support PDFs. I either need another app for PDFs, or a suggestion for a PDF/epub app for iOS. Again, I want to use calibre as my main book library. I have a lot of large books, so my library is about 20 GB in size, but I only want put about 40-50 books on the iPads at any given time. I want to avoid storing my library on Dropbox or similar, because I'd have to pay for upgraded storage space. I need to be able to put different books on different iPads. I don't care too much about features like dictionaries or even highlighting and annotations. Just want an easy way to transfer books, keep them organized, and be able to read them on the iPads.

I like the way Marvin seems to work. It does't make a second copy of the book on my Mac like the transfer to iBooks/iTunes did. Just goes straight to the device. Is there anything similar for PDFs? Or another app that integrates both Pdf and epub? If there's no similar direct transfer, then is there an app that at least respects the metadata provided by calibre, unlike the iBooks fiasco?

Thanks in advance!

Cheers
Mark

10-02-2014, 08:05 AM	#1
mistert20 Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2014 Device: iPad	Advice on using calibre to manage PDFs on iPads Hello, Looking for some workflow advice, rather than reinvent the wheel. I hate the new iBooks mess, and so I'm looking to move to other book solutions for my iPads. I have a well-organized calibre library. I have just started using Marvin, but now realize that it won't support PDFs. I either need another app for PDFs, or a suggestion for a PDF/epub app for iOS. Again, I want to use calibre as my main book library. I have a lot of large books, so my library is about 20 GB in size, but I only want put about 40-50 books on the iPads at any given time. I want to avoid storing my library on Dropbox or similar, because I'd have to pay for upgraded storage space. I need to be able to put different books on different iPads. I don't care too much about features like dictionaries or even highlighting and annotations. Just want an easy way to transfer books, keep them organized, and be able to read them on the iPads. I like the way Marvin seems to work. It does't make a second copy of the book on my Mac like the transfer to iBooks/iTunes did. Just goes straight to the device. Is there anything similar for PDFs? Or another app that integrates both Pdf and epub? If there's no similar direct transfer, then is there an app that at least respects the metadata provided by calibre, unlike the iBooks fiasco? Thanks in advance! Cheers Mark