How to save PDF to Apple Books app on iPhone or iPad

Learn how to save a PDF document to the Books app on your iPhone or iPad for safekeeping and easy access across your devices.

How to save PDF to Books app on iPhone

PDFs imported on one device are synced to the Books app on all your other devices using the same Apple account. That way, you have the same PDFs in the Books app across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Save a PDF to iOS Books app

  1. Open a PDF file somewhere on your iPhone or iPad, like an email message, WhatsApp or iMessage chat, a Safari page, or the Files app.
  2. With the document open, tap the share button.
  3. Choose Books or Copy to Books, depending on the app you’re using.

This opens the PDF directly in the Books app and saves it there. You can now read your PDF in the Books app using its layout, brightness, and font controls.

Save PDF to Books on iPhone

If you don’t see the Books options in the share menu, swipe to the rightmost side and choose More. Then tap Edit, slide the Books switch to the ON position, and tap Done twice. You’ll now see the Books app icon in the share menu.

Add Books to iOS Share Sheet

When reading a PDF document in the Books app:

  1. Tap Library.
  2. Tap the four-line menu icon at the top.
  3. Tap PDFs to see all your PDF documents in the Books app in one spot. From there, tap one to open and read.
Seeing all PDFs in Apple Books on iOS

Now you can save all of those digital role-playing gaming books you’ve backed on Kickstarter to the Books app and read them there. Remember that you can also use the Save to Files option in the share menu to save a PDF to Apple’s Files app.

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