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Error message 'Ebook corrupt' when trying to add to Books app (Catalina)

After upgrading to Catalina yesterday I am unable to manually add any epub's to the Book app. The error message says that the ebook is corrupt (which is funny as it opens without a problem in the calibre app.


I also had no problem in adding the same epub to my Iphone 10 (IBooks app, running OSX 13.1) which leads me to believe that the new Books app in Catalina has an issue.


Any suggestions on how to solve this would be great!



As you can see artwork and ebook showing just fine in Calibre



Mac Pro

Posted on Oct 8, 2019 9:34 PM

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13 replies

Oct 12, 2019 5:51 AM in response to pklugs

It seems the Books app in Catalina is quite particular when it comes to the naming scheme used for the html files within the epub package. While we wait for Apple to remedy this in a coming release, a quick fix is:


1) Download and install the latest Calibre https://calibre-ebook.com


2) Right-click on the epub file that gives the "ebook corrupt" error in Books and choose Open With ebook-edit




3) This will launch the Calibre file editor. In the leftmost column, called "File Browser", select all html files in the Text section and right-click.




4) Choose "Bulk rename the selected files"




5) In the pop-up window, change Prefix to index_. and starting number to 1 - then press OK




6) From the menu bar choose File - Save. You can now exit the book editor app.


The ebook will now open in Books on your desktop without any problems... except of course that you will have to redo all of the above for every single ebook that shows you this error.


It seems the current desktop Books version simply crashes when it encounters certain html naming schemes, and simply renaming all the files to index_0001, index_0002, ... etc. fixes the problem.


Hopefully Apple will take note of it and fix this glitch in the next OS update.



Oct 17, 2019 2:42 PM in response to JessicaSos_

HI - maybe I am missing something, but why don't you just airdrop them?


  • on your iPhone go Settings - General - Airdrop and then choose Everyone
  • on your Mac right-click the ebook file, choose Share - Airdrop , then click on the iPhone icon in the pop-up windows
  • accept the incoming airdrop on your iPhone, then choose Books as the app to open the file with

Error message 'Ebook corrupt' when trying to add to Books app (Catalina)

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