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I use Books to store / organise a large number of pdfs. I use iCloud for Books to avoid using up space on my devices. On my iPhone or iPad I can remove a download of a pdf in Books without deleting it from iCloud, but I can't work out how to do this on my MacBook - the only option I get is to delete everywhere. Any idea how I can remove the download without deleting the pdf from iCloud?
Thanks
Don't listen to picas. There is a way to do this :)
First, make sure that you have iCloud Drive enabled on your computer and you have Books sync enabled.
Open up a Terminal and type this in:
cd ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/iCloud~com~apple~iBooks
Then type in:
open Documents/
This will open up a Finder window with a list of all your downloaded books and PDFs.
To remove the book from your local storage without removing it from iCloud, right click the file and click "Remove Download".
You'll know it worked if the little iCloud download icon shows up next to the file. You can also open up Books and check that there is a cloud icon in the upper right hand corner of your book's cover. That indicates it is stored on iCloud.
Good luck! Let me know if you have questions.
Don't listen to picas. There is a way to do this :)
First, make sure that you have iCloud Drive enabled on your computer and you have Books sync enabled.
Open up a Terminal and type this in:
cd ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/iCloud~com~apple~iBooks
Then type in:
open Documents/
This will open up a Finder window with a list of all your downloaded books and PDFs.
To remove the book from your local storage without removing it from iCloud, right click the file and click "Remove Download".
You'll know it worked if the little iCloud download icon shows up next to the file. You can also open up Books and check that there is a cloud icon in the upper right hand corner of your book's cover. That indicates it is stored on iCloud.
Good luck! Let me know if you have questions.
You pay for iCloud if your iCloud data is above the 5GB limit. iCloud works that if you delete a file on one device it deletes it everywhere (the only exception is pdfs in Books on an iPhone/iPad).
Most people come here complaining that pdfs keep disappearing into the cloud and they have to keep downloading them, or when they go to read a pdf offline it’s in the cloud.
If storage space is getting full use a service like Dropbox whereby you can store them there and delete the files off your devices.
I’m able to use iCloud as an off-site storage service to store my pdfs to avoid cluttering up my phone & ipad - that is the reason I pay for extra iCloud space. I don’t see why the same shouldn’t apply to my MacBook? And some of my pdfs are only stored on iCloud, but some have automatically downloaded to my MacBook.
iCloud isn’t an off-site storage service where files can be kept to save cluttering up ones devices – it’s purpose is for syncing across devices to be viewed/worked on etc.
Sorry its taken a while for me to respond. Just wanted to say a huge thank you, it has worked. Really appreciate your help.
Remove downloaded books without deleting from icloud
