3

I was able to transfer music by installing few libraries and then my device was recognised by rhythmbox. But no success in transferring pdf files to ipad. Any suggestions?? Thanks in advance.

5 Answers 5

11

If your machine and your iPad are connected within a wifi network, you can make simple HTTP server serving PDF files that can be downloaded from iPad.

Make sure you have python installed, open up a terminal and cd to the directory where you store your PDF files. Then run this command:

python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8000

And on your iPad open up the web browser and go to URL: http://<ip.of.machine>:8000

Voila! You can see your PDF files and download them into your iPad.

4
  • elegant solution
    – Bastian
    Aug 16, 2015 at 18:05
  • 2
    Elegant? Elegant would be Apple supporting MTP or any kind of FTP! never iPhone Mar 29, 2016 at 11:18
  • @ManuelSchneid3r I'm sure he called the solution elegant, not the Apple product. This is indeed a brilliant solution.
    – 0xc0de
    Dec 3, 2019 at 18:51
  • 1
    For python3 use instead: python -m http.server 8000
    – elomage
    May 31, 2020 at 19:55
2

You can copy pdf files to the iPad to be used with the iBooks app. However, just copying pdf files to the iPad will not do; the trick is to imitate Apple's ".plist" configuration files.

If you are comfortable using python, here is a simple script that will do the job for you. Simply place your pdf files in the Books/Managed folder and then run the following in that directory. Once this script is run, the iPad will recognize your pdf files. These pdf files can even by in subdirectories.

    header = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\n<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC \"-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN\" \"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd\">\n<plist version=\"1.0\">\n<dict>\n <key>Books</key>\n  <array>\n"

    footer = "  </array>\n</dict>\n</plist>"
    fst = "     <dict>\n            <key>Inserted-By-iBooks</key>\n         <false/>\n             <key>Name</key>\n            <string>"
    tnd = "</string>\n          <key>Page Progression Direction</key>\n         <string>default</string>\n          <key>Path</key>\n           <string>"
    lst = "</string>\n          <key>s</key>\n          <string>0</string>\n        </dict>\n"
    bodystr = ""

    for root, dirs, files in os.walk(".", topdown=False):
        for name in files:
        sttmp = os.path.join(root, name)[2:]
            if not ".pdf" in sttmp:
        continue
    bodystr+=fst
    bodystr+=sttmp[:-4]
    bodystr+=tnd
    bodystr+=sttmp
    bodystr+=lst

file = open("Managed.plist", "w")
file.write(header);
file.write(bodystr);
file.write(footer);
file.close();
1
  • beautiful solution
    – Bastian
    Aug 16, 2015 at 18:05
1

Transferring any kind of file to any Apple device (ipad included) is only officially supported through cloud-syncing, such as iTunes file-sharing or services like Dropbox. The simplest way would be to use Dropbox, which works well if you want to access your pdf files from multiple devices.

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  • I was able to sync music from rhythmbox though May 24, 2013 at 15:26
  • Music is generally handled differently compared to other files, such as pdfs. The file system of iPads and iPods etc. (to the best of my knowledge) is not very easily accessible, ie. not accessible without jail-breaking the device. The most common ways to access pdf files on ipads/ipods are: emailing the files to yourself as an attachment or by using Dropbox link.
    – dluco
    Jun 1, 2013 at 5:08
  • 1
    hmmm.. Apple products have too much of restrictions :| . Jun 2, 2013 at 7:04
1

The best option I came up with is to install adobe reader on my Ipad. All you gotta do is connect the Ipad to your pc and the Ipad gets mounted. Then open "Documents on (your Ipad name)" , locate adobe reader there , open adobe reader and then you see the Documents folder. Just place your pdf file in that folder. That's it! you are good to go :).

0

I recommend Dropbox. I have it on my iPod and it works cross platform, Ubuntu, OS X, iOS, and even more. works like a charm!

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