Easily save Web pages, documents in iTunes for use with iOS devices
Have you ever wanted to be able to save a Web site or document you wanted to read later to your iPhone or iPad? Follow these simple steps and take any offline reading you need to get done with you on your iOS device.
This hint requires a Mac using the latest version of iTunes and an iOS 4-compatible device with iBooks 1.1 installed. Once you've completed each step, you will be able to save Web site pages, documents, or any other data that any Mac OS X application allows to be printed to PDF directly into iTunes for use on your iPhone or iPad.
Step One. To add a Web page or document to your Books in iTunes, you must first save it as a PDF. To easily accomplish this from any Mac OS X application that has the capability of saving as PDF (from the Print Dialogue Box), you must first create an alias for iTunes. Open a Finder window and select the Applications folder. Highlight iTunes and right-click (Control + click). In the contextual menu, select "Make Alias". An alias for iTunes will appear.
Step Two. We now have to tell PDF Services that it can save PDF formatted files to iTunes. Open a new Finder window and click on your Home Folder (your username). Click Library, then PDF Services. You may notice other aliases in this folder (Evernote, for example, takes advantage of this function).
Switch to your first Finder window and drag the iTunes alias into the PDF Services folder in the second window. You can also rename the alias to something like "Save PDF to iTunes" (the file name is what shows up in the Print Dialogue Box).
Step Three. Find a Web page that you'd like to save for reading later on your iOS 4-enabled device with iBooks installed. For the purposes of this hint, I used Matt Rosoff's article on iPhone Atlas Handicapping the mobile music services. From the application menu bar (in this case, Firefox) choose File > Print.
Step Four. In the Print Dialogue Box that appears, look at the lower-left corner for the button that says "PDF". Click it to reveal the drop down menu for PDF Services.
Choose "Save PDF to iTunes" (or whatever you renamed your iTunes alias). If iTunes is not already open, it will launch and add the PDF to the Books section, ready to be synced the next time you plug in your iPhone or iPad.
Step Five. Sync your iPhone or iPad. Be sure you have checked to sync Books in your device preferences. You can now launch iBooks on your device and read Web pages or other documents saved as PDFs right from your iPhone or iPad.
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