How to Save Apple Books as PDF

Apple Books is a fantastic way to read on your Mac, but sometimes you need your content in a more portable format. Whether you're a student needing to annotate a textbook or a researcher archiving reference material, saving Apple Books as a PDF gives you the freedom to use your content anywhere.

Quilt makes this process effortless by automating the page-turning and capturing workflow.

Why Convert Apple Books to PDF?

• Universal Compatibility: Read on any device, not just Apple ones.
• Annotation Power: Use powerful PDF editors like PDF Expert or Preview to take notes.
• Offline Reliability: Access your books without needing the Books app or an internet connection.
• Easy Sharing: Share excerpts or chapters with colleagues or classmates easily.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Prepare Your Book

Open the Books app on your Mac and open the book you want to capture.

• Resize the window to your desired PDF page size.
• Ensure the "Single Page" view is selected (if available) for the cleanest result.

2. Set Up Quilt

Launch Quilt and complete the initial setup:

1. Click the Capture button (or use your shortcut).
2. Select the Books window as your source.
3. In the settings, estimate the Number of shots (pages) you want to capture. It's okay to guess high; you can delete extras later.

3. Configure Automation

This is where the magic happens. Instead of manually clicking "Capture" for every page:

1. Enable Automation in Quilt.
2. Select Key Press as the action.
3. Choose the Right Arrow (→) key.
4. Set the Interval to 1.5s or 2s. This gives the Books app enough time to animate the page turn before the next screenshot is taken.

4. Start Capturing

Click Start Capture. Quilt will now:

1. Take a screenshot.
2. Press the Right Arrow key to turn the page.
3. Wait for the interval.
4. Repeat.

Sit back and watch your book turn itself into a PDF!

Refining Your PDF

Once the capture is complete, you'll see your pages in the Quilt gallery.

• Check for Blurry Pages: If a page turned too slowly, delete that shot.
• Remove Extras: If you set the count too high, just delete the extra shots at the end.
• Reorder: Drag and drop if any pages got out of sync (rare, but easy to fix).

Export

Finally, click Export to PDF.

Pro Tip: Enable OCR during export to make your new PDF fully text-searchable. This is a game-changer for textbooks and research materials!

Conclusion

With Quilt, you've liberated your content from the Apple Books ecosystem. You now have a clean, searchable, and universally compatible PDF ready for whatever workflow you need.

Download Quilt for Mac and start building your PDF library today.