Support

Book Pad reads EPUB and PDF files. There are a few ways to add them:

• In the Library tab, tap Import Books and pick files in the Files app. You can pick many at once.
• Put files in Files › On My iPad › Book Pad. Book Pad picks them up on its own. Each subfolder becomes a shelf.
• In another app, share an EPUB or PDF and choose Book Pad in the share sheet.
• Some EPUBs are stored as a folder instead of a single file (the format Apple Books uses). Choose such a folder with Import Books, and Book Pad packs it into one EPUB file. The original folder is left as it is. A folder EPUB placed directly in the Book Pad folder doesn’t show up in your library, so use Import Books for it.

Open a book, press and hold on a word, drag across the passage, and lift your finger. The highlight appears right away. No menu pops up, by design.

Tap a highlight to change its color (five colors), add a note, or delete it.

Highlighting works in EPUBs and in PDFs with selectable text, including PDFs that block copying. Scanned pages without a text layer can’t be highlighted.

Open the Highlights tab. It lists highlights from every book.

• Search the text of all highlights and notes at once.
• Filter by book or by color, or show only highlights with notes.
• Under Sort and Group, sort by Newest First, Oldest First, or Book Order, and group by book or by color.
• Tap a highlight to open the book at that spot.

In the Highlights tab, choose Export as Markdown, then export one book (Export This Book) or everything (Export All). When the file is ready, choose Save to Files or Share.

To move highlights to another iPad running Book Pad, copy the book together with the .notes.json file next to it.

Turn your iPad to landscape to see two pages side by side. To see one page at a time instead, turn off Settings › Reading View › Show Two Pages in Landscape. Portrait and scroll mode always show one page.

While reading an EPUB, use View Settings in the top bar for the theme, font, text size, line spacing, margins, justification, and page or scroll mode.

Settings › Page Turning sets screen taps (tap the left side for the previous page and the right side for the next; you can swap the sides) and Apple Pencil Double-Tap for Apple Pencil (2nd generation) and Apple Pencil Pro.

Settings › Reading View › Keep Screen On While Reading keeps the screen awake while a book is open.

Everything stays on your iPad. Book Pad doesn’t collect data or use a server.

• Book files are in Files › On My iPad › Book Pad.
• Highlights and notes are saved in a notes file next to each book and in a database on your iPad. Reading positions are in that database.
• Depending on your settings, your device backup or iCloud backup may include this data.

To delete one book’s records: delete the book file and the notes file next to it in Files, tap the book in Book Pad (now marked File Missing) and choose Delete Record, then delete it permanently in Recently Deleted or wait 30 days.

Deleting the app deletes all of its data, including the Book Pad folder and the books in it. Keep a copy of your books somewhere else first. Files you exported and copies you shared are yours to manage.

• A book shows File Missing: the file was moved out of the Book Pad folder or deleted. Put the file back in the library folder to open it. Its highlights are kept.
• A book won’t open: DRM-protected books and password-protected PDFs aren’t supported.
• Import says a book is already in your library: Book Pad recognizes books by their content, so a renamed copy of the same file is the same book.
• I can’t highlight in a PDF: the PDF needs selectable text.
• Apple Pencil double-tap doesn’t turn pages: it works with Apple Pencil (2nd generation) and Apple Pencil Pro. Check Settings › Page Turning › Apple Pencil Double-Tap.