Get Started With iBooks On Your Mac Using Mavericks Beta 5 [OS X Tips]

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It's about time!
It's about time!

When you update to OS X Mavericks beta 5, you might notice something rather exciting in your Applications folder: iBooks for Mac!

Double click on the iBooks icon to launch iBooks for Mac, and then click Agree on the iBooks Author Software agreement. You’ll see the iBooks splash screen as above. Click Get Started.

You’ll be asked to sign in with your Apple ID. Click on the blue Sign In button and enter your Apple ID and password. If you’re not ready to connect your Apple ID, click Not Now. When you do connect up, you’ll be able to get your purchase history from iCloud and sync your bookmarks, highlights, and notes you may have created on your iPad or iPhone over to your Mac.

At this point, I’m not seeing any of my previously purchased iBooks in the All Books tab at the top. If you click on Collections, you’ll see three categories: Purchased (not working yet on my Mac), Books, and PDFs.

To add a free book to your library, click on the Top Charts at the top of the iBooks for Mac window, and click on the Free button. You’ll see a list of the top free books currently on offer in the iBooks store. I chose the iPad User Guide from Apple, clicked on the purchase button, and it downloaded to my Mac lickety split. I haven’t seen it pop up on my iPad, connected with the same Apple ID, just yet, but I’m sure that’s coming.

Yeah, that looks familiar.
Yeah, that looks familiar.

If there are no books in your iBooks library as well, you’ll be prompted to go to the iBooks store. Click the button to do so. If you’ve used the iBooks store on your iPad, the screen will be familiar, with various featured books in a carousel of titles across the top, and the Hot This Week iBooks below that. Scrolling down, you’ll see New Books for Kids, then New in Fiction, Popular Collections, New in Mysteries & Thrillers, and so on.

If you scroll completely to the bottom, you’ll see Made for iBooks: Bestsellers. These are books made with iBooks Author, the agreement you agreed to in the first step, above. Just like iTunes, there’s a column to the right with Quick Links, and Top Books lists in both free and paid versions. There’s also a column for New York Times Bestsellers in both Fiction and Nonfiction varieties, and More to Explore below that.

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