Pro Tip: How to save web pages to iBooks for offline viewing

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Send any web page as a PDF to iBooks in iOS 9.
Send any web page as a PDF to iBooks in iOS 9.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Pro Tip Cult of Mac bugI’m a big fan of getting instructions off the internet: recipes, directions on car maintenance, or video game walkthroughs, for example. The problem is that you need to be online to view them.

Now in iOS 9, however, there’s a way to save web pages to a handy, offline-friendly PDF file. The next time you’re flying on an airplane and trying to get through Broken Age with a walkthrough, you’ll be in luck.

Here’s how to convert any webpage in iOS 9’s mobile Safari to a PDF and then read it in (or send it from) iBooks.

New Share option for iOS 9 lets you create PDFS from any web page.
New Share option for iOS 9 lets you create PDFS from any web page.
Screen: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Launch Safari on your iPhone (or iPad – this works for Apple’s larger devices, too), and navigate to any web page you want to save as a PDF.

Once there, tap on the Share button (the rectangle with the arrow sticking up out of it) and then swipe along the top row of sharing options to the orange Save PDF to iBooks icon.

Tap the button and you’ll see a little dialog box to let you know iOS 9 is converting the web page to a PDF. Your iOS device will then launch iBooks and open the PDF you just created. You can swipe through it just like any other PDF in iBooks. You can even share this PDF file out via Email with the Share button in iBooks.

Not all websites are created equal, of course; the best ones to save to PDF seem to be ones that are text- or content-heavy, so try this out on your preferred web page before you actually need it to make sure PDF is right for you.

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