Shortcuts on the iPad

[John Hill]

I would like to create a shortcut to open a specific book in Books on my
iPad. I cannot see how to do this. Is it possible?

John.

--
Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday, and all is well.

[Lewis]

In message <rm1p35$lqp$1...@dont-email.me> John Hill <ycl...@outlook.com> wrote:

> I would like to create a shortcut to open a specific book in Books on my
> iPad. I cannot see how to do this. Is it possible?

I don't think so, the Books app has no shortcut support at all (you
cannot even run a shortcut within the books app). The only Books-related
shortcut action available is "add PDF to Books"

If the books is 1) available in the Apple Books store and 2) you bought
it in the Apple books store, you can get the "Share" link to that book
and use the "Open URL" action. This will open the page to the book in
the Apple book store and there will be a button there "Read" that will
then open the specific book.

The URL will look something like

https://books.apple.com/.../id1234567890

Sometimes you might have a URL that looks like this instead:

https://iTunes.apple.com/..../...?id=1234567890

If you edit the URL to fit the form below, you can open the book
directly, but again only if the book was purchased through the apple
store.

ibooks://assetid/1234567890


--
"Are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"I think so, Brain! But is Chippendale's ready for 'The Full Pinky?'"

[Ed Cryer]

John Hill wrote:
>
> I would like to create a shortcut to open a specific book in Books on my
> iPad. I cannot see how to do this. Is it possible?
>
> John.
>

I find that a judicious use of the "Reading now" option works quickly
enough for me.
OK, so a home screen shortcut would be one tap; whereas RN takes three
(iBooks, RN, book).
But there is a heuristic algorithm operational, and iBooks will learn to
go straight to the book I last closed.
Also, you can have multiple books in the RN list.

Ed

[John Hill]

My question is answered, and the answer is "No". I'm not really interested
in work-arounds.

FWIW, the book in question is the iPad Manual - I find myself resorting to
it quite often. But it is easy enough to get to, and indeed is often "open"
already.

As a matter of interest, I managed a while back to set up a shortcut to
open a much used file in Numbers, but cannot remember how I did it!

Thank you both for helping.

[Lewis]

In message <rm26nh$2gi$1...@dont-email.me> John Hill <ycl...@outlook.com> wrote:
> Ed Cryer <e...@somewhere.in.the.uk> wrote:
>> John Hill wrote:
>>>
>>> I would like to create a shortcut to open a specific book in Books on my
>>> iPad. I cannot see how to do this. Is it possible?
>>>
>>> John.
>>>
>>
>>
>> I find that a judicious use of the "Reading now" option works quickly
>> enough for me.
>> OK, so a home screen shortcut would be one tap; whereas RN takes three
>> (iBooks, RN, book).
>> But there is a heuristic algorithm operational, and iBooks will learn to
>> go straight to the book I last closed.
>> Also, you can have multiple books in the RN list.

> My question is answered, and the answer is "No". I'm not really interested
> in work-arounds.

> FWIW, the book in question is the iPad Manual - I find myself resorting to
> it quite often. But it is easy enough to get to, and indeed is often "open"
> already.

That is one that you absolutely can create a direct link to.

--
"Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him an
he's warm for the rest of his life."

[Zaidy036]

if you read in Kindle app then it reopens in wherever you closed it.
including the page you were on it book open at closure

[John Hill]

But how?

J.

--
An infinitely complex system can fail in an infinite number of ways.

[John Hill]

Books does this too.

J.

[Lewis]

I covered this.

First, find the book in the Books App "Book Store"

This is the iPad Users Guide for iOS 13.6

https://books.apple.com/us/book/ipad-user-guide/id1464778568

Change that URL to ibooks://assetid/14645778568

Create a shortcut and add the action "open URL" and give it that URL.

For the iOS 14 version, the ID is 1515995498.

--
Let the Wookiee win.

[John Hill]

Tried that, got "Item not available. The item you have requested is not
currently available in the store for your country or region". I see that
your link is specific to the US, which would explain this. Presumably the
ID for the UK version is different.

I'm still unclear how to get first URL; I'll try again tomorrow. I have got
the IOS 14 version in Books.

J.

[Lewis]

You can get the link to verify the id number.

> I'm still unclear how to get first URL; I'll try again tomorrow. I have got
> the IOS 14 version in Books.

Books app. Book Store. Find the book. Tap three ... and choose "share"
then "copy"

However, something has changed since I last did this (iOS 14? Or my
brain) and opening the iBooks:// URL doesn't seem to be working as it
did. Opening the https: URL still works, but open the book on the book
store, where you can then tap 'Read".

I'll look into this, as I'm sure it's still possible as this is how
iBooks Author specified links to other books, and I don't think they
would have broken that quite yet.

--
"Are you pondering what I'm pondering?"

"I think so, Brain, but wouldn't an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weenie, yellow
polka-dot one-piece be better suited for my figure?"

[John Hill]

Got it - I think. I'll let you know …

[John Hill]

Yes, it's now working as expected. The ID on the UK Books was different
from the one for the US.

The shortcut opens the Manual at the point at which it was last used.

Thanks for helping me to set this up.

John.