What's new
Apple iPad Forum 🍎

Welcome to the Apple iPad Forum, your one stop source for all things iPad. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Unable to copy from iBooks in iOS6

Sissy526

iPF Noob
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
27
Reaction score
1
Location
USA
I have iOS6 installed and I tried to select text in iBooks to copy it and paste it in a PDF file in Goodreader, something that I did on a regular basis in iOS5. On first opening the book and selecting a word, I see the full options menu, i.e., speak, copy, define, etc. However, once I extend the selection, the only option I get is Speak. Subsequent selection efforts only evoke the Speak option and the only way to see the full menu again is to exit the app and then retart it again. The problem just starts all over again. I thought that maybe a couple of other ePub readers that I had installed to try out we're interfering so I deleted them and rebooted but the problem persists.

Is anyone else having this problem? Could someone test this out in iBooks and let me know if it is happening for you? Does anyone know of a solution or is this another iOS issue that needs to be addressed? Any response is appreciated.
 

Mickey330

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Aug 30, 2010
Messages
11,890
Reaction score
2,226
Location
Western NY state (USA)
Unfortunately, I cannot duplicate your issue. I used an iPad2 running iOS 6 and iBooks. I am able to select text and I get the following choices: Define, Highlight, Note and Search (it appears that Copy is gone from iOS 6 - I could copy on my iOS 5.1.1-running iPad3).

But - I don't get a Speak function (not in the iOS 5.1.1 or the iOS 6 versions). So, that's weird. Now wondering if you have something enabled that I don't...?

But, have you tried to restart or reset your iPad, in addition to fully closing out the app? To do (apologies if you know):

Restart: Hold down the power button until the power off slider appears. Slide it off. When the iPad finishes shutting down, hold down the power button again until the Apple logo appears.

Or...

Reset: Hold both the power and home buttons until the screen goes dark and the Apple logo then appears (the slide to unlock screen may or may not appear). Once the logo appears, release the buttons. After a time, your homescreen will appear. Please note that it may take some time for the Apple logo to appear or for your homescreen to appear (or both). This is normal. Eventually, the homescreen will appear.

Hopefully, some of this helps.

Marilyn
 
OP
S

Sissy526

iPF Noob
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
27
Reaction score
1
Location
USA
Hi, Marilyn. thanks for the reply. I did try all the above and they didn't help so I bit the bullet and did a restore through iTunes and just put the bare minimum on my iPad to see how things would go. I reloaded my books and just tried it again and all is well now. Interestingly, I updated OTA from Settings on this iPad and I am wondering if that was part of the problem. All my apps and data stayed intact and I thought that was a good thing, but now I'm thinking that an update connected to the computer is better.

Anyway, all's well now and thanks again.

Edited to add:

Ok, this is interesting. Looks like I didn't have to restore at all and OTA works fine. I assumed that the menu was the same as the iOS5 menu and didn't notice it but I do get the same menu as you upon selecting a word. I remembered that I had turned on the Speak Selection option in Settings under Accessibility in iOS5 and evidently this setting stayed intact when I updated OTA, resulting in the Speak option showing up upon selecting a selection. I opted not to save my settings for the restore. I checked and Speak Selection was turned off so I turned it back on and went back to iBooks to see what would happen. And my problem was back. I turned off Speak Selection in Accessibility but the problem persisted- it wouldn't go back to the regular menu in that book. I reset the iPad and the problem went away.

I guess, before doing a reset again, I should have tried other solutions like exiting the app, trying another book, but I had tried these when the problem first showed up and didn't think it was worth trying again. I did check it again now and it looks like exiting the app resets everything back to normal, so a device reset isn't necessary, But for now its either/or: either copy, define, etc, or speak. And for the moment, if you choose Speak and then want to copy something, you will have to exit the app to get the regular menu back. The iOS5 way was a little cumbersome but it worked. Changing it in iOS6 seems to have brought about an issue for me.
 
Last edited:

twerppoet

iPad Fan
Joined
Jan 8, 2011
Messages
24,150
Reaction score
15,397
Location
Milton-Freewater, OR
The issue is not the iOS, but whether the book has DRM (Digital Rights Management).

If the book is protected with DRM, then the Copy option does not appear. ePub books without DRM will let you copy text.

I took this screenshot from iOS 6 iBooks using a non-DRM book.


image-1593322000.jpg
 
Last edited:
OP
S

Sissy526

iPF Noob
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
27
Reaction score
1
Location
USA
H, Twerppoet, and thanks for the response. None of my books are DRM protected so that was not part of the problem. My edited response to Marilyn above indicates that I do get the appropriate new menu, something I overlooked in my eagerness to continue using iBooks as usual. My carry over settings from iOS5 gummed up the works. Evidently this is one of the over 200 changes that were made to the OS and I don't know if this is how it is meant to work or if there is a real glitch. I can live with it, especially since I seldom want to copy and have material read out loud when I'm in a book; it's usually one or the other. I'm not looking forward to having to exit the app on the occasions when I do use both features, but again, it's doable and livable.

Lol! Edited again to add:

In Settings -> Accessibility, it clearly states that a Speak button will appear when you select text. Doh! It's late for me to be messing around with this but I can't rest until I throughly understand it. So the app works as it is supposed to when selecting text. It's just trying to go back to the copy menu in the open book that is problematic and that might need to be addressed by Apple.
 
Last edited:

twerppoet

iPad Fan
Joined
Jan 8, 2011
Messages
24,150
Reaction score
15,397
Location
Milton-Freewater, OR
Ok.

I've never had much luck withe the Accessibility Voice Over feature. I do remember being able to make it work, more or less, in iOS 5. I tried it a few days ago in iOS 6 and it seemed very random. I just assumed I wasn't getting the gestures right. I haven't lost my menu, but I've probably also restarted the iPad a couple times since.

Well, hopefully Apple will squash this problem with the next update. You can help make sure it happens if you want.

Apple - iPad - Feedback
 
OP
S

Sissy526

iPF Noob
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
27
Reaction score
1
Location
USA
Thanks for the link. I do want and will use it tomorrow when I have a brain again! I checked and there is a problem only with the Speak Selection feature. The other Accessibility features don't appear to affect the menu in iBooks.
 
Last edited:

himanshupant

iPF Noob
Joined
Jun 26, 2012
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
I am having the same issue and its not to do with DRM because once I exit the app and then restart it, the copy/define/ speak all functionalities come back

Sent from my iPad using iPF
 

Jake83

iPF Noob
Joined
Oct 9, 2012
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
I am also having this problem since updating to ios6. I am unable to copy in iBooks and also Instapaper. I have tried all of the suggestions mentioned thus far with no luck. Sorry I dont have any suggestions, but figured I would let you know you arent the only one experiencing this issue
 
OP
S

Sissy526

iPF Noob
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
27
Reaction score
1
Location
USA
I did report this issue to Apple and hope they will address it. I can copy OR paste, but not both in the same document as separate functions without closing the app and opening the document afresh. I tried everything under the sun but there is a definite glitch in switching back to the copy/define/highlight menu after turning off the Speak option. I think that the most annoying part for me is that we no longer have the one menu that offered all options. This has become so frustrating that I downloaded an ePub viewer so that I could either open the document that I am reading or copy and paste the material into it. This way i can use the Speak feature in iBooks but copy from the other app. :( Doing it this way means that I have to jump around between (or is it among?) three different apps to do what I used to do with just iBooks and Goodreader (or another app for notetaking), a routine that I had down pat. I am also exploring other alternatives, which costs money. I am trying out a TTS app that allows reading and copying and speaking but no importing documents, but it is not as elegant or smooth as another that allows documents to be imported but doesn't allow copying. Oh, for the good old days of iOS5 iBooks!
 
Last edited:

Jake83

iPF Noob
Joined
Oct 9, 2012
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
I will seriously have to go back to iOS5 if this issue isn't resolved promptly. Like you, this has completely screwed up my workflow (frequently used ibooks/instapaper copy to everclip) and I can't deal with this much longer. Between the new cable, maps and this glitch I am not too happy with Apple these days.
 

iJamesH

iPF Novice
Joined
Aug 15, 2012
Messages
899
Reaction score
109
I will seriously have to go back to iOS5 if this issue isn't resolved promptly. Like you, this has completely screwed up my workflow (frequently used ibooks/instapaper copy to everclip) and I can't deal with this much longer. Between the new cable, maps and this glitch I am not too happy with Apple these days.

You can't go back to ios5 once you updated sorry to say.
 

Jake83

iPF Noob
Joined
Oct 9, 2012
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
You can't go back to ios5 once you updated sorry to say.

Actually you can, it's just a bit of a pain :) I can't post the link on how to do it since I only have 2 posts on this forum, but do a google search for it if you're interested.
 

scifan57

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 3, 2011
Messages
34,976
Reaction score
23,094
Location
Regina,Canada
Jake83 said:
Actually you can, it's just a bit of a pain :) I can't post the link on how to do it since I only have 2 posts on this forum, but do a google search for it if you're interested.

Once the signing window for iOS 5.1.1 closed, it was no longer possible to downgrade from iOS 6 to iOS 5.1.1.
 

himanshupant

iPF Noob
Joined
Jun 26, 2012
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Has anyone tried to see if this issue has gone post yesterday iBooks3 update ?

Sent from my iPad using iPF
 

Most reactions

Latest posts

Top