iBooks Author Deployment (Retired macOS App)

Retired application

Apple no longer updates iBooks Author or offers it to new users. Previous downloaders can still find it in their App Store purchase history. Apple documents continued use on macOS Catalina or earlier; this is not a recommendation to keep an unsupported operating system in service. Use Pages for creating and publishing books, including opening existing iBooks Author files.

Do not use this recipe for a new deployment. Keep the historical steps below only if your organization still has a lawful copy of iBooks Author and must support an existing workflow while it transitions to Pages.

Requirements for a legacy deployment

• FileWave Central with permission to create and deploy Filesets
• An existing copy of iBooks Author.app that your organization is entitled to use
• A representative Mac running macOS Catalina or earlier for legacy compatibility testing; separately check whether your FileWave release supports that operating system

Historical deployment steps

1. Open the Filesets view in FileWave Central.
2. Drag iBooks Author.app from the Applications folder into the Filesets view to create a Fileset.
3. Create a test Deployment for the Fileset and assign a representative Mac.
4. Update the FileWave Server Model, then verify that the app opens and that existing documents remain usable.

Apple transition guidance

Transition from iBooks Author to Pages explains the replacement path. Keep the original IBA files while testing conversion. On a Mac with Pages, open an IBA file using File > Open With > Pages, then save the converted document. Pages does not support every iBooks Author feature: some widgets and differently oriented covers are saved in a separate content folder rather than reproduced in the document. Retain that folder and compare the layout and interactive content with the original before retiring the old workflow. Apple’s import instructions explain how to reuse the saved content and export the book to EPUB.