How to add, delete, and rearrange books and PDFs in the iBooks app for iPhone

iBooks makes it easy to keep your book collections organized!

Updated March 2017: Added information about iOS 10.3 and filtering.

iBooks is the virtual shelf set that collects together all your ebooks, audiobooks, and PDFs. Anything you've downloaded to your iPhone or iPad from the iBooks Store, and everything you've sent directly to iBooks, will appear on its shelves. So, as your collections grow, the key to quickly finding what you're looking for is keeping your iBooks organized and in order!

How to filter your bookshelf to display a specific collection
How to add a new collection to iBooks for iPhone and iPad
How to move books to different collections in iBooks for iPhone and iPad
How to reorder your Bookshelf in iBooks on iPhone and iPad
How to delete books from iBooks iPhone and iPad
How to re-download deleted books in iBooks on iPhone and iPad

How to filter your bookshelf to display a specific collection

Your iBooks library can be organized into specific collections to help you better find what you're looking for. Here's how to filter your bookshelf!

Open iBooks.
Tap All Books in the top center of the screen.
Select a collection. You can choose from Books, Audiobooks, PDFs, Samples, or a collection you created yourself.
Select Done in the upper right corner of the screen.

You can also switch between filtered categories by swiping to the right or left on your bookshelf. You don't get to manually choose a filter, but if you don't have a lot of them, this might be a better method.

How to add a new collection to iBooks for iPhone and iPad

If your iBooks bookshelf is looking full and chaotic, it may be time to organize it. You can create as many collections as you want, allowing you to organize by genre, author, series, or any other way that you can think up!

Launch iBooks from your Home screen.
Tap on the My Books tab. It's in the bottom left corner of your screen.
Tap the collections button. It's at the top of your screen, in the middle.
Tap on New Collection.
Enter the name of your new collection.
Tap Done.

How to move books to different collections in iBooks for iPhone and iPad

If you want to be as organized as possible, you are probably going to have to shuffle some books around your various collections.

Launch iBooks from your Home screen.
Tap on the My Books tab. It's in the bottom left corner of your screen.
Tap select.
Tap on the book you want to move.
Tap Move.
Tap on the collection you want the book to be in.

How to reorder your Bookshelf in iBooks on iPhone and iPad

Keep your collections neat and sorted by changing the order your content appear on your bookshelf.

Launch iBooks from your Home screen.
Tap on the My Books tab. It's in the bottom left corner of your screen.
Filter your bookshelf. You can't drag and drop a book when you are in the "All Books" bookshelf.
Tap and hold the book you want to move.
Drag the book to the position you want.
Let go of the book.

How to delete books from iBooks

Although books take up very little space on your iPhone or iPad, if you're an a bookworm at heart, all those little files start could add up over time. You can delete books anytime you want!