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iPad 101: User Guides and other helpful resources

by Erica Sadun Apr 4th 2010 at 1:00PM

You've bought your iPad. Congratulations! So are you ready to learn all the ways you can get the most from your new purchase? Here's a quick run-down of some indispensable resources as you're getting up to speed with your new purchase.
  • Read the manuals: The iPad User Guide (pdf) provides an in-depth review. This user manual is not included in the iPad packaging. Instead, Apple hosts it on its support site. This 154-page long (!) guide covers all the basics for using the iPad and understanding how it works. If you'd like to convert this PDF-formatted guide into a format (called "ePub") that you can use to read on your iPad, there's a handy website called epub2go that will handle the conversion for you. After transforming the file to epub, just drop it onto your iTunes library and sync it to your iPad. You'll be able to read the book using Apple's free iBooks application. It won't look as nice as a standard ePub document, but you'll have it in mobile form.
  • Take a guided video tour: Apple has posted videos that introduce many of the iPad's new features, including Safari, Mail, Photos, iPod, and more. You can watch these videos to get an idea of how each of these features work, and pick up a few pointers along the way. These aren't really meant as tutorials; they are marketing videos, but they can also work to introduce the iPad to you.
  • Read our iPad 101 series: TUAW regularly posts tips and tricks for new users via our 101 posting series. In addition to the iPad, we often post Mac 101 and iPhone 101 hints, suitable for those just getting started with a new platform. These write-ups help introduce new concepts and don't assume that you're already an expert.


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You've bought your iPad. Congratulations! So are you ready to learn all the ways you can get the most from your new purchase? Here's a...
 

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jerry09

multi user support for the iPad here:

http://www.themultipad.com

April 21 2010 at 3:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
david

I am new to the whole "electronic book world" and bought a ipad yesterday. I love reading on it but my daugher is now competing with me to read on it a well. How do I read ebooks (epub format) on a macbook pro?
any help here would be appreciated.

April 10 2010 at 12:17 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mikehild

It seems odd that Apple wouldn't include the manual in ePub format. You'd think it would be a great idea for the first book people see loaded on their new iPad being the users manual.

April 04 2010 at 11:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Steven Levin

How are you folks getting iBooks to see ePub docs? I have some ePub stuff in a folder, but when I try and drag it to iTunes it doesn't let me. Do I need to copy it to a specific folder location on disk?

April 04 2010 at 3:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Steven Levin's comment
frank

i would love to know this as well. i'm having the same trouble.

April 04 2010 at 6:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dwight Silverman

The iPad User Guide doesn't live on the device, but there is a bookmark for it in Safari.

April 04 2010 at 1:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
John Spencer

Nice tip about PDF to Epub site but I do agree with the last commenter no PDF preview app let's face it it's another Apple Adobe thing I do agree with Apples stance on Flash when there's a good open source alternative but not supporting PDFS that going a little too far don't you think. The nice thing is with the iPhone os there will be an app for that if not now soon I'm sure.

April 04 2010 at 1:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
xamevou

Good advice. But I can't believe why iBooks does not provide native support for pdf. Or, as an alternative, why the iPad does not include a Preview-like app? Is the Apple-Adobe war so extended now that affects not only Flash but PDFs as well?

April 04 2010 at 1:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
5 replies to xamevou's comment
Dave Wood

Any non-US iTunes store users find a way to get apps synced and launching?

It seems that if the app (even iPad specific apps), if bought with international accounts, won't launch on the iPad.

April 04 2010 at 1:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Dave Wood's comment
Etienne Jacquemart

Hi,
You comment upsets me, as i've ordered an iPad on eBay and live in Belgium. Do you need an US Itunes account to activate it ?

If you use a non-US account, can still synchronize music and other contents ?

Does this mean that you have to buy a second time all your apps with a (fake ?) US account ?

April 05 2010 at 8:54 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dave Wood

I've heard some people have their non-US apps working, though, sort of hacked it seems with a US account. I couldn't get them to launch no matter what I did. So I switched to a US account (and yes, re-purchased some of my 'required' apps).

April 05 2010 at 11:19 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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