Whether you’re new to Mac, or just enjoy having the official user guide from Apple as a reference, having it on hand can be useful for yourself in addition to helping others.
Aside from being the official guides from Apple, they are updated over time as the company releases new software and changes come to macOS. Another big benefit is that the iBooks guides are quickly searchable.
Note: It can be helpful to have the user guide you’d like to read on a secondary device if possible so you can reference it as you use the device you’re learning about. In this case you may want to load the Mac user guide on an iPad or iPhone.
Mac: How to get the official Apple user guide for free
- Click the following links to the free official user guides and choose your specific machine under Mac notebooks or Mac desktops
- Looks for the iBooks link for the free user guide (you can alternately choose to view the web version)
- You can download the free iBooks user guide on Mac, iPhone, or iPad
- After clicking the link, follow the prompts to download the free user guide with iBooks (Apple Books in iOS 12 and macOS Mojave)
Here’s what the process looks like on iPhone:
You may need to enter your Apple ID password to download the free ebook.
On iPad and iPhone, you can swipe to turn pages, don’t forget to tap the screen to use the handy table of contents, search, and bookmark features up top.
While it’s often handy to have these user guides downloaded to your device(s), you can also use the web versions.
For more help getting the most out of your Apple devices, check out our how to guide as well as the following articles:
- iPhone & iPad: How to force quit apps
- Apple Watch: How to get the official Apple user guide for free
- iPhone & iPad: How to use Do Not Disturb for Messages
- Mac: How to delete a user on macOS
- iOS: How to leave a group iMessage
- iPhone & iPad: How to forget wireless networks
- iPhone: How to toggle Call waiting
- Mac: How to lock screen
- iPhone: How to hide Caller ID
- Mac: How to forget wireless networks
