Help & FAQ

Tap the + button in the Library toolbar to open the add menu. Choose Scan Barcode to use your camera, or Enter Manually to type the details yourself. When scanning, book details are fetched automatically from the ISBN.

Go to Settings to create Locations (like shelves or rooms) and custom Statuses. Then assign them to individual books from the book detail screen.

Yes. When you're signed into iCloud, your library syncs automatically across all your iOS, iPadOS, and Mac devices. Changes may take a few minutes to appear.

Use the search bar at the top of the Library tab to search by title, author, ISBN, or barcode. You can also filter by location or status using the filter chips below the search bar.

Tap the + button in the Library toolbar and choose Scan Barcode. Point your camera at the book's barcode. The app supports ISBN (EAN-13) and library label barcodes (Codabar, Code 39, Code 128, Interleaved 2 of 5), and book details are fetched automatically.

Yes. After each scan, a result card appears with the book's details. Tap Add to save the book, and the scanner resets immediately so you can scan the next one.

ISBN (EAN-13 and EAN-8) for commercial books, and Codabar, Code 39, Code 128, and Interleaved 2 of 5 for library labels. You can also enter book details manually if a barcode isn't available.

Camera controls appear in the top-right corner of the scanner. On iOS, tap the bolt icon to toggle the flash, or tap the camera icon to switch between front and back cameras. On Mac, a dropdown lets you choose from available cameras.

Go to Settings > Locations, then tap Add to create a new location. Locations are sorted alphabetically.

Go to Settings > Statuses, then add a new status with a custom name and color.

Go to the Reports tab and tap All Books under the Export section. Choose CSV or PDF format, select your preferred sort order, then share using the system share sheet. You can also export your student list from the same section.

Book exports include title, author, ISBN, location, status, and current borrower. PDF exports also include cover images. Student exports include name, borrower ID, contact details, and the number of books currently checked out.

Bookshelf can display reading levels — like ATOS, Lexile, and Guided Reading Level (GRL) — alongside your books, so you can filter and sort your library by level.

Reading levels come from the companion QuickScan app. Once QuickScan has leveled your books, the levels appear automatically in each book's Reading Levels section in Bookshelf.

Open the leveling banner or a book's Reading Levels section and choose to level your library. Bookshelf hands your books to QuickScan, which looks them up and sends the levels back. You can watch progress and pause at any time.

In the Library tab, use the level filter to show only books within a level range, and sort your list by level. Books without a level yet are grouped at the end.

Yes. If you've scanned books in QuickScan, Bookshelf can import those reading levels from your QuickScan scan history. Look for the import row in Settings under Reading Levels.

Go to the Students tab and tap + to add a student. You can also use Bulk Import to paste multiple student names at once.

Use Quick Checkout to scan a book's barcode and check it out to a student in one step, without opening the book first. If a scan matches more than one copy, Bookshelf asks which copy you mean.

Open the book detail screen, tap Check Out, and select a student. The due date is set automatically based on your default loan period.

Open the book detail screen and tap Return, or use Bulk Returns from the Library toolbar to return multiple books at once.

Go to Settings > Checkout and use the stepper to adjust the default loan period in days.

Go to the Reports tab and tap Overdue Books. You can sort the list by most overdue, by student, or by title. Tap the export button to share the report as CSV or PDF.

Go to the Reports tab and tap Checked Out. The list shows every book currently on loan, with the student name and due date. You can sort and export this report as well.

Verify you're signed into the same iCloud account on all devices and that iCloud Drive is enabled in Settings > iCloud. Changes may take a few minutes to propagate.

Check that Bookshelf Scanner has camera permission in Settings > Privacy > Camera. Make sure no other app is using the camera, and try restarting the app.

Open Settings and tap the Migrate from v1 button to run the migration again (a backup is created first). Make sure the original v1 data was fully synced before migrating.

Go to Settings > Backup & Restore and tap a backup to restore it. This replaces your current data with the backup contents.