When uploading an epub to Smashwords, I was told,
'There were errors processing your ebook:
File 'iTunesMetadata.plist' in EPUB not listed in manifest!
Your .epub file is missing one or more elements in its manifest. A complete manifest is required for distribution to Apple. Here's how Wikipedia ([en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPUB](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPUB)) defines "Manifest":"The manifest element lists all the files contained in the package. Each file is represented by an item element, and has the attributes id, href, media-type. All XHTML (content documents), stylesheets, images or other media, embedded fonts, and the NCX file should be listed here."
Does anyone have a clue what this means and how it can be remedied?
I should add, the epub was compiled in Scrivener, of course, and contains, as far as I was concerned, all necessary elements re ‘table of contents’, etc. At least, it was sufficient for the .mobi compilation, accepted without demur, by Kindle.
I don’t think Scrivener adds that particular file to the ePub it creates. I have checked various options, including the Apple-specific checkbox in the Cover compile pane, but nothing will cause Scrivener to produce this file. From what I have discovered, this is something Apple injects into your ePub file—pity they don’t take the effort to keep the integrity of the format intact by updating the manifest.
Thanks for the reply, AmberV. I had similiar problems posting my first book to iTunes and other .epub uploaders who provide the buffer zone between Apple, Sony and other ebook retailers. While the .mobi files are inevitably accepted by Kindle/Amazon without demur, the others, like Smashwords, find myriad issues. And this, even though I’ve manually uploaded my finished and compiled .epub copies to iPhones and IPads, manually, without any problems.
I’m doing something and I can’t quite figure what it is…my compiled epub files are being saved, after Scrivener compiling, as iTunes documents. Why is this happening and how do I stop it?
Well like I say, there isn’t anything Scrivener is doing here that is changing your file after it compiles or adding this metadata file. As far as I know there is no way to force iTunes to stop doing that, but there may be something on the web that I missed.
As for why… well Apple doesn’t really care if they break ePub validity because the only thing you use to read books, listen to music, and watch films on are Apple devices, right? Why would you ever want to use anything other than Apple?
