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Apple Books Version

Titles uploaded to Apple Books can include a version number (e.g. 1.0, 1.1) for each update made to a book.

A version number is optional for any new title you upload to Apple Books, and for a new title we recommend against providing one. If you previously specified a version number for a title, you will need to increment this number whenever you update your book.

Errors from iTunes Producer

If you have specified a version number for your book, you may see the following error when you attempt to update it:

ITMS-4171: Provided asset version is not greater than the existing live asset version.

To address this, you will need to increase the version number that has been specified in Title Info, as described below.

Changing Version in Title Info

You can update a Version number that you’ve specified in Vellum using Title Info.

Version is listed at the bottom of this section, near Ebook ISBN. Increase the value shown here (e.g. change from 1.0 to 1.1) before you provide an update of your book to iTunes:

Version for New Books

Because a version number is optional for any new titles, Vellum will only show the Version field if you previously specified one. When you create a new file in Vellum, the Version field will be hidden.

There may be cases, though, when you need the Version field to be shown in a newly-created Vellum file:

In these situations, you may find it necessary to see the Version field for both old and new files in Vellum. To do so, you will need to make use of the Terminal application:

  1. First, quit Vellum
  2. Then, start the Terminal program on your Mac. You’ll find it in the Utilities section of your Applications folder
  3. In the Terminal application, paste the following command (it’s a single line) and hit Return:

defaults write ~/Library/Preferences/co.180g.Vellum OGShowIBooksVersionTextField -bool YES

  1. Start Vellum

You should find the Version field visible for all files you work with in Vellum.

Remember, the Version field is optional for any new titles you upload to Apple Books. For easier updates, we recommend keeping it empty when possible.