Guest Post – JP Zhang
The Problem
I am an Apple advocate mainly because I love their product design and the smooth navigation experience on its software — with one exception: iTunes. I've been annoyed at iTunes for a while. Every time I open iTunes on my Mac or PC, it's slow.
Today, I met another problem with iTunes. I couldn't find the Summary tab!
I wanted to back up my iPad data via iTunes. When I followed this Apple tutorial,I was completely lost. I couldn't locate it, even with my iPad successfully connected to my PC.
Here's the screen I saw on iTunes. I clicked Devices in the sidebar; iTunes definitely recognized my iPad. But I couldn’t see the Summary or Settings tab, nor could I back up my device. What was wrong?
The Solution: It's Actually Very Simple!
Instead of clicking the “Devices” tab in the sidebar, click the iPad icon (or iPhone or iPod icon if you connect another type of iOS device) which is located on the top left, right next to “Music” in my case.
See this screenshot:
JOnce I hit the iPad icon there, I was directed to the screen below. See the Summary tab under Settings now? Now I can make backups again.
That's it. The trick is actually quite simple, right?
I'm hoping Apple will tweak the user interface a little bit to make it easier for us to find the Summary tab, especially for those Apple fans who are new to iTunes. Perhaps in the next iTunes update? Who knows.
Anyway, if you are also experiencing the same issue and happen to bump into this article, join me and send a piece of feedback to Apple. Here’s the link.
Note: I'm using iTunes 12.4.1.6 on a Windows 10 PC.
JP Zhang is a tech blogger at SoftwareHow, a place where he shares useful software tools and actionable how-to tips to help people solve common problems related to computers and digital devices. His latest post how to record iPad screen videos may worth a read. Besides technology, he loves reading, photography, and fishing.
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teachingwithipad.org 
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Struggled with this FOREVER.
Any idea who to get the “Encrypt iPhone Backup” check box to be usable? It’s all grayed out and I can’t disable encryption.
Thank you