Recently an author’s publisher released a book in hardcover and it wasn’t available to my area. The book only seemed to be available for order online but the e-book was available to order and was cheaper. I figured this was a much faster way to get my long awaited book release. So I decided to purchase my first e-book online – and I don’t own a Kindle or a Nook. Everything I read said I didn’t need to own one. That I could download a free app for my computer or cell phone and I could have instant access to my e-book. I thought it would be nice to have a file I could load on to my cell phone and computer or MP3 player and take with me, so I went online and downloaded the free reader PC app for Kobo and purchased my first e-book.
Little did I know the trouble I was going to find with this simple supposedly portable concept for books.
After I purchased the e-book, I wanted to download a PDF file. I found out that I couldn’t download the file to my computer unless I downloaded and installed Adobe Digital Editions (ADE). It took me a little bit to find this software for free and install it. Then I found out I had to create/register a free account to activate the ADE program. Finally, I logged back into the online Kobo account I had set up to purchase my e-book and downloaded the EPUB file to my computer – not realizing this wasn’t a PDF file.
I struggled for a good number of hours trying to find the right software that would convert an EPUB file to a PDF file and then I found out that the very EPUB file I wanted to convert was protected by DRM (Digital Rights Manager). The DRM protection prevented me from converting a legitimate e-book – that I had paid for and downloaded via a reputable bookseller - to a PDF file. I then had to search again for a one-step solution to remove the DRM protection so that I could convert the EPUB file that I owned to a PDF file via software that was free and didn’t require me to pay later to get the full program to work .
This truly was a test of techie abilities and I am proud to have figured it out as well as I did. I just want to save all of you the hell I went through since it took me several Google searches, several false advertising ‘free’ software download installs and unstalls and 3 different software programs to get a simple e-book into a PDF file format. I decided to post this blog in the hopes that I could spare anyone else out there who has or will come across this problem.
In this post is information and links on how to 1: download the correct software to read e-book EPUB files on your computer and then 2: how to convert them to a PDF file after removing the DRM protections so that you can transport the converted PDF files to other PDF file compatible devices. I just went through hell figuring all of this out – I really hope you find this post before you go through the same trial and errors that I did.
Don’t be intimidated by the length of this post. The good news is that you only have to install these programs once and after that, it’s a click and go process that takes just seconds to do: (don’t forget to click on the image for a clearer view of the screen shots)
Step 1: INSTALL Adobe Digital Editions onto your Windows PC
First you need to install Adobe Digital Editions which can be downloaded for FREE (no trials, no pay to have the full program work – completely free) from here:
http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/#fp
Click on download now or scroll down to the download now button
Install Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) and register for a free account and activate your ADE.
ADE looks like this once it is properly installed: (hint – if you click on the image, it will pop out in a new window in a larger readable view)
Step 2: DRM removal: How to Remove DRM from EPUB files using ePubee DRM Removal:
1. Install Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) v1.7.1 (restating this step since its very import to do first – if you don’t, the DRM program won’t work)
Authorize your copy of Adobe Digital Editions, download the EPUB files to your desktop PC, make sure the EPUB files can be opened on ADE.
2. Install ePubee Drm Remvoal which you can get here for FREE:
http://downloads.yahoo.com/software/windows-education-epubee-drm-removal-s548538
The installed program looks like this:
When you install the program, Run ePubee Drm Removal to remove DRM from EPUB files:
Next step is to Input files as follows:
Click on the “browse” button to choose your EPUB e-book / input folder. You’ll find it in “My Documents\My Digital Editions”.
If you just can’t find the EPUB e-book, open Adobe Digital Editions and find the path in the properties of the e-book.
You do not need to find the EPUB Files one by one, just choose the folder which the EPUB files were saved in, the ePub Drm Removal software helps you decrypt tens of DRM protected EPUB files at one time!
Click “unDrm directory”, this removes the DRM from all of the EPUB files in the folder listed above (“My Documents\My Digital Editions”.
The decrypted EPUB files will be saved to another folder (if ePub DRM Removal installed in D:\program files\ePub Drm Removal\, the DRM-free EPUB files will be saved to D:\program files\ePub Drm Removal\Decrypt\), no change to the source files
Open your newly created DRM-free EPUB file with your favorite application (on whatever device you like).
If you don’t do the above ‘Step 2′ first, the next product won’t work.
Step 3: Download and Install Calibre
Next download and install Calibre for FREE (again – no trials, no pay later for the full program to work) which can be found here:
http://calibre-ebook.com/download
After installing Calibre, run the program and add your EPUB ebook file to Calibre. If you installed the program correctly and added the EPUB files correctly as well, it should look like this:
Once you have added the file, you have the option to convert your e-book files.
While highlighting the EPUB file you want to convert to PDF format, click on the icon that says: Convert Books, as shown here: (don’t forget to click on the image for a clearer view of the screen shots)
A new window opens up that looks like this:
In the upper left and right corners you have the input file (original file format you added into Calibre) and the output file. These can be changed via the little black arrow down button. Be sure to check that the input file says: EPUB and the output file is changed to say: PDF (since for the purpose of this blog tutorial is to convert the EPUB file to a PDF file. If you want another file you can play around with those once you’ve done this first test run to a PDF file). Once you have verified the correct output file, click the okay button in the lower right corner. Calibre will convert the file to a PDF format in just a couple of minutes or less.
Once the conversion is completed, you can highlight the book that you just converted and to the left of the window, click on Formats. As you can see in the image below, on the right, the E-book file by Laurie, Victoria is in both an EPUB format and PDF format. If you ‘click to open’ as it says next to ’ Path:’- a new window will open which will show you where the PDF file is stored on your PC.
Now that you’ve installed all 3 of these software programs, you can download all your EPUB e-book files and convert them to PDF files with ease. If you have any questions or issues trying to use these programs, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll be happy to try and help you out.
Of course, I did all this to load the e-book onto my cell phone only to find out that the fileviewer on my phone doesn’t work properly. My next step is going to be converting the PDF file to an MP3 file that I can load onto my cellphone and be able to at least listen to the book while I am stuck in line somewhere 
. I’ll probably post the instructions for that in another post here.
In the meantime, welcome to the world of PC e-books without a Kindle or Nook and Happy Reading!!
loriswp
Yin said,
November 8, 2011 at 2:04 pm
This is great if only I had a Windows OS …. I’m using Linux right now, any hints or insights you could give me ?
loriswp said,
November 13, 2011 at 1:00 pm
I’m going to have to look into this and see if these programs work or are available in Linux formats. I’ll let you know what I can find out.
loriswp said,
November 13, 2011 at 1:20 pm
Yin, here is a download link for Calibre for Linux os: http://calibre-ebook.com/download
Click on the Penguin Logo for Linux and follow the install instructions.
It looks like you can skip the first two steps of the tutorial in my blog and just download Calibre. Apparently there is a Calibre DRM removal plugin that you can download too that will work for Linux OS. I found a website with this tutorial. Since I don’t have Linux OS, I can’t do the steps myself and tell you if this tutorial misses any basics or if the program has issues or not other than that it can’t remove DRM from ibooks or LIT. Here is the tutorial for getting the plugins and how to use them:
Tutorial: How to Use Calibre DRM Removal?
Step 1: Download Calibre with your Internet browser such as Firefox, IE, Maxthon, and so on. Versions exist for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
Step 2: Download the latest combined tools package here: http://www.datafilehost.com/download-8210f840.html
and then unzip it.
Step 3: Run Calibre. Click Preferences > Plug-ins. Then Click on the large “Add a new plugin” button. Navigate to the tools folder unzipped in step 2.
Step 4: Open the Calibre_Plugins folder. Select one of the zip files in that folder. Click on Add. Click on the “Yes” button in the warning dialog that appears. A Confirmation dialog appears that the plug-in has been installed.
Step 5: You must now configure the plugins. Which plugins need configuring, and the information you need to enter depends on what kind of ebooks you have. If your ebooks don’t match the description at the start of any of the following items, ignore it and move on to the next.
Step 6: Now click on the “Apply” button, and then close the preferences. You’re now ready to remove eBook DRM. Just import them into Calibre, and the DRM will be removed. Done!
Lou Bernstein said,
November 13, 2011 at 2:25 am
Lori -
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your guide to converting .epub files to .pdf files saved me hours of frustration. I used Google to find articles to convert .epub to pdf but met with a bunch of false starts and a lot of head scratching. Your guide was very clear and step-by-step oriented.
In no time.
- Lou Bernstein
loriswp said,
November 13, 2011 at 1:03 pm
Glad to have been a help. I know all about those false starts and head scratching moments with a couple of choice words thrown in for good measure when I went through this process myself. I couldn’t believe how difficult it was to simply convert a file format and when I found the solution I definitely wanted to help others out and save them the time and aggravation that I went through. I’ve got over a 100 e-books now and I can convert the formats with ease using Calibre. Its a very user friendly program
Jas Andrews said,
November 18, 2011 at 11:04 pm
Dear Lori,
I agree completely with Lou and have very little to add. The downloads worked slightly differently for me (Win 7), but overall it was effective. Many times I have also had the experience of downloading hassles trying to solve new file names. Usually I send a note off to my computer friends and let them find a solution. Thankfully your information showed up near the beginning of a search and now my computer friends can contact me for help! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Happy Reading, Jas
Arts said,
December 3, 2011 at 8:44 am
Nice Info.
Thanks for share
Nets said,
December 3, 2011 at 8:45 am
Good idea. Thank you very much
Klblamble said,
January 2, 2012 at 11:31 pm
I have a Sony e-reader and my husband has a kindle fire, however, I’ve had my library far longer, and have alot more titles that we were afraid we couldn’t share, until I found this, you probably just saved me days of my life searching for an answer.
loriswp said,
January 3, 2012 at 11:31 am
I am glad the article was helpful. The Calibre program really frees up your e-book library options and is an easy program to use. I hope you enjoy using it as much as I do and that it helps exchanging files from your Sony e-reader to your husbands Kindle Fire. Thanks for letting me know this article saved you time!~>^..^<~
Dorothy said,
January 9, 2012 at 10:26 am
Lori I have a Nook Color. I followed your directions and got as far as downloading ADE, but then I couldn’t open the Epub file in ADE as I got a “This is registered to a different user” error. What I am trying to do…I downloaded some knitting patterns to my Nook and I simply need a paper copy in order to follow the instructions. Using my Nook to read the instructions is not working for me. Any suggestions?
loriswp said,
February 12, 2012 at 1:50 pm
Dorothy,
Do you know if the files are DRM protected? You might be able to install the Calibre program without the ADE and DRM steps. It seems that Calibre has plugins that can be downloaded to help remove the DRM protection if needed. These are trickier to use than the software I recommended in the post though. My suggestion and sorry for the delay in this response, would be to skip right to installing Calibre onto your computer. Load your knitting EPUB files into Calibre. At this point, if they load without any warnings, then you should be free to read the patterns using the Calibre program and you can print the patterns directly from your computer as well as adjust the size of the font. Please let me know if you are able to install the Calibre program without the first two steps as well as if you were able to load your knitting patterns EPUB files into the program without DRM issues. I hope this suggestion works for you!
Looking forward to hearing how this experiment goes…
sihui said,
January 26, 2012 at 11:25 pm
Thank you so much, this has been so helpful!!
loriswp said,
February 12, 2012 at 1:33 pm
Sihui,
So glad you found this article helpful! Happy reading!
Hector said,
January 31, 2012 at 10:07 pm
Hello,
I have five or six e-books in EPUB format that I want to convert to PDF documents for printing.
I found Calibre, and as your very informative post indicates, gets the job done.
But here is my problem. When my book is converted and I open up the PDF document, the font is enormous!!! It doesn’t look anything like a real book.
I don’t care if it looks like a real book, but I don’t like the huge fonts and the 400+ pages to print. I tried messing around with the base font to no avail.
Given you have successfully converted so many EPUBs, do you have any tips on making an EPUB to PDF conversion actually look like a real PDF/book document?
Thanks!
loriswp said,
February 12, 2012 at 1:32 pm
Hector,
There are a couple of different options you can do to adjust the font. Usually a PDF document can be edited if you have the Adobe Acrobat suite. Yet, if you are like the average computer user, shelling out $300 plus for the Adobe Suite isn’t an option and you are using the Adobe Reader, with limited editing options.
As you realize, these documents are created so you can read them on your computer and you’re opening a book – they usually can be 300 to 500 pages long, even with the smaller font. Playing around with the document in Adobe Acrobat Reader, I’ve found out that while you can adjust the viewing size, there is little you can do to adjust the actual document size. I pretty much only found this really cool option that will read the book out loud for you under the view option but that’s not going to reduce your font size. Anyway, I found the better option is to print out the document using your Calibre program.
Using the Calibre program, either keep or convert your Ebook in/to EPUB format. In the EPUB format, you can adjust the font size down and take a 320 page book and have it print out as 120 pages. Simply open the EPUB file and look to the left of your ebook reading screen. First you will want to adjust the font size. There are 2 symbols starting 4 down on the left hand size of the screen that are 2 ‘A’ (both captial ‘A’s’ one small, one larger), one symbol has an arrow up above the ‘A’s and the other symbol has an arrow down above the ‘A’s’. Click on the ‘A’s with the arrow down and adjust your font size to a legible smaller size. This is how I reduced my 320 pages down to 120 pgs. Next, there is a printer as the last symbol on the list of editing options for the ebook you are viewing. Right click on the printer and a Print Preview option will open up. Here you can verify that you indeed reduced your book size from the larger font and page numbers to a smaller printing. This is the easiest way to reduce the font size and page print outs that I can suggest. If the file is in PDF format, you can easily convert it to EPUB format using the Calibre program.
I hope this information helps and am sorry for the delayed response. Yes, the blog is still open, just was on hiatus for a bit.
If you have any trouble with getting the EPUB file to alter your page printing size and output, feel free to run the issue by me and hopefully I will be able to assist you. Thank you~