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Borrow, Renew, Return: Accessing eBooks

How to download and a book in Adobe Digital Editions

Some e-book platforms allow you to download copies of e-books to read offline, but to do this, you often need to install third-party software. This guide will show you how to download e-books from Ebook Central, one of our most common e-book platforms. To download an e-book from Ebook Central, you will need to install Adobe Digital Editions.

If you are using a University of Suffolk issued device you can download Adobe Digital Editions from the Software Center - see instructions on Minerva

If you are using your own device you can simply download Adobe Digital Editions.

 

To get started, you will need to find a book:

an image of an ebook record in Discovery, displaying a blue button with white text that reads "View eBook"

 

Before you can download an e-book, you must open it:

an image of an ebook landing page in Ebook Central displaying a purple button that reads "download book"

 

If you don't, you will get a message prompting you to do so:

an image of the ebook landing page with a pop-up message that reads "UNIVERSITY OF SUFFOLK would like you to open this book before downloading" with a purple button that reads "open book" underneath the text/

 

Once you've opened the book, select "download" from the top right-hand icons:

an image of the ebook reader icons, with the left-hand icon being a download button

 

Choose the type of device you will primarily be using:

an image of different options for devices: a laptop, iOS, Android phone, or other. Underneath the device options are two radio button options: "I'm using my own computer" and "I'm using a public computer"

 

If you've already downloaded Adobe Digital Editions, select "done with this step", otherwise download it at this point:

an image of a screen prompting to install Adobe Digital Editions, with two options below: "Get Adobe Digital Editions" and "Done with this step"

 

Choose your loan length:

an image of a download prompting screen displaying a dropdown menu option for loan length. Underneath the dropdown is a purple box that reads "download your book"

 

You can create an Adobe ID to read your downloads across devices, but you can also proceed without creating one. Login at this stage or tick "I want to authorise my computer without an ID". Then press "authorise" on the next screen:

an image of the pop up box prompting the user to authorise their computer. In the bottom left-hand corner the image displays a ticked tick box that reads "I want to authorise my computer without an ID"

 

Open Adobe Digital Editions and begin reading:

an image of the book in Adobe Digital Editions

 

You also have options for customising your reading experience. You can bookmark pages, search the contents of the book in the search box in the top right-hand corner, or use the the "reading" tab to change the page view and zoom in or out:

a close-up image of the tabs in Adobe Digital Editions. The tabs are "File", "Edit", "Reading", and "Help" from left to righta close-up image of the search box in Adobe Digital Editions located in the top right-hand corner