Tips on Using Adobe Digital Editions

Rod Machado's ebooks are downloaded onto your computer as PDF files that are read by the free Adobe Digital Editions reader. The PDF files are stored in the "My Documents/My Digital Editions" folder on your hard drive. These PDF files can be moved to and read on as many as six of your personal computers (lap top or desktop computers: PC or Mac) as long as you have the free Adobe Digital Editions reader installed on those computers. These ebooks are read off-line, meaning that they are stored on your computer and you don't need an internet connection to read them.

You'll really like the Adobe Digital Editions since it provides an excellent platform for reading PDF style ebooks. It allows you to quickly modify your viewing preferences, add bookmarks and search content in all Rod Machado's downloaded ebooks. Here's an introduction to using Adobe Digital Editions.

After you've downloaded and installed the free Adobe Digital Editions software, you can download your ebook order from my secure ordering site. A small file will be downloaded onto your desktop that looks like the one below (this isn't the ebook, the file size is too small). You need to click this .acsm file once to begin your ebook download. (The ebook is downloaded through the Digital Editions window, which is why you have to have Digital Editions installed to download an ebook.)

Normally, on your Windows PC, your ebooks are stored in the folder shown below.

Once the ebook is download, you'll see it in the Digital Editions reading pane shown below (four of my ebooks are shown as downloaded and ready to read).

After your ebook is downloaded, you don't want to click the .acsm file again. Doing so will just download another ebook onto your computer, which will take up your valuable time. Instead, if you want to read your ebook, you should click the Digital Editions icon located on your desktop as shown below.

To read your ebook, you can click the button located at the top left of each book or double click the book picture to open the book file in the reading pane.

Your ebook opens in the reading pane with the table of contents (or bookmarks) navigation column shown on the left (as shown below).

Depending on your screen size, you may be able to read two pages at a time with the contents showing.

You can select the one or two page views, a custom fit, or even the full horizontal (partial vertical) view by clicking any one of the page icons shown at the top right of the Digital Editions panel as shown below.

Given that you may read your ebook on a laptop with limited screen size, you may elect to collapse the navigation panel containing the contents or bookmarks. You can do this by clicking or dragging the small left-pointing arrow located on the right side of the navigation pane.

Or, you can click the "Reading" bar located at the top left of your Digital Editions panel and click "Hide Navigation Pane."

You can expand the Navigation Pane at the Reading bar by clicking "Show Navigation Pane."

Adding bookmarks is easy with Digital Editions. First, use your cursor to highlight any text you'd like to reference. Then click the options tab located at the bottom left of the navigation pane and select "Create Bookmark."

Or you can highlight the text and click the red-ribbon bookmark symbol located at the top right or your Digital Editions.

Once you've highlighted the text and clicked the bookmark button/symbol, an "Add Bookmark" pane opens. The excerpt you've highlighted is shown above the "Notes" box. You can type any additional notes that please you in the box. Click OK when you're done. Now the text stays highlighted for future use (closing Digital Editions automatically saves all bookmarks).

You can open your bookmarks in the Bookmark Navigation Pane by clicking the red-ribbon icon. Clicking a bookmark takes you to its location. You can open the table of contents by clicking the outline-page symbol next to the bookmark symbol.

It's as easy as that.