Download Google Books
Google is one of the best sources of downloadable books on the Internet, allowing you to choose what you want to read from various sources and access them on your computer or on an E-reader. Downloading your Google Books can be a little tricky, especially if you want to use them on other devices. You can download the books as EPUB or PDF, but you may need to remove the copy protection after downloading it.
Contents
Steps
Before You Start
- Understand what can be downloaded. There are essentially two forms of Google Books: the Google Books search engine and online reader, and the Google Play Books store. The link between the two is minimal, but all purchased books will be in your Google Play Books library. Regardless of which service you are using, you can only download books that you have purchased, or books that are freely available.
- You cannot download any book in Preview mode. This view allows you to read selected pages from a book before buying, usually as a way to ensure that the conversion to eBook format is suitable. If the book has pages omitted, it cannot be downloaded.
Downloading from Your Google Play Books Library
- Open your Google Play Books library. You can access it at play.google.com/books. You will be prompted to log in with your Google account if you aren't already.
- Find the book from your library that you want to download. You can only download books that you have purchased, free books that were added to your library from the Google Play Store, or books that you manually uploaded.
- You cannot download any books in your library that say "Sample" on the cover image. The sample is a few pages of the book and not the whole thing.
- Not all purchased books will be able to be downloaded, as the decision is up to the publisher.
- Hold your cursor over the book and click the menu button that appears in the upper-right corner of the cover. If you are already have the book open, you'll need to click "Exit" to return to your library first.
- Select "Download PDF" or "Download EPUB". This will allow you to download the book to your computer in the format you choose. Purchased books will be downloaded in ACSM format as a form of DRM (Digital Rights Management).
- PDF is compatible with the most devices, but will not contain any navigation features.
- EPUB is designed for eBook readers, and allows you to use eBook reader functions with the book.
- Remove the DRM from purchased book downloads. When you download a PDF file of a book that you purchased from Google Play Books, it downloads in ACSM format. This is actually just a link that needs to be opened in a program called Adobe Digital Editions. Download-Google-Books.
Downloading from the Google Books Search Engine
- Open the book you want to download. You can download any book that have a "Read" link on their Google Books search result. The book will need to be free in order to download it using this method; if the book was purchased, it will be in your Google Play Books library.
- Click the Gear icon in the upper-right corner of the page.
- Select "Download PDF" or "Download EPUB". This will allow you to download the book to your computer in the format you choose. If you don't see this option, then the book will need to be purchased before you can download it.
- PDF is compatible with the most devices, but will not contain any navigation features.
- EPUB is designed for eBook readers, and allows you to use eBook reader functions with the book.
Removing DRM from Purchased Books
- Download and install Adobe Digital Editions. This program is necessary to open the ACSM file in the first place to access the PDF file. Adobe Digital Editions is free and available from adobe.com/solutions/ebook/digital-editions/download.html.
- Open Adobe Digital Editions and load the eBook that you downloaded. This will download the eBook to your computer.
- You can click and drag the ACSM file into the Adobe Digital Editions window to add it.
- Check "I want to authorize my computer without an ID" box in the "Computer Authorization" window that appears. Click the "Authorize" button to activate your computer.
- Right-click on the book in your Adobe Digital Editions library and select "Show in Explorer" or "Show in Finder". A window will open showing the eBook file that has been downloaded to your computer. Leave this window open for now.
- Download and install Calibre. This is a free eBook reader program that will allow you to remove the DRM with a plugin. You can download Calibre for free from calibre-ebook.com/download.
- Download the DRM removal plugin. Follow these steps carefully, as performing them wrong could lead to the installation of malware.
- Visit datafilehost.com/d/4f680364 in Firefox (Chrome will block the download).
- IMPORTANT: Uncheck the "Use our download manager" box.
- Click the Download button.
- Open the downloaded ZIP file, and then open the "DeDRM_calibre_plugin" folder.
- Click and drag the "De_DRM_plugin" ZIP file onto your desktop.
- Open Calibre and click the ">>" button in the upper-right corner. This will open additional menu options.
- Click the "Preferences" button. In the "Advanced" section click "Plugins".
- Click the "Load plugin from file" button and select the "De_DRM_plugin" ZIP file that you placed on your desktop. Restart Calibre for the changes to take effect.
- Return to the Plugins menu. Expand the "File types" plugin section and select "DeDRM".
- Click the "Customize plugin" button and select "Adobe Digital Edition eBooks".
- Click the "+" button to create a new encryption key. Click "Close", "OK", and then "Apply". Restart Calibre one more time.
- Return to the open Explorer or Finder window with the PDF that Adobe Digital Reader downloaded (Step 3). Click and drag the PDF file into the Calibre window to add it to your Calibre library. It will be stripped of its DRM as it is added.
- Any new ACSM file that you add to your Calibre library will now be stripped of its DRM.
- Right-click on the new ebook in your Calibre library and select "Open containing folder". this will open an Explorer or Finder window with the new ebook file that has the DRM removed. You can transfer this file to any of your compatible devices now.
Downloading a Sample or Preview from Google Books Search
- Download and install the Google Books Downloader. This is a free program that allows you to enter a URL for a Google Books file and then download the available pages to your computer.
- You can download the Google Books Downloader from googlebookdownloader.codeplex.com/releases/view/125464.
- Copy the URL for the book you want to download. Open the preview in the Google Books search reader and then copy the URL. Remember that this tool will only download the pages that you can view in the Google Books website reader.
- Paste the URL into the "Google Book URL" box in Google Book Downloader. Select your output format if you want something other than PDF.
- You can also select where you want the book to be saved. By default, it will be saved to your desktop.
- Click the "Start" button to begin downloading the book. This may take a little while if there are a lot of pages.
Warnings
- Be careful to avoid malware files. Do not download files that seem untrustworthy.
- Sometimes a book is not available on eBooks.
