Removing Adobe DRM Guide

Removing Adobe DRM Guide

These directions are based on using a Windows 7 PC. Details may differ slightly for Mac users and for other versions of Windows. Make sure to read the ReadMe files located in the plugins folder for additional instructions.

#1. The first thing you need to do to be able to remove Adobe DRM is install Adobe Digital Editions and Calibre onto your computer if they aren’t already installed.

• Adobe Digital Editions
• Calibre

#2. Now you need to download the DRM Removal Tools package from over onApprentice Alf’s Blog. The link is halfway down the page. Make sure to read the note about downloading. And thank Apprentice Alf and friends for making all of this so easy :).

Extract the zip file once it is downloaded. It should be called something like “tools_v5.6.zip”. It’s a good idea to check the included ReadMe_First document for additional instructions.

#3. Install the DRM-Removal plugin(s) into Calibre. Inside the DRM removal tools folder that you downloaded there’s a folder called Calibre_Plugins with five different DRM removal plugins for Nook, Kindle, and Adobe DRM. There are two different plugins for removing Adobe DRM, one for ePub files and one for PDF files. The Adobe plugins are easily distinguishable by the first part of the file names, ineptepub and ineptpdf. Most Adobe DRM ebooks are in ePub format so most people will only need to install the first plugin.

To install a plugin simply launch Calibre and then select “Preferences” from the top menu (if the window isn’t open all the way you have to hit a small arrow on the top right to expand the selection to show the Preferences option). From the Preferences window you need to select “Plugins” and then choose “Load plugin from file”. Navigate to where you unzipped the DRM removal tools pack and select the “Calibre_Plugins” folder and then choose the plugin you want to install. A security risk dialogue pops-up where you have to click Yes to proceed. If you need to install a second plugin do the same thing again. After installing the plugin(s) close Calibre and then restart it.

#4. That’s it. Now all you have to do to remove Adobe DRM from ebooks is import them into Calibre using the “Add books” feature. The plugin will automatically strip the DRM from ebooks upon import, and it takes virtually no time at all.

In order to import ebooks into Calibre you have to have them downloaded onto your computer first, of course. That’s where Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) comes in. Wherever you bought your Adobe DRM ebook from (Kobo, Sony, Google, etc) there will be an option to download it to your computer if you login to your account and view your library. But when you download the ebook it will be an acsm file instead of ePub. First you have to open the acsm file for it to import the ebook into ADE. Once that’s done you can locate the ePub file that you need to import into Calibre within the folder that ADE created on your computer. With my installation ADE ebooks are located in Documents > My Digital Editions.

That’s all there is to removing Adobe DRM from ebooks! Now you can modify the formatting of the ebook and read it on whatever app or device you choose, including a Kindle (but first you’ll have to use Calibre to convert it to MOBI format). Here’s a Getting Started with Calibre Tutorial if you want to learn how to use Calibre to convert ebooks into other formats and how to customize layout and fonts.