OVERVIEW of download options (start here!)


On most ebrary sites, ebrary now offers the following two download options for offline access to ebrary content via computer:

  • Create an image PDF of a specific chapter or page range
    Learn more:  http://support.ebrary.com/?p=655 

    • Same page limits as for printing
    • Accessible on most computers and devices, including the Kindle
    • Additional (free) software is typically not needed
    • Files do not expire
    • We’ve recently improved the image quality of our image PDFs. The tradeoff is that we needed to add a watermark.  This is consistent with the approach used by other ebook providers when an unsecured PDF is provided
  • Download an entire document as an e-book in Adobe Digital Editions
    Learn more:  http://support.ebrary.com/?p=687 

    • Patrons first need to install Adobe Digital Editions on their computer (free online)
    • Accessible on most computers and devices, but not the Kindle or Kobo Vox
    • Up to 10 documents at a time per patron
    • By default, full-document downloading is only available for multi-user documents (not single-user-only documents), but admins can override this setting
    • Multi-user documents can be full-document downloaded for 14 days*
    • If allowed, single-user-only documents can be full-document downloaded for 7 days*
    • Loaned documents cannot be full-document downloaded (even if your site allows it for single-user titles)
    • Some publishers prohibit full-document downloading of their documents.  See here for a list: http://support.ebrary.com/?p=868

* These check-out times are currently not configurable.  Users can return documents early

Note:  Both types of downloading are triggers for Patron Driven Acquisition (PDA). Loaned documents cannot be full-document downloaded.

Check out more of our Knowledge Base articles under the “Download” category.