The Google Help FAQ page covers some of the most Frequently Asked Questions regarding the purchasing, reading and downloading of Google eBooks.
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Google eBooks are a new way to discover, buy, and enjoy your favourite digital books, online and offline, powered by Google. You can buy a Google eBook and then read your purchased book on your computer, your smartphone, or your electronic reading device.
Google eBooks are kept on the cloud (Google's computer servers), which means you can do more than just read your book. You can buy new and out-of-print books, switch from one reading device to another without losing your place and manage your digital book collection on your digital bookshelf.
Once you have purchased Google eBooks from our website, you can easily access and manage your purchased titles from “Your Google eBooks” button located in your My Profile page. Since the eBook library is synced-up with the cloud, you will find all your Google eBooks purchases there.
Your most recent purchase will be the one displayed first in the list. To start reading your Google eBook immediately, just click the eBook cover to launch the WebReader.
For a superior reading experience, you can download and install the Google Books reading app for free on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch (iOS 4.0 or above) or any Android phone running version 2.1 (Eclair) or later and the Android Market.
Finally, Google eBooks can be read with any dedicated electronic reader that runs Adobe eBook Platform, including the Nook and Sony Portable Readers. The full list of Adobe-compatible devices can be found at www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions. At the moment, Google eBooks are not compatible with Amazon Kindle, Blackberry, Palm OS or Windows Mobile devices.
You need to have a Google Account in order to buy a Google eBook because the digital book will "live" in the cloud, or Google servers. All your eBook purchases will be stored in the same place and associated with that specific Google Account. Creating a Google Account is free, and you don't have to have a GMail address for that. For more information, please visit Google's Accounts Help' at: www.google.com.au/support/accounts
Web browsers: You can read Google eBooks on any browser with JavaScript enabled.
Smartphones: You can download and install the Google Books reading app for free on any Android phone that is running version 2.1 (Eclair) or later and has access to the Android Market, or on the iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. (iOS 3.0 or later).
eReader devices: Google eBooks can be read with any dedicated eBook reader that supports the Adobe eBook platform, including the Barnes & Noble Nook™ and Readers™ from Sony. More than 85 devices support the Adobe eBook platform today including BeBook, Sony Reader™, Aluratek Libre, Astak EZ Reader, Barnes & Noble Nook™ and Nook Color™, Bookeen, COOL-ER, Elonex eBook, HanLin eBook, IREX Digital Reader, Neolux Nuut, and more. The full list of Adobe-compatible devices can be found at www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/devices/
Please Note: Currently, Google eBooks are not compatible with Amazon Kindle devices.
ePub is the standard eBook format that makes it possible to optimise and customise text and images for both large displays like a desktop computer and small screens like a smartphone. The relationship between text and images is not closely maintained, but the text size and font is adjustable by the reader. Epub is also referred to as "flowing text".
PDF, or Portable Document Format, is the standard format for document reading created by Adobe. PDF is a file format which presents the book in its original layout and visual formatting. These files are generally larger in size, and the text doesn't adjust to fit the device or computer on which you are reading making this format difficult to read on smaller screens. Pdf maintains the relationship between images and text as it was published, but does not allow for the font or text size to be changed by the reader. PDF files are also referred as scanned pages.
The Google Web Reader can be opened by clicking on the cover of the book you wish to read from your Google Library. The Google reader is very easy to use with only a few simple settings which allow you to view your book in a few different ways depending on your preference. Here is a quick guide to its features and icons.
Navigation
The Web Reader allows users browsing books with Google Books to take advantage of their full screen for a more pleasant reading experience. If you re-size your browser window, the Web Reader will scale the book pages up or down to fit.
At the bottom of the page, a slider allows you to easily flip through and jump to different sections of the book. The current page number is displayed in the lower corner of the Web Viewer at all times.
My Library: Clicking the book icon will return you to the My Library page, where you can browse and manage your bookshelves.
Content: The list icon provides you easy access to the book's table of contents, with links to chapters and notable sections within the book.
Settings: The "Aa" icon contains book viewing settings. For many books, this includes the ability to choose to view original page images or flowing text (when available). The flowing text mode allows you to adjust the font, text size, line height, and justification. Original page images may be more suitable for specially formatted books, such as for poetry.
Search: The magnifying glass icon allows you to search for words and phrases within the ebook you're reading. You can easily switch between viewing search results sorted by order of appearance or by relevance.
About this book: Displays the title and publisher of the current book. You can also see the average rating, check out reviews--or write your own--and view additional bibliographic information.
Define, Translate, and Search terms
To select text in a Google eBook within the Web Reader, double-click or highlight it with your mouse and a pop-up menu opens with a number of options for you to investigate words or phrases in the book you're reading.
(Note that this works when viewing eBooks that are available in "Flowing text" mode. If an eBook has flowing pages, you can ensure they are showing when reading in the Web Reader by clicking "Aa" in the top-right corner, and clicking the pop-down menu under "Show", and selecting "Flowing text". These features currently are not supported in Opera browsers.)
Define
Click "Define" and the pop-up now displays a definition of the word via Google Dictionary, without leaving the page you're on in the Google eBook. Click on the audio icon to the left of the word you want defined to hear the definition pronounced aloud. If you decide you do want to leave the page, select "More" to go to the Google Dictionary page for the word, which provides additional information like usage examples and web definitions.
Translate
You can also translate a single word or several sentences of content into dozens of languages, from Afrikaans to Yiddish, by selecting the "Translate" option. As with definitions, you'll see the translated text displayed in the pop-up window.
Search
By selecting one of the search options, you can search for the selected text in other places within the ebook you're reading or across the entire web.
"Search Book" brings up all the instances in which the selected text appears in the ebook. You can also access the search options by clicking on the magnifying glass icon in the upper right-hand corner of the Web Reader. Clicking on a search result brings you to the page that word appears in the book.
"Search Google" and "Search Wikipedia" open up a new browser tab displaying the search results for that text on Google and Wikipedia, respectively.
Keyboard Shortcuts
We support the following keyboard shortcuts to easily navigate through book pages:
- Next page: J, Right Arrow, P, or Page Up keys
- Previous page: K, Left Arrow, N, or Page Down keys
1. If you haven't done so already, install the latest version of Adobe Digital Editions software to your computer and follow the instructions to create an Adobe ID. (Please note that you cannot install applications onto Google Chromebooks and will have to use a different computer to transfer Google eBooks to a Nook, Sony Reader, or other supported devices.)
2. Hover your mouse over the information icon in the top left corner of the eBook in your Google library.
3. Click on either the EPUB or PDF link for the Google eBook file you'd like to transfer. This will download the file onto your computer (This will be an ASCM file).
4. Open the file from your computer and the file should open with Adobe Digital Editions. If it does not, right-click the file and select "Open With..." and open the file with Adobe Digital Editions".
5. Your Google eBook is now added to the "All Items" bookshelf in the Library View. If you are not in the Library View, click on the top-left most icon in the window.
6. Connect your e-Reader to your computer with a USB cable provided with the device.
7. Confirm that Adobe Digital Editions recognizes your e-Reader as a device under Bookshelves in left-hand pane (see below). If it does not, close Adobe Digital Editions and reopen it with the USB cable in place.
8. Click and drag the Google eBook in the right-hand pane onto your e-Reader icon in the left-hand pane. Note: If you are not able to drag the Google Books onto the icon, the device is not authorized.
9. After a few seconds, confirm the transfer is complete by clicking on the e-Reader icon and locating the Google eBook.
In some cases, you may need to deactivate and re-activate Adobe Digital Editions on your device. To do so, please follow these steps:
1. In Adobe Digital Edition (ADE), if you press Ctrl+Shift+D (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+D (Mac) will remove the activation on your computer, and allow you to reactivate with a different ID or the same ID when you launch ADE again.
2. Press "Ctrl+Shift+E", this will bring up the "Device Deactivation" dialog.
3. Select your Reader and deactivate it.
4. Unplug and replug your Reader
5. The Device Authorization dialog should show up, and you can authorize again with your Adobe ID.
YES! We support offline reading in our mobile apps, where you can select books to be downloaded to your app for reading on the go. Please see the specific device articles for further details on how to download and use them:
Reading on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch Learn more
Reading on your Android device Learn more
If you're using a supported eReader device, you can also read most books available as Google eBooks offline by downloading and transferring a PDF or ePub file to your device. Please see this list of instructions for different supported devices.
Google eBooks are designed to accommodate one book per Google Account. This means that sharing books among multiple users is not currently supported.
The only reason why you are asked to link your Co-op Bookshop account to a Google account is so you can finish your purchase and access your Google eBooks via our website. There is no information being shared between Google and us. This means Google won't have access to your credit card information, and we won't have access to your Google account or Gmail. If you're concerned with Security and Privacy of Google Accounts, please check Google's Privacy and Security Articles and Terms of Service
