How can I purchase a PDF?

Purchasing PDFs through the online shop follows the same procedures as other formats. All the current payment methods can be used with the exception of 'Pay by Post' as PDFs must be purchased online to receive the link to download. You can purchase books and downloads in the same transaction. If paying by credit or debit card the transaction payment for PDFs will appear as a separate transaction on your statement.

Once payment has been confirmed, details on how to access and download your product will be displayed on your order confirmation screen. There may be a small delay whilst your payment is confirmed.

What is DRM?

Digital Rights Management (DRM) is an industry standard used by publishers to protect digital content and prevent illegal copying and distribution.

The DRM protection may cause problems trying to download through a network firewall. If you do encounter problems please contact your network administrator or refer to Adobe Digital Editions Help and Support pages.

How can I install Adobe Digital Editions?

Firstly, you need to download the latest version of Adobe Digital Editions (ADE), freely available from the Adobe Website. The download (Windows® and Mac®) takes less than a minute to install over a broadband connection. When you first launch ADE you are prompted to activate the application by entering an Adobe ID. If you do not have an Adobe ID, you are provided with a link to get one - we strongly advise that you set up an Adobe ID. Authorising Adobe Digital Editions with an Adobe ID means that when you purchase a TSO PDF, the PDF is automatically "tied" to your Adobe ID rather than your computer. This also allows you to access your TSO PDFs using your Adobe ID on up to six computers or devices that have been authorised with Adobe Digital Editions - click here for more information.

Once you authorise ADE, the application looks for PDFs already on the computer and converts copies of the items to your Adobe ID. You can then transfer those TSO PDFs to other computers by means of access through your Adobe ID. If you have TSO PDFs on multiple computers, you need to authorise each computer with ADE prior to transferring TSO PDFs between them.

To de-authorise and re-authorise ADE, the shortcut: (Ctrl-Shift-D [Windows] or Cmd-Shift-D [Macs]) allows users to change the ID associated with the software.

If you have trouble installing Adobe Digital Editions on Windows Vista, Windows XP or Mac OS, see the Adobe Installation TechNote or download Adobe® Digital Editions Standalone Installation for Windows® and Mac OS X.

Adobe Digital Editions System Requirements

The minimum system requirements for Adobe Digital Editions are listed on the Adobe website: www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/systemreqs/

Some users have experienced problems when attempting to download Adobe Digital Editions using Internet Explorer 9. To overcome this ensure that you have the latest upgrade to Internet Explorer 9. You can find this on the Microsoft website.

Can I access a TSO PDF on more than one device?

Yes - if you set up an Adobe ID, you can access your PDF on up to six computers or personal devices and restore them after a data loss or system reinstallation, providing they are authorised with ADE. Creating an Adobe ID only takes a minute (you must be online during this process) and means that any of the PDFs you purchase from TSO are attached to your ID rather than your device.

If you decline signing up for an Adobe ID, your TSO PDFs will belong to the computer and not a named user account/Adobe ID. Subsequently, you will be prompted to authorise your computer whenever you purchase a TSO PDF, although the prompt dialog box provides a 'Don't ask me again' checkbox. ADE does have an 'Authorize Computer' menu item within 'Library' that you can use after initial installation.

Are TSO PDFs compatible with my device?

A full list of compatible eReaders is available on the Adobe website. If your device is listed here, please refer to its device manual for instructions on transferring DRM PDFs.

Please note that TSO PDFs are not compatible with iPads or Amazon Kindles as these devices do not support DRM.

How can I download and save a TSO PDF?

PDF file sizes vary. The time taken to download will depend on your internet connection speed. Once you have downloaded your PDF, Adobe will automatically save the file within the 'My Digital Editions' folder on your computer: you will only be able to download it once. For PDFs downloaded before 30 March 2009 using Abode Reader versions, your PDFs will be stored under File > My Bookshelf.

You can save this file to another area on your computer if preferred. If you do not wish to download straight away, a link to the product will be found in the 'Your Account' pages under 'Download History'.

Using Digital Editions:
On Windows - PDF files are stored in My Documents > My Digital Editions
On Mac - PDF files are stored in Documents > Digital Editions

For PDFs downloaded before 30 March 2009 using Adobe Reader 6 and 7:
On Windows - PDF files are stored in My Documents > My Digital Editions
On Mac - PDF files are stored in Documents > Digital Editions

Can I forward a PDF link to someone else?

If you wish to forward an unopened link to another person by email instead of downloading it yourself, right-click on the link and either select 'copy shortcut', or view the properties and copy the 'Address/URL', then paste it into the email. Please note the 'Address/URL' may be longer than is visible in the properties box so you'll need to scroll down to view the entire link.

The PDF will be accessible for the number of copies you have purchased and a record of the number of downloads will appear in your 'Download History' on your 'Your Account' pages.

Can I copy or print a PDF?

Our PDF files are encrypted and will not allow copying, cutting or pasting. Unless otherwise stated there are restrictions built in on the number of times a PDF can be printed - generally this will be once only.

Some PDFs contain pages in landscape and portrait. To ensure these print correctly check that 'Auto-rotate and Centre' (if available) is selected on your 'Page Handling' options on your printer settings.

MAC users: please be aware that when you select 'Print Preview' this counts as printing.

Can I return a PDF?

PDF products cannot be returned once downloaded.

Why isn't my PDF formatting correctly?

PDFs are formatted for both Windows and Macintosh operating systems. For other systems please check Adobe System Requirements.

Can I still access a PDF I purchased a long time ago?

As of 30 March 2009, products purchased in PDF (Portable Document Format) from TSO are only readable with Adobe Digital Editions: our PDFs are no longer compatible with any version of Adobe Reader. If you purchased a TSO PDF before March 2009 using Adobe Reader rather than installing Adobe Digital Editions and converting them, you will not be able to migrate your PDFs to ADE.

If your TSO PDFs were not converted by 31 December 2009, you will always have to use Adobe Reader to read TSO PDFs purchased before 30 March 2009. You will however be able to read any new TSO PDFs bought after 31 December 2009 with ADE.

For TSO PDFs purchased before 30 March 2009 and not converted to ADE, they can be used on other PCs provided a version of Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0 to 7.0 has been installed, and by setting up a .Net Passport from the Adobe DRM activator site. To access, follow these instructions:

1. Following successful download of the PDF to your main PC, copy the PDF file and send via e-mail attachment to the desired PC.

2. On receiving the e-mail, double click on the attached PDF. A message will appear asking if the PDF is your document: click the top option, agreeing that it is.

3. Another message will appear to be directed to the Adobe DRM activator site as the PDF has been opened on another PC (the PC will need to have internet access).

4. Once directed to Adobe DRM activator site, sign in using your .Net Passport username and password.

5. Once signed in, return to the e-mail and again double click on the attached PDF and it should open normally.

Customers who have previously downloaded DRM protected PDFs using Adobe Reader

Users' previously purchased, downloaded and activated PDFs from TSO should continue to work as before using either Adobe Reader version 6.0 or 7.0 (or Adobe Digital Editions). However, if you have previously used Adobe Reader to download PDFs purchased from TSO, when you first load the Adobe Digital Editions software onto your computer, all of your PDFs will be automatically migrated to Adobe Digital Editions and appear in the 'Bookshelf' view. This auto-migration will only occur up until 31 December 2009.

If you continue to use Adobe Reader to read previously purchased TSO PDFs rather than installing Adobe Digital Editions and converting them, you will not be able to migrate your PDFs to Adobe Digital Editions after 31 December 2009. If they are not converted by this date, you will always have to use Adobe Reader to read TSO PDFs purchased before 30 March 2009. You will however be able to read any new TSO PDFs bought after 31 December 2009 with Adobe Digital Editions.

Customers who have previously purchased DRM protected PDFs that have not yet been downloaded

If you have purchased a PDF from TSO prior to 30 March 2009 but have not yet downloaded it, you can access the link to the PDF through your 'Download History' as usual. All active links in the download history have been upgraded to work with Adobe Digital Editions.

Resellers

If you are a reseller of TSO PDFs or if you have been sent a link to download a TSO PDF by a third party (rather than making the purchase on TSO Shop yourself), any links that were purchased before 30 March 2009 that have not yet been downloaded may need to be updated. If you are not accessing a link via the 'Download History' of TSO Shop, you may need to add "acs4=true" to the end of each link you have in order for them to function correctly.

An error message has displayed - what does it mean?

» None of the requested vouchers could be obtained
Please attempt the download again, if your link will no longer work please contact e-support - esupport@tso.co.uk to request reactivation.

» Your Adobe Software could not be activated. The Adobe DRM Activator is not responding
It may be that the Adobe Activator site is busy and you should try later, or that your network will not support downloads from Adobe. In this case please contact your network administrator.

» Page Cannot Be Found
This error will be obtained when you click on the download link. This usually indicates that a previous attempt to download has failed before completion, resulting in a corrupt download file. Please contact e-support - esupport@tso.co.uk, quoting the error message above, and they will arrange to reset the incomplete download and make a new download available.

» Your Adobe software could not be activated. Adobe DRM Activator error (Client code 31) HTTP code 404 Fault location: 15
or
» Server-Code 400 400 Bad Request Invalid EBX-Version from client: not sent
or
» An error occurred while receiving this document. None of the requested vouchers could be obtained. Adobe DRM client Error: 810. Local voucher engine error
or
similar
These errors are likely to be caused by a problem in transmitting the required HTTP requests between your PC and the Adobe website. These requests are used to activate your Adobe Reader.
The most likely cause is problems with your firewall or proxy server not allowing these requests through, or otherwise corrupting the requests.
If you are using a company PC you will need to discuss this with your IT department.
If you are using a home PC, you will need to speak to your ISP (Internet Service Provider).
More technical detail is available from the Adobe website at the following URLs, which your IT department or ISP will need to refer to.

http://support.adobe.com/devsup/devsup.nsf/docs/53813.htm (1st error message)

http://support.adobe.com/devsup/devsup.nsf/docs/53752.htm (2nd error message)

http://support.adobe.com/devsup/devsup.nsf/docs/53749.htm (3rd error message)

» Adobe DRM client Error: 441... Voucher engine invalid NONCE An error occurred while receiving this document: None of the requested vouchers could be obtained Adobe DRM client Error: 441 Could not authenticate with voucher engine at server Server Code: 500
or
» 500 Internal Server Error (5) Could not obtain voucher Exception ActiveVE [issueVoucher]: Code: 0x80000035 (-2147483595)
or
similar
The download you are attempting to obtain has expired, possibly because of the length of time between your making the initial purchase and downloading or opening the downloaded file.
First, locate any *.etd files on your file system which are more than 30 days old and delete them.
Then, contact eSupport - esupport@tso.co.uk, explaining that you believe your download has expired, and request an additional download.

» Your Adobe software could not be activated. Adobe DRM Activator error (server code 27) Fault location : 5 Client User is not an EasyActivation user and can not be migrated to a full user
or
» Eden Info: (Dx1b) Client User is not an EasyActivation user and can not be migrated to a full user
or
» Soap Info: Client User is not an EasyActivation user and can not be migrated to a full user. Contact customer support
or
similar
This means you activated Adobe Reader for your existing books under one Passport or Adobe ID and are now trying to activate using a different Passport or Adobe ID, possibly while upgrading from one version of Reader to another or possibly while trying to activate another computer.
Reactivate using the same Passport or Adobe ID that you were using when you downloaded the books. If you're not sure what Passport or Adobe ID that you used, you can contact Adobe using the phone number appropriate to your location, obtained from
http://www.adobe.co.uk/activation/main.html. Before calling Adobe, make a list of email addresses that you might have used. (The Passport or Adobe ID email address is used as an identifier--it doesn't matter if you can no longer receive mail at it).

» 'URLLink.acsm' file
Some PDF downloads have resulted in a file labelled 'URLLink.acsm' which indicates that the computer has failed to define the associated programme. You will need to check that the file extension is linked to Adobe Digital Editions by following these steps:

1. Open 'My Computer' and from the menu bar select 'Tools > Folder Options' and click on the 'File Types' tab.

2. Select '.acsm' and click the 'Change' button.

3. In the list of programmes displayed, click 'Adobe Digital Editions', then click the 'OK' button.

4. Right-click the 'urllink.acsm' file downloaded and select to 'Open-With' Adobe Digital Editions.

The PDF should then download successfully. If you are using Windows Vista you will need to find the file extension through a different path as outlined in Edit Files Types in Windows Vista.

A Best Management Practice website managed and published by TSO in conjunction with the Cabinet Office (part of HM Government) and APMG