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How to Remove DRM from Adobe Digital Editions (PDF&EPUB)

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Adobe Digital Editions (abbreviated ADE) is an ebook reader software program from Adobe Systems, built initially using Adobe Flash. It is used for acquiring, managing, and reading eBooks, digital newspapers, and other digital publications. The software supports PDF, XHTML (through the non-proprietary EPUB file type specification) and flash-based content. It implements a proprietary scheme of Digital Rights Management ("DRM") which, since the version 1.5 release in May 2008, allows document sharing among multiple devices and user authentication via an Adobe ID.

That's why so many people want to strip Adobe DRM. And this is also the reason why we write this article for you. These three parts cover how to remove DRM from Adobe digital editions PDF&Epub, among which the second section is especially important as the key decryption is exactly generated during this process.

Step 1. Check Whether Your Adobe PDF or Epub ebooks are DRM Protected or not

Note: Usually, if your books are purchased from online eBook vendors, they are protected by DRM. Or if your books are rented from libraries, they are also protected by DRM. If you ensure your eBooks are protected with DRM, you can just skip over this step in case of wasting your time.

Launch Calibre (Windows/Mac), add your ePUB & PDF books and double click the book title to open it. If the following warning window pops, it means that your book is DRM protected.

remove DRM from ADE - Adobe Reader aleart

Or you can open the PDF books with your favorite PDF reader. DRM-protected PDFs will come with a similar alert window.

remove DRM from ADE - Adobe Reader aleart

If you can read your books on Calibre without restriction, they will be DRM free. Just feel free to transfer them to anyone. If your Adobe Digital Editions eBook are protected with DRM, continue to read the following parts.

Step 2. Read Your DRM-protected ePUB & PDF eBooks on Adobe Digital Editions

1. Download & Install Adobe Digital Editions and authorize your Adobe Digital Editions with your Adobe ID. If you don't have an Adobe ID, you can apply a new one.

authorize Adobe Digital Editions

2. Make sure the ePub & PDF files can be read on ADE! This is a very easy step. To check whether you book meet this requirement, you just need to open your ebooks with your authorized Adobe Digital Editions, no matter they are PDF, EPUB or .ACSM files.

Note: The decryption key will be generated during the reading process. If you failed to read eBooks with ADE, you will be likely to fail to remove DRM as well. To solve this problem, you have to delete all your books under ADE folder and re-download them under the newly authorized ADE.

Step 3. Remove DRM from Adobe Digital Editions

To remove the DRM from Adobe Digital Editions, you will need the help of a professional tool --Epubor Ultimate. With this best eBook DRM Removal and ebook Converter, you can remove DRM from Adobe Digital Editions pdf and epub easily and smoothly. Glad to share is this tool also can remove DRM from Amazon Kindle and Kobo eBooks.

1. Download and install Epubor Ultimate.

   

2. Launch Epubor Ultimate, it will automatically detect and upload your books saved in ADE's default folder. As you can see, all the books here are listed on the left side. Just drag them to the main interface, all ebook will be decrypted automatically.

explore decypted file

To find the decrypted eBooks, you can click on output folder icon at the bottom right. The folder storing the DRM-free eBooks will pop up. As you can see, this step can be assumed the most easiest step to remove DRM from Adobe Digital Editions with the help of Epubor Ultimate? So why not give this software a try to free your Adobe pdf or epub now?

Pro Tips for You

1. The default location of ADE:

For Windows: ...\My Documents (or Documents)\My Digital Editions\...

For Mac: Users/ ... (Your computer name)/Digital Editions/...

2. Problem with authorizing ADE:

An error "problem decrypting session key" may occur if you use different ADE versions to download ACSM files or open eBooks. In this case, you have to delete all your downloaded books under your ADE folder and redownload them with the authorized Adobe ID again.

3. Win 7 or Vista users:

This guide mainly applies to Win XP and Mac. If you are using Win7 or Vista, please right click on the program icon and choose "run as administrator".

4. Convert Books with Calibre:

If you want to convert the books, use the best eBook manager and converter Calibre!

5. Remove DRM from Kobo eBooks:

Since Kobo eBooks are also protected with Adobe Adept DRM, you can use this method to help you. But here is an easier way for you to remove DRM from Adobe Digital Editions.

Download Epubor Ultimate for free:

   

Watch Video Tutorial to Learn How to Remove DRM from Adobe Digital Editions

author

works for Epubor and writes articles for a collection of blogs such as ebookconverter.blogspot.com.

93 Comments
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12/4/2012 18:14:25
THANK YOU! It worked perfectly.
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10/5/2013 12:56:17
Thank you! this was super helpful!!
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07/20/2014 12:04:08
Wow... Thanks so so much!
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08/14/2014 05:05:49
It works!  However this prog is the trial version.  If this were a freeware, the world will be a better place......
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08/14/2014 19:41:37
Thank you for the kind words about this post. However, the company needs money to run and to expand, sorry for cannot provide this program for free.
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05/12/2020 04:27:21
What is the purpose of a free trial if it only downloads 20% of the book and can't see if the software works? Never seen a free trial not let you trial the software!
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05/12/2020 09:12:05

Thank you for using our software. You can also get our free license by following ways: https://www.epubor.com/get-free-license.html

Any more problem, please contact us via epubor.iris@gmail.com

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10/9/2014 04:37:00
Thank you. Perfect.
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10/29/2014 07:33:11

Perfect, With the Trial Version I've been able to decrypt Adobe's 3.0 DRM and FINALLY print the book.

Thanks a lot.

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11/3/2014 09:09:27

Thank you so much, this works perfectly and I'm now able to print my books.

Again, thank you for a helpful post!!!

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01/18/2015 00:37:04
thanks it worked perfectly :)
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04/7/2015 07:16:32
I took a course and in these course they sent me a ebook for Adobe Digital editions I installed without Adobe ID i just permit in the computer, so is there a way to break tha DRM ? Please someone help me
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04/8/2015 20:11:18
I guess it's sort of a "rented" book, and it's not guaranteed to decrypt successfully. However you can use our free trial to handle it before placing an order.
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04/11/2015 13:53:33
If you're removing DRM to read a book on your own device, great.
However, if you're trying to open a stolen book, please remember that authors work as hard as you do at your day job. Would you want to not get paid at the end of the day for your work? Would you show up at your desk knowing someone was going to rip you off? How could you possibly enjoy reading their efforts with this in mind? You are a reader. You are a good person. Do not steal books.
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04/11/2015 21:07:52
You are correct!
The software just help you backup your books, not others!
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02/27/2021 02:45:36
My wife and i ended up being absolutely cheerful that Chris managed to deal with his inquiry from your ideas he obtained using your web pages. It's not at all simplistic just to continually be freely giving ideas  the rest might have been selling. And now we consider we've got the website owner to give thanks to for this. The entire explanations you have made, the easy web site menu, the relationships you will help foster - it's got everything sensational, and it is facilitating our son and our family believe that this article is cool, which is pretty serious. Many thanks for everything!
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04/26/2015 09:15:24
Didn't work for me. Pressing the button, Finder window opens, nothing happens.
Book bought on Google Play, opens in ADE.
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04/26/2015 18:40:48

You don't input email address, so we can't contact with you.
This method has helped thousands of people resolved their problems, it's must be helpful with you.

Please don't copy the file anywhere, just click .acsm file with Adobe digital editions to download ePUB/PDF files, and make sure you can read all books with ADE, then drag all book files to Epubor software, all done.

If failed, please delete all book files, and download again.

Enjoy

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05/16/2015 05:58:10
Hey it does not work on Win 8...
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06/11/2015 00:30:58

Hi,

Win 8 has two modes, including tablet mode and traditional computer models.You can operate in traditional models,and it will work

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06/11/2015 07:24:19
I did not get it. Can you elaborate a little bit? How to use the traditional mode? Many many thanks!
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06/11/2015 19:26:46
Under Win 8 there two operation modes, one is the "tablet mode", which you can only install apps from official appstore, another is the "traditional mode", which looks like Win 7, you can install program with an .exe file.
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02/28/2021 05:24:32
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07/1/2015 04:31:13
i got the full version and it works like a charm. but i was still unable to print. hope you can help me.
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07/2/2015 18:53:52
Can you tell me more details about your problem?
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09/8/2018 10:51:09
I guess the file you try to print is epub, not pdf. Please convert the epub file to pdf with Epubor Ultimate and then print it.
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07/12/2015 15:01:22
This is awesome, if it doesn't work for you then you did something wrong.  I downloaded and had the PDF DRM free within a minute, through it in my dropbox and opened it on my ipad.  Great program!
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10/2/2015 11:27:39
Works like charm. Thank you!
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10/7/2015 23:42:02
Thanks for using our software. If you like it, don't forget to recommend it to your friends.
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03/2/2021 07:52:45
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10/30/2015 18:37:53
It worked!n I can finally have access to an electronic version of my very own(!!) book manuscript without DRM restrictions. Thank you for helping put a stop to all this madness!
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01/21/2016 00:41:19
Worked perfectly on Windows 10 to unlock an overly restrictive school PDF document! It is shame that the library's online book reader and that Adobe digital editions provide a very poor user experience. Ctrl+ doesn't zoom and Adobe only provides presets such as full page, 1.5x, 2x, 4x. What about 1.25x? The online view makes the text blurry when using the built in font tool and even then the font choices are: small, medium, and large. I don't like removing copy protection...but the restrictions force us to do so. Thank you!
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02/17/2016 17:08:06
Thanks so much!! I needed to print a book in order to work with it for my Master's thesis... I need to make annotations, underlining and write down comments, which I wasn't able to do with the digital version.
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03/6/2016 17:56:25
Oh god, it works! And I nearly cried that I will have to read that 316 pp book costing me 30 euro on ADE supershitty interface...
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03/11/2016 14:03:12
This is absolutely amazing. I don't understand why there are negative comments below.
But it worked perfectly on my files. I just can't say enough how helpful this is. Hats off to the developer for making this free too.
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04/8/2016 07:55:28
thanks. worked perfectly
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05/11/2016 02:09:27
Does the DRM remover need an internet connection? I intend to break the DRM on a file only to be able to read the protected file with Adobe Reader instead of Digital Editions, but I worry that the DRM remover intercepts the file I broke DRM on and used it for other purposes.
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06/27/2016 11:42:49
Me ha funcionado a la perfección.
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07/5/2016 05:44:06
shows drm removed, file still no printable.
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09/8/2018 10:45:21
If the DRM has been remove, but still unprintedable, you may need to convert the acsm from epub to pdf and print it.
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07/26/2016 01:54:39
This software is amazing and so easy to use! Thank you, great service
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09/8/2016 19:30:57
Amazing, worked perfectly!  Index shortcuts also works.
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01/19/2017 01:04:16
I am using ADE 4.5, which the library from which I borrowed the book requires. Calibre's DeDRM plugin says there is no way as of Oct 2016 to remove ADE 3+ DRM. I tried a couple on-line pdf to docx converters and they all fail. Can your program do this? Thank you.
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01/19/2017 01:29:03
P.S. to my previous comment: The DRM prevents the pdf from being opened in anything but ADE, and it also deletes itself 2 weeks after it was borrowed (I borrowed it today).
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02/3/2017 12:46:05
Great program. Works flawlessly...thank you! <)
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04/12/2017 20:56:25
Thank you so much. Worked perfectly.
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05/7/2017 22:55:09
I like it very much.  One question; how come when I drag a book to remove DMR, most of the time, it shows a generic book cover?  The book cover shows up in Adobe before and after I remove the DMR.  
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06/29/2017 12:12:07
THANK YOU! It worked perfectly.
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07/13/2017 16:44:40
It is our great pleasure!
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12/9/2022 09:31:41
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07/1/2017 22:46:18

Hello
I have just used the free version.

I get the following message:
"Your ebook has decrypted.
"The TXT file just save 20% of ebook content.
"Please register the software, then get full content and the valid ebook
"format.

What should I do to get the full content?

Thank you

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07/1/2017 22:53:57

Hello
I have just used the free version.

I get the following message:
"Your ebook has decrypted.
"The TXT file just save 20% of ebook content.
"Please register the software, then get full content and the valid ebook
"format.

What should I do to get the full content?

Thank you

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07/13/2017 16:52:53
The trial version only allows you save 20% content of each converted or decrypted books. If you want to read the full content, please go to our site to buy the license: https://www.epubor.com/ultimate.html
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09/29/2017 03:27:20
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10/1/2017 23:39:02
It works well ! But only converts the first 60 pages... not the rest !!! Why ???
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10/23/2017 12:01:38
The trial version only can decrypt 20% content of each book.
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11/2/2017 14:54:11
Very nice application, simple to use and efficient.
And I like the "lifetime" option for the software license.
Thanks for helping easy reading of documents.
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11/19/2017 03:10:54
Nowhere I found BEFORE undertaking download etc. that the trial version would give only 20%. I expected at least one complete conversion ....
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11/24/2017 15:48:35
This is the trial limitation. You can purchase the licensed version. And we have 30-days money back guarantee.
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02/17/2018 04:59:29
excellent, veru helpfull, quick and easy to follow, thaaanks
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09/8/2018 10:49:17
We are glad to now that our software can help you fix your problem.
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01/20/2019 09:10:10
Nowhere I found BEFORE undertaking download etc. that the trial version would give only 20%. I expected at least one complete conversion ...
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01/22/2019 14:26:11
We'are sorry that we don't provide any temporary codes. By default, the free trial version helps you decide whether to buy or not. But if you really wish to get a whole book before purchasing this software, please send us the book (one book only) and the folder .Epubor_Keys under user name.
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02/7/2019 06:50:29

Doesn't work woth ADEPT (Adobe Digital Editions) DRM.

I downloaded this software, and it failed to decrypt DRM of Adobe Digital Edition.

I e-mailed them reagrding this, first they gave me a laundry list of things to do, did all of it, and it still did not work.

I e-mailed them futher, and they point blank told me that their software does not work for the DRM I tried to decrypt, thank you for the answer, but this software couldn't meet my decrypting needs, i will go as far as saying this software is incompetent for the price it charging.

This was their e-mail answer:

Hi there,
Thanks for using Epubor software.
Epubor software can only support ebook purchased from mainstream ebook stores like Amazon/Google Play Book/Kobo/Nook, etc. We don't promise to remove DRM from books purchased other sources. We are sorry for the inconvenience. By the way, rented books are also not supported by Epubor software.

Best regards,
Alice


Thank you for your answer, however, please include in your FAQs the limitations of this software so that individuals purchasing this may know.

Cheers,
Mir

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02/11/2019 09:50:56
Thank you for your suggestion. We have included all the vendors in our product details and will add it to our FAQ as you suggested.
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07/7/2019 23:27:08
Thank you. I love reading and I purchase my books ( no illegal downloading here), but I find it inacceptable to be coerced into buying a specific reading device when my own is perfectly fine and reads about 10 different formats. This solves my problem. Cheers!!
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07/8/2019 09:59:41
We are glad to know our software helps you solve your problem. Have a nice day!
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06/8/2020 23:22:14
Not of help / Useless. Software can not be installed. Instructions are confusing and without consistency.
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06/9/2020 08:39:57
Which software cannot be installed? Please describe your problem more clearly so that we can help you fix it.
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08/12/2020 02:01:05

not working
ACSM FILE: https://mega.nz/file/5QpnlTJZ#KG6pXAykMnsFZK_daK7FgEc2hWDNY5MlKz_yRio5hPg

https://archive.org/details/randomhousewebst00dalg

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09/14/2020 09:40:45

Hi,
Before buy a license i wanto to know  if after decription and convertion resulting pdf file allows copy and paste  words, sentences or paragraphs in an word processor.

Free decription to txt files cannot be copyed and pasted.

Thanks

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09/15/2020 08:42:09
Thank you for asking. You can copy the text from the converted pdf files.
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03/23/2021 08:06:07
En la version de prueba no permite copiar texto? ni hacer busquedas de palabras correcto, en la version con licencia si se puede?
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03/23/2021 11:13:55
Thank you for using our software. The trial version only allows you to convert 20% content of each book in text format.
If you want to get the whole content, upgrade the the trial version to licensed version.
Any more problem, please feel free to contact us.
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12/28/2020 00:28:25
better I was figured it out this is just a trial version before download the program.. you had to warn before download that this is a trial version. whats the logic with that . chnge your advertisement methods please. uninstalling now and hope not to see you again
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01/9/2021 01:32:19
doesn't work for ADE - waiting for response but this certainly isn't working for ADOBE DIGITAL PDF files
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01/11/2021 09:33:23

Thank you for using our software.
Where did you purchase this adobe pdf? Can you read it on your computer with ADE?

Can you please screenshot and send them to our support@epubor.com. Then we will try our best to help you fix it.

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02/13/2022 02:05:42

Yeah, not working with current ADE / Adept DRM.

The test case was an academic publisher that allows for online reading, and non-DRM single chapter downloads - but uses ADE-based loans for complete book downloads. Which is just not very convenient to work with.

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12/3/2021 23:55:28
this is not working on PDF with multicolumn pages, like scientific articles or journals
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12/7/2021 10:07:20
Thank you for using our software. Can you please tell us where did you purchase this book? Can you remove drm from it with Epubor Ultimate?
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12/24/2021 21:20:39

It still does not works with HPE books bought from HPE Bookstore and added to ADE. Even after several year after I first tried it it still does not unDRM protection from HPE books

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06/4/2022 10:22:22
No longer works with Adobe Digital Editions.
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06/6/2022 14:23:23
Thank you for your feedback. It depends on where you purchased this book. If you purchase your book from Google Play books, it still works fine.
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10/19/2022 13:26:03
Does not work with the latest Digital editions 4.5 version.
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10/24/2022 10:37:16
It works with ade 4.5. Where did you purchase your ebooks?
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01/19/2023 23:10:42
I manage to decrypt Adobe DRM in one computer (Desktop), but it fail when i try to do the very exact process in another (laptop).
Both computers have installed the very same versions of adobe Digital Editions and Epubor. DRM versions can be downloaded and readed from every Adobe Digital Edition in both computers. The process of removing DRM works in the desktop computer but fails in the laptop
Any idea of what could be the reason?
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01/28/2023 11:36:06
Is there any error message? Please screenshot it and send it to us via support@epubor.com. Then we will help you fix it.
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01/28/2023 11:37:27
Is there any error message? Please screenshot it and send it to us via support@epubor.com. Then we will help you fix it.
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11/19/2023 04:56:46

I have the same issue! The newest version of your software does not remove Adobe ADEPT DRM. There is no error message, but when importing the readable file from the My Digital Editions folder, Epubor Ultimate displays an alert that ADEPT DRM was not removed.

I deauthorized, uninstalled, rebooted, reinstalled, and reauthorized both your software and Adobe Digital Edition with no success. Please clarify how to fix the issue and/or provide access to the last version of your software that completed this action successfully.

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11/20/2023 11:43:50

Hello, thanks for your comment

If you have this problem, please feel free to contact us via support@epubor.com and als send us the book you failed to decrypt and adobe key files so we can test them.

Best regards,
Epubor Team

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09/7/2023 00:33:13

Hello, are you still offering exchanges for 7 days licenses like suggested here in your responses?

If so, I have sent an email.

Thank you!

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09/7/2023 11:17:36

Hello,

Yes, we still provide 7-day license trial version, if you're interested, please contact us via support@epubor.com.

Any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.
Best regards,
Epubor Team

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