Adobe Digital Editions 1.8 Preview

Enables assistive technology users to read protected eBooks

Recent Updates
February 16, 2012 — Digital Editions 1.8 preview 3 (version 1.8.2) is now available to download. This new release includes several new features and bug fixes.
Download Digital Editions 1.8 preview 3

Adobe® Digital Editions 1.8 preview is an update to the popular Digital Editions electronic book reader that adds support for accessibility. It is designed to work with Windows and Mac operating system accessibility features, including high contrast, and voice reading software – JAWS or NVDA on Windows and VoiceOver on Mac.

This preview enables assistive technology users to read protected eBooks, including books offered via Overdrive through many public libraries and books purchased through online book sellers such as Barnes and Noble. Digital Editions 1.8 is not a full replacement for Digital Editions 1.7. Currently, the Digital Editions 1.8 preview does not support 1.7 features for printing and localization. The focus of this release is to add accessibility support. Future releases will incorporate more of the Digital Editions 1.7 features as well as maintain accessibility improvements introduced in Digital Editions 1.8.

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Features Implemented in Digital Editions 1.8 Preview 3

Digital Editions 1.8 preview 3 (version 1.8.2) includes the following new features:

Device Support — Now you can authorize USB-connected eReader hardware and load eBooks from/to that device like what you do in Adobe Digital Editions 1.7. Note: Digital Editions supported devices are listed on the Digital Publishing blog.
Migration — If you ever installed Adobe Digital Editions 1.7 and added books to its library, you'll be asked if you want to migrate ADE 1.7 managed books to Digital Editions 1.8 preview 3 during installation. If you choose to do so, those books will be added to the library of Digital Editions 1.8. Otherwise, you'll have to manually add those books to the library of Digital Editions 1.8 later.

Features Implemented in Digital Editions Preview 2

Digital Editions 1.8 preview 2 (version 1.8.1) includes the following new features:

Japanese text layout support —Added support for Japanese text layout of EPUB documents authored to the EPUB3 specification. It does not support all of EPUB3. However, it does support many critical features, such as vertical mode, TCY, Ruby, Kenten and Kinsoku.
NVDA support — NVDA is a free and open source screen reader for Windows. It is officially supported in this 1.8.1 preview release.
Annotations — Now you can add and review notes like what you do in Acrobat.
Enhanced JAWS support — With this feature, you can continuously read a book from its beginning to the end with JAWS.
Open ACSM files through application menu — Previously, you could only double click or drag and drop an ACSM file to open it. Now you can open it through the File > Add Items to Library menu.

Getting Started

Follow these steps to get started with the Digital Editions 1.8 preview:

Download the Digital Editions 1.8 preview
Run the installer and follow the on-screen instructions.
Once installed, open the Getting Started eBook for an overview of the application.
Adobe Digital Editions 1.8 Preview is compatible with screen reading software JAWS or NVDA on Windows and VoiceOver on Mac. Those products must be installed/enabled separately.
Ask questions and share your feedback in the Digital Editions 1.8 discussion forum
Please note that your submission of comments, ideas, feature requests and techniques on this and other Adobe maintained forums, as well as Adobe's right to use such materials, is governed by the Terms of Use.

Community

Below you'll find references and links to help you participate in the Digital Editions community.

Online Forum

Ask questions, discuss, and share feedback with other users and the engineering team in the online forums.

Visit the Adobe Labs forum for Digital Editions 1.8

Please note that your submission of comments, ideas, feature requests and techniques on this and other Adobe maintained forums, as well as Adobe's right to use such materials, is governed by the Terms of Use.

Resources

If you want to learn more about releases on Labs as well as other Adobe technologies, visiting a user group or connecting with an Adobe Community Professional is a great place to start.

Documentation

The documentation for the Digital Editions 1.8 preview is in an eBook titled Getting Started with Adobe Digital Editions 1.8 Preview, which comes pre-installed with the application. If you accidentally remove the eBook you can download it again.

FAQ

What is Digital Editions 1.8 preview?: Digital Editions 1.8 preview is an update to the popular Digital Editions 1.7 application. The focus of this release is support for accessibility.
What is a typical use case for Digital Editions 1.8 preview?: Digital Editions 1.8 preview can be used to read eBooks you download from library websites or popular booksellers. It may be used in high-contrast mode or with popular screen readers.
More information on how to use the application is provided in the Getting Started book included in the application download. After you download, install and run the application, the Getting Started eBook will be listed.
When is Digital Editions 1.8 preview available?: It is available to download now on Adobe Labs.
How do I provide feedback regarding Digital Editions 1.8 preview?: Please download the software, explore and provide us with feedback in the Digital Editions 1.8 preview discussion forum. We invite you to share your thoughts on the preview and describe which use cases you find most relevant.
What languages are supported?: Digital Editions 1.8 preview is currently available in English only. Adobe does not comment on all aspects of the future of its products or technologies.
Is it a free download?: Yes, Digital Editions 1.8 preview is available as a free download on Adobe Labs.
Who should use Digital Editions 1.8 preview?: Anyone can use the Digital Editions 1.8 preview, but it is expected to be of particular interest to users who rely on assistive technologies to access electronic books.
How is it different from Adobe Digital Editions 1.7?: Across successive releases of the preview we have been adding features to bring ADE 1.8 on par with ADE 1.7. This release we added device support. The remaining big features are printing and localization. The other key difference is ADE 1.8 supports accessibility.
What changed with the latest Digital Editions preview 3 (v1.8.2) release?: Digital Editions 1.8 preview 3 (version 1.8.2) implements two new features.
How do I use it with screen reading technology?: Digital Editions 1.8 preview is designed to work with JAWS on Windows and VoiceOver on the Mac. You must separately install/enable these applications. Installation instructions can be found on the respective web sites (JAWS or NVDA on Windows and VoiceOver on Mac). The preview was designed with support for full keyboard controls (tab navigation and shortcuts)and high-contrast. Shortcuts are listed in the Getting Started eBook that gets installed along with the Digital Editions 1.8 preview.
Where can I get more information on Digital Editions 1.8 preview?: Please refer to the Getting Started eBook included in the Digital Editions 1.8 preview.

System Requirements

The minimum system requirements for the Digital Editions 1.8 preview are as follows:

Macintosh

Intel Core™ Duo or faster processor
Mac OS X v10.6 or later
512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
75MB of available hard-disk space

Windows

Intel® Pentium® 4 processor or later
Windows® XP SP 3 or Windows® 7 (32 or 64 bit running in 32-bit mode)
512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
40MB of available hard-disk space

Release Notes

The Digital Editions 1.8 preview is designed for evaluation purposes only. We do not recommended that this release be used on production systems or for any mission-critical work.

Currently, the Digital Editions 1.8 preview does not support 1.7 features for printing and localization. The focus of this release is to add accessibility support. Future releases will incorporate more of the Digital Editions 1.7 features as well as maintain accessibility improvements introduced in Digital Editions 1.8.

Known Issues

Digital Editions will not turn to the next page automatically in the NVDA SayAll mode. Unlike JAWS, it only reads the current page.
When using Mac OS X's VoiceOver screen reader (for accessibility), press Ctrl+Option+W to read the contents of dialogs.
If you have both Adobe Digital Editions 1.7 and Adobe Digital Editions 1.8 preview installed, uninstalling one of them will de-associate the EPUB and ASCM file types with the application. You’ll then need to manually associate file types (see your operating system’s instructions for associating file types).
Extremely large images (greater than 50MB) can cause sluggish behavior in the application.
Some advanced transparency rendering features (such as knockout, overprint, and non-separable blend modes) are not supported.
When DE returns an error message W_ADEPT_CORE_LOAN_NOT_ONRECORD, it means no record for this loan is found on this machine, which most likely means you are attempting to open a borrowed book that was previously expired or returned
The Getting Started eBook will not be installed if you install Digital Editions 1.8 preview as a standard user (non-admin user). You'll have to download the book and manually add it to the library of Digital Editions.