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gwilki
Participating Frequently
April 30, 2012
Question

How can I open an acsm file in ADE?

  • April 30, 2012
  • 1 reply
  • 5650 views

I am trying to write instructions for someone new to e-readers. Here is the issue.

We downloaded e-books from the Ottawa Public Library. The file offered was an acsm file. We saved it to the desktop. When we opened ADE and used the "add to library" function, it only looks for epub files. We can navigate to the file in explorer and click on it, then ADE opens the file and uses it to create an epub file, which it adds to the library.

My question is: Is there any way to avoid using explorer to open the acsm file? I would have thought that ADE would allow you to point to the acsm file and open it.

Tks

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    F
    Frustrated in AZ
    Participating Frequently
    April 30, 2012

    Yes, ADE opens .ascm files - that's the little file that points to the

    location of an ebook and has other descriptive information in it, such as

    loan period for a library ebook.

    The process 'should' be automatic - that is that the library will post the

    .ascm file and then their software will start ADE on your computer. If all

    you get is the .ascm file, then the library's system isn't working well.

    You can contact their technical support function and discuss this with

    them, and maybe they can fix it. Alternatively, you can find the file on

    your computer, right-click on it and use the 'Open With' option in the

    drop-down menu, then select Digital Editions from the available programs.

    That should do it.

    Hope this helps!

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    G
    gwilkiAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    April 30, 2012

    Tks, but I guess that I wasn't clear enough with my question. I knew that I could find the file in "my computer" , or navigate to it in explorer, then either double-click it, or right click it and select ADE as the app to open it. What I am trying to do is to get ADE to actually find the acsm file from within ADE. To put it another way, I want to be able to use the "add to library" function within ADE, point to an acsm file and bring in the epub that it points to. Since the acsm file is the creation of Adobe, it would seem reasonable that they would provide for this. This seems like another instance where Adobe goes half way with something, then stops.

    As for the library, we've tried it with 3 different city libraries. The end result is the same, The file downloads, but does not open ADE.

    It would appear that I am out of luck. Maybe soon, someone will develop an app that will allow me to drop ADE in favour of a better approach. It took a while for that to happen with pdf, but it did happen.

    F
    Frustrated in AZ
    Participating Frequently
    May 1, 2012

    The .ascm file format is a standard that was agreed upon by the industry

    some ten or more years ago, and it's used by most, if not all, of the

    epublication programs that are in use now. That includes the Overdrive

    software that libraries stateside use most of the time. If you're having

    this issue with more than one library, I'd check out one other area before

    I give up. If you have Windows 7 as your operating system, some of its

    security settings can prevent the library software from activating ADE on

    your computer. I'm an XP person, so I can't pinpoint which ones to look

    at, but there are others reading the blog that may be able to help you.

    The library's technical support people may be able to help also.

    You're incorrect on expecting ADE to find the ,ascm file on your computer.

    That file should exist only during the transfer, and I believe that there

    are some expiration parameters inside the file, so you have only a small

    window of time to use it. Remember that this file type is only a 'pointer'

    - it's not an ebook.

    Bottom line? This issue is quite rare on the forum, and there are

    literally thousands of other users who don't have this issue. It's not the

    product. If you are indeed 'fed up' with the ADE experience, you can look

    into other epublication management software: Bluefire Reader, Overdrive

    (which most libraries seem to use) and Calibre would be possibilities.

    Hope this helps!

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