When talking about Calibre DRM Removal 2020, we will know that we should add DeDRM tools to Calibre because they are must-have if we want to remove DRM from eBooks with Calibre.

• Find Kindle Books On Mac
• Kindle Books Downloads
• Where Are My Kindle Books On Mac
• Where To Find My Kindle Books On Mac

In this post, I’ll focus on DeDRM with Calibre for Kindle/Kobo/ACSM eBooks part by part — and 10+ exclusive and effective solutions if you meet errors.

Disclaimer:

You can read Kindle books on a Mac computer by downloading the Kindle app and turning your Mac into an e-book reader. You can buy books for your Kindle app on Amazon, but not through the Kindle app. If you'd like to read your Kindle books on one specific computer even when you don't have an active internet connection, you can download the Kindle desktop app. Click the Download for PC & Mac button below the cover image to download the installer, double-click the downloaded file, and then follow the on-screen instructions to install. Kindle Cloud Reader lets you read ebooks instantly in your web browser - no Kindle device required.

1. DeDRM from eBooks is acceptable only when you want to backup or share your own files. DON’T resell those drm free eBooks and respect every author please.

2. This post introduces exactly how to dedrm eBooks from Kindle, Kobo and Adobe Digital Editions (such as Google Play books) files. Apple books and Nook ePubs are not supported now.

3. DeDRM tools only work on our own purchased eBooks, eTextbooks and rented eBooks are not supported.

4. Here what I introduced are all tested on my personal Windows laptop and Mac computer. Calibre supports Linux, if you meet any problems when running calibre drm plugins on Linux, please contact Alf team to ask for help as I didn’t test Calibre DRM Removal for eBooks on Linux.

Part 1. Preparing (What You Need)

• Calibre 5 and DeDRM plugin v7.1.0 (Or dedrm v6.8.1 for calibre 4)
• Kindle/Kobo/Adobe eBooks downloaded via official desktop app.
• Import eBooks to Calibre to DeDRM.

Note:

1. Simply download the new Calibre and DeDRM tools v7.1.0 please. If you are using the older calibre 4.x you should be using the older DRM i.e. 6.8.1.

2. The DeDRM_tools (calibre drm removal plugins 2021) contains two plugins: DeDRM and Obok. The DeDRM plugin handles books that are downloaded from Kindle, Adobe Digital Editions, and some historical formats. The Obok plugin handles books that are downloaded from Kobo desktop app.

Part 2. How to Add DeDRM tools to Calibre?

This is how you add a plugin to the Calibre program.

(Add: You can also download the latest dedrm tools and calibre 5.)

Step1. Download Calibre version 4.x or earlier.

Step2. Download DeDRM_tools_6.8.1.zip and unzip it.

Step3. Add downloaded plugin zip file to Calibre.

Run calibre, select “Preferences” > “Plugin” > “Load plugin from file”, then choose the “DeDRM_plugin.zip” or “Obok_plugin.zip” from the unzipped DeDRM_tools_6.8.1 archive, click on the “Open” button. Ignore the “Are you sure?” warning dialog(Yes”), then A “Success” dialog will appear, saying that the plug-in has been installed. Click on “OK” and then “Apply”.

Step4. Restart Cablire.

Part 3. DRM removal plugin failed to install Issues

Have followed the above steps but the calibre dedrm plugin is not working?

SyntaxeError: invalid syntax

Find Kindle Books On Mac

As of calibre 5, calibre has moved from Python 2 to Python 3, because Python 2 has been end-of-lifed.

To resolve this bug, you just need to update your Calibre to the latest version, and then add the DeDRM plugin v7.1.0 to calibre. If you’ve added the older version of drm plugins, delete it from calibre first and then re-import.

Unhandled exception: does not contain a top-level init.py file

You see this error may be because you added the whole archive file into calibre. Unzip the DeDRM_tools_6.8.1 archive, and look in the DeDRM_tools_6.8.1 folder for the zip file(named DeDRM_Plugin.zip and Obok_plugin.zip) to load into calibre.

Another reason is the downloaded drm plugin file is not the latest version. If so, you should remove the older version plugin first, and then download the latest one and import them again to calibre.

Part 4. How to unlock DRM from Kindle KFX eBooks with Calibre plugin?

Since Amazon started using new KFX format to Kindle eBooks, calibre plugin no longer works for unlocking DRM from KFX format. The DeDRM plugin here works with non-KFX Amazon books only, and the solutions introduced here are walkaround solutions, not the direct (quick) one.

Note:

1. The plugin doesn’t work on books downloaded from Kindle Fire(HD) tablets, Kindle for Android/IOS applications.

2. The tools do not work with the Windows 8 AppStore Kindle app.

3. To convert KFX to ePub/PDF with Calibre, the KFX Input Plugin (version 1.36.0 at the time of writing) must be installed too.

4. If you have a Kindle e-ink device, don’t directly download and import books to calibre as it doesn’t work on these files. But you can download and transfer via USB to your device, then the downloaded file will be .azw3 format. Import azw3 to Calibre and configure the DeDRM plugin by inputting KSN, then you can also remove drm.

Walkaround 1. (For Windows) Install an outdated Kindle (such as version 1.24)

If you have downloaded the latest Kindle for PC, deregister the Kindle PC app first, and then uninstall it from your windows computer.

Install, launch, and register this Kindle installation with your own amazon account.

Don’t forget to uncheck the auto-update from Kindle’s settings. Otherwise, when you launch it next time, it will update to the latest version automatically, which does not work with DeDRM.

If asked if you want to update to the newest version, always select “Skip this version” please.

Now you can select books from your Kindle library and download them to your local Windows.

Important:

Import Kindle books to Calibre library, and the DRM will be removed.

As the above image shows, the drm removed KFX books will be turned to KFX(non-DRM). After you installed the kfx input plugin to calibre, you can continue to convert kfx eBooks to other formats.

Walkaround 2. (For Mac) Avoid KFX downloads by renaming renderer-test on Kindle for Mac

Important:

The key to avoiding KFX downloading from K4Mac 1.25+ is to block KFX with chmod -x, then download books using right-click on mouse and selecting “Download”.

Install the latest version of Kindle for Mac or update to the latest one, v1.30.

If there are kindle books already in the “Downloaded” tab, remove them first(Remove from device).

Then, run Terminal app, copy and paste following command in terminal, if needed input password to execute command.

If you don’t have a password, then run this command.

After patching the Kindle app, run the Kindle app and select one book, right-click and “Download”.

The downloaded books are saved under “My Kindle Content” folder. By clicking Kindle > Preferences > Content > Change Folder, you can find and modify the location.

Now you can import the downloaded kindle books from “My Kindle Content” folder to Calibre, then as what you see, the drm is removed automatically and calibre turns these books to AZW3 format.

Note:

Kindle KFX DeDRM Failed and Solutions

01. The Kindle DRM has been removed, but all the pictures are gone

Most likely, this is an AZW6 format book that the tools don’t support. But as the azw6 is only downloaded directly via Kindle e-Ink device, so the solution is downloading your book by “Download & Transfer via USB”.

02. The Kindle book (AZW4) conversions takes a long time

The AZW4 is a Print Replica Kindle ebook. This is a PDF in a Kindle wrapper. After you adding it to Calibre, the azw4 DRM will be removed successfully. Now all you should do is using the KindleUnpack plugin.

03. AZW/KCR/KFX-ZIP in Calibre

In fact, if Calibre shows the book in “AZW”, “KCR”, “KFX-ZIP” format after you add one book to the calibre library, it’s likely that Calibre failed to remove its DRM.

See, after I click on “Convert books” and select “epub” to convert, calibre shows the above error message.

To avoid this, I would say please follow all the details step by step as what I write at the above.

You can also click on the “Jobs: 0” label in the lower right corner of the calibre window to activate the Jobs dialog.

Select the failed conversion job from the list (the most recent will be first) and click the “Show job details” button. Copy the log to the clipboard and then paste it to Github or Mobileread for help.

DRM plugin driving me mad? If you think Calibre and the plugin are complex, here you can choose a good alternative, iSummersoft Kindle Converter.

When started, it will detect your computer system and show you the official guide on how to download your kindle books in the correct way. And then, after you downloaded books well, it will auto-detect your books and show them at the left side. All you need to do is just to add them from the left to the right area, choose output format (from ePub, pdf, mobi, azw3, txt, docx options) and convert.

Part 5. How to disable DRM from Adobe Digital Editions (ACSM)?

The installed DeDRM plugin also works on Adobe ACSM files, such as the downloaded books from Google Play.

You will find that the downloaded file is in acsm format. ACSM is associated with Adobe Digital Editions. It means we must use the ADE to open this type of files.

The first time running ADE, you should authorize an Adobe ID, and then open your acsm with it. When the acsm is opened via ADE, the acsm is turned to ePub or PDF (depends on ebooks vendors), but with DRM. And they are stored under “My Digital Editions” folder.

Now you can import them from the digital editions folder to Calibre. Then, the Adobe DRM is removed by the dedrm plugin in Calibre.

Note:

You may meet problems when authorizing an Adobe ID or opening acsm file via ADE.

Please ensure that you are using the same email address as your ebookstore account’s, this is important. Another reason is you used an incorrect Adobe ID, if so you should switch your adobe account to login.

What is an ACSM file? Why should we use ADE to open this type of file? Is it possible to convert and print adobe to normal PDF?

Part 6. How to Use Calibre kepub plugin?

The Obok_plugin.zip you added to Calibre is used for removing DRM from Kobobooks. By default, Calibre will show this plugin at the top menu bar.

Firstly, you should use Kobo for PC/Mac to help download your books.

Where to find them? Books downloaded via Kobo PC are saved here:

And Kobo for Mac books are saved in this location:

Launch Calibre and click on the “Obok” plugin. If you don’t see it, click on the three dots icon at the top menu bar.

Then from the popup window you will find that it automatically detects all of your downloaded Kobo EPUB books.

The red lock icon means that book is drm protected, and the green lock icon means that book is drm free. To crack those drm protected books, you can click “All with DRM” and then touch “OK”. Wait for the job to complete.

Now the drm limitation is removed from your Kobo books, and they are in EPUB format (the original is kepub, with drm). If you want to transfer Kobo books to Kindle, you can continue to convert them to Mobi format in Calibre.

Tips that work:

1. If you already downloaded Kobo books on Kobo eReader, you can also connect it to the computer and then import that book to calibre so that you can remove DRM directly from them.

2. If you use the Kobo desktop app to help download files, download and install the app from Kobo official site please. DON’T install the app from any app stores. Otherwise, you may fail to remove DRM from kepub.

3. Couldn’t find the kepub folder on Mac? Use Terminal and running following command: write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles yes
then Enter.

Final Words, with Some Useful Tricks

This is all I could share with you on Calibre DeDRM 101. If you follow this guide step by step, I think you will succeed in unlocking your purchased eBook files.

• Check you are using the correct version of Calibre.
• Check you are using the latest version of Plugins.
• Downloading eBooks via desktop app makes the DeDRM more easier to function.
• Re-import eBooks to Calibre again.
• The drm is removed after importing the book, not converting it.
• Don’t forget to submit your error log to Mobileread, github, reddit to get help.
• Or use the best alternatives from iSummersoft, these products deserve your trial and are much easy to use.

Recently there are many people asked me can I read Kindle books on Mac and how to. It is really a little a waste of time to answer these questions one by one (of course it's also my honor to read them), so today I write this article in details for you about how to read Kindle books on Mac by 3 different ways. For reading Kindle books on PC, there are also three methods to read Kindle books on PC.

Method 1: Read Kindle Books with Kindle for Mac app

You don't need a Kindle device to read Kindle books. Here is a free app from amazon store that you can use on your Mac. Access to Amazon.com to get free Kindle for Mac app. Then download and install it on the Mac.

The Kindle books you bought from Amazon will appear in Kindle for Mac because of its sync function. Choose one and right click it. Then you can choose the option to read from the appeared menu.

This is the easiest way to read Kindle books on mac. But every coin has two sides. It also makes our eBook reading a little disappointed because we can only read Kindle on Kindle apps but not in iBooks. This is because these books are only bonded with Amazon Kindle store. It's forbidden to transfer downloaded books to Kindle for mac app with iTunes but only Send to Kindle. What's worse, the app can't read ePub books purchased from another eBooks stores.

So Method 2 or Method 3 may become your best choice.

Method 2: Read Kindle Books on Mac with iBooks

EPUB is one of the most common ebook formats (the other one is PDF) and Most e-readers support including Mac computer. Though there are many ePub readers we can use on the mac, but here I strongly recommend you use iBooks app to read ePub books as it is definitely the best reading app on the mac.

1Transfer Kindle Books to Your Mac

With Kindle for Mac, you can see all Kindle books you bought. Right click the book and choose the download option. Then the book will be downloaded to your local folder.

Tips: Click 'Kindle' and Choose 'Preferences'. From the general window, you can see 'Content Folder' and the letters below is the address of your Kindle books stored. Find the books you downloaded in 'My Kindle Content' folder of your mac.
Except for the above way you also can use USB cable to collect your Kindle device with mac and transfer your books.

2Download & Install Epubor Ultimate on Mac

Most Kindle eBooks are protected with Kindle DRM. Kindle books has their own formats such as AZW3, AZW, Mobi, PRC, but not the common ePub format. Epubor Ultimate is the best DRM Removal + eBook Converter. Epubor Ultimate can also help us edit eBook metadata if we want. Just with this one tool you can also read Kindle books on iPad Pro, and read Kindle books on android.

3Decrypt & Convert Kindle Books

Open Epubor Ultimate, you can drag and drop Kindle books in it. After your Kindle books added, it will automatically remove the DRM from your selected Kindle eBooks. Then just choose the output format as ePub and click 'Convert to ePub' button. Wait for a moment and you can get the fresh ePub books from the pop-up window.

The best point of Epubor Ultimate is it can automatically identify books of devices or apps if you have opened Kindle for Mac app or your Kindle device has collected with your mac. You will see your kindle eBooks are listed in the left area after you get the Epubor Ultimate started. Select the books you want to convert to, then drag them from the left to the right area. You can also click '+Add' to load them.

4Read Converted Books in iBoooks

You can find your converted epub books at the output folder. Then right click, select 'open with iBooks', you will see your eBooks clearly listed in the library.

Kindle Books Downloads

It also has another way to add books. Open your iBooks app, drag and drop the books you want to add. In the library, you can see them and right click the book to choose read option.

Method 3: Read Kindle Books on Mac with Adobe Digital Editions

1Transfer Kindle Books to Your Mac

This is a necessary step for you to transfer Kindle books to your mac. But how to achieve it. So here is the method.

2Decrypt & Convert Kindle Books to ePub

If we want to read books with Adobe Digital Editions, we must convert their formats to ePub. Learn the details of how to decrypt & convert Kindle books to ePub. After you do that, you can continue the next steps.

3Download & Install Adobe Digital Editions for Mac

Where Are My Kindle Books On Mac

You can check official Adobe to download it.

4Add Kindle Books to Adobe Digital Editions

Open Adobe Digital Editions for mac app. Drag and drop the converted books to Adobe Digital Editions. Right click the book and select the read option.

Where To Find My Kindle Books On Mac

I hope this article has resolved your problems, and wish you have a nice reading on your mac. Or if you have other methods it will be nice of you to leave a comment.

Jonny Greenwood joined Epubor since 2011, loves everything about eBooks and eReaders. He seeks the methods to read eBooks more freely and wants to share all he has got with you.