Apprentice Alf's DRM Removal tool is developped by Apprentice for removing DRM from eBooks for free. This tool was posted and kept updated on apprentice alf's blog where you can find some professional guides on drm and ebooks, such as, what's drm, current eBook formats and drm schemes, how to remove drm from Amazon books, and so on. Download Kindle for macOS 10.10 or later and enjoy it on your Mac. The Kindle app gives users the ability to read eBooks on a beautiful, easy-to-use interface. You may also read your book on your phone, tablet and Kindle e-Reader, and Amazon Whispersync will automatically sync your most recent page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights, so. The Kindle eBooks will be encrypted with a new Kindle KFX DRM if you download Kindle eBooks via Kindle for PC/MAC version 1.27 or higher. Now Calibre cannot handle this new KFX DRM scheme. The current solution is to downgrade your Kindle for PC/Mac to the older version and try once again.
Post updated on 10 August, 2015
About calibre
Calibre is a free, open source, ebook management and conversion utility created and maintained by Kovid Goyal. It is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
Calibre cannot, on its own, remove DRM from ebooks. However, it is possible to added third-party software (‘plugins’) to enhance calibre.
To be able to use the DeDRM plugin for calibre, it is necessary to install calibre first. The latest version can be downloaded from http://calibre-ebook.com/download.
The DeDRM plugin for calibre
The DRM removal plugin (DeDRM_plugin.zip) can be found in the tools archive linked from the most recent post in this blog. The DeDRM plugin can remove DRM from Kindle eBooks (but not rented Kindle ebooks, books downloaded to a Kindle Fire, Kindle for iOS or the Windows Store Kindle App), Barnes & Noble ePub ebooks (but not books downloaded to the Windows Store Nook App) , any ebooks using Adobe Digital Editions DRM (this includes ePubs from Kobo and Sony that are downloaded for Adobe Digital Editions), and the older Mobipocket and eReader ebooks. For other kinds of ebooks see the other posts in this blog.
Installing the DeDRM plugin for calibre
- Download the latest tools package, and unzip it.
(On Windows, right-click and “Extract All…”; After extracting all, rename the tools_vX.X.X.zip file to tools_zipped_vX.X.X.zip to prevent later confusion) - Run calibre. From the Preferences menu select “Change calibre behavior”.
(Do not click “Get plugins to enhance calibre”, that option is reserved for ‘official’ calibre plugins.) - Click on Plugins (under “Advanced”) — it looks like a jigsaw puzzle piece.
- Click on the large “Load plugin from file” button
- Navigate to the tools folder unzipped in step 2
- Open the “DeDRM_calibre_plugin” folder
- Select the DeDRM_plugin.zip file in that folder
- Click on the “Add” (sometimes “Open”) button.
- Click on the “Yes” button in the “Are you sure?” warning dialog that appears. A “Success” dialog will appear, saying that the plug-in has been installed. Click on “OK”.
Customising the plugin with encryption keys
On Macintosh and Windows systems no customisation is required for ebooks from Kindle for Mac/PC, Nook Study, or Adobe Digital Editions (ADE), provided that calibre is run on the same computer and user account as the installation of Kindle for Mac/PC, Nook Study, or ADE to which the books were downloaded. The default key is found and stored in the preferences automatically. Anyone using Linux should read the ReadMe file for details of how to obtain the keys manually.
For other sources of ebooks, or on Linux systems, you must configure the plugin. To configure the plugin, you must find it in the list of plugins. Usually calibre will have automatically selected the DeDRM plugin after you add it. If not, the DeDRM plugin can be found under “File Type plugins”. It might easier to find if you check the “Show only user installed plugins” checkbox. You might need to click on the triangle next to the “File Type plugins” label to show the list of File Type plugins.
If it’s not already selected, click on the DeDRM plugin in the list to select it, and then click on the Customize plugin button. This will open that main “Customise DeDRM” dialog which contains a set of buttons describing different type and sources of ebooks. If you have DRMed ebooks that match the description on any of the buttons, you will need to click on the button and enter the required information in the sub-dialog that will pop up.
All the dialogs have a help link in the top right of the dialog, that gives further information about the required information.
When all the configuration for your DRMed ebooks has been entered, click “OK” in the main dialog to save all the information you’ve entered. You’re now ready to remove the DRM from your ebooks.
Using the DeDRM calibre plugin
The DeDRM calibre plugin removes DRM from ebooks as they are imported into calibre. So to use the plugin, just import your DRMed ebooks into calibre, and the DRM will be removed. If you have already imported your ebooks into calibre, you will need to remove the DRMed ebooks and import them again.
You can check that the DRM has been removed from an imported ebook by trying to view it using calibre’s built-in viewer. Note that for .azw3 Kindle ebooks you might need to check a checkbox in calibre’s preferences to say that .azw3 ebooks should be viewed using calibre’s internal viewer.
If things go wrong
The calibre developers are not involved in the development of the DRM removal plugin, and are not able to help with any DRM removal questions. If you have any difficulties following the instructions in this post, the calibre developers will not be able to help.
You must ask any questions about installing or using the DeDRM calibre plugin in a comment to most recent post on this blog.
Credits
Most of the work on converting the DRM removal scripts to a calibre plugin has been done by DiapDealer and Apprentice Alf.
Everything you ever wanted to know about DRM and eBooks, but were afraid to ask.
What is Apprentice Alf's DRM Removal? Apprentice Alf's DRM Removal tool is developped by Apprentice for removing DRM from eBooks for free. This tool was posted and kept updated on apprentice alf's blog where you can find some professional guides on drm and ebooks, such as, what's drm, current eBook formats and drm schemes, how to remove drm from Amazon books, and so on.
If you are looking for free and simple softwares for removing drm from your books (Kindle, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Sony, library books),Apprentice is your first choice.
In this article, I'll introduce the Apprentice Alf's DRM Removal tool package, how to install and remove DRM with it.
Apprentice Alf's DRM Removal Package
Please note Apprentice Alf's DRM Removal doesn't works as a stand-alone ebook DRM Removal tool but as the Calibre DRM Removal Plugin.
The Apprentice Alf's DRM Removal soucecode is also avaliable but here I don't want to disccuss because it is for those who are specializing in coding. Here I want to show you the easiest way to use this tool.
First of all, download Apprentice Alf's DRM Removal Packages.
You'll get a DeDRM_tools_6.7.0.zip file. Unzip this file, you'll see it contains multiple files as below picture.
- DeDRM_Plugin.zip--Remove DRM from Kindle eBooks(downloaded via Kindle for PC/MAC or Kindle eink devices) and Adobe Digitial Editions pdf/epub.
- Obok_plugin.zip--Remove Kobo ebooks download on Mac or Windows using the Kobo desktop application or Kobo eink devices.
Actually, these two zip files are what we'll use to remove ebook drm. Just let these two zipped files alone, don't unzip them.
Install DeDRM Plugin to Calibre
It is easy to install DeDRM Plugin to Calibre if you follow my guides step-by step.
Step 1. Download & install Calibre at first.
Step 2. Run Calibre>>Preferences>>Advanced>>Plugins>>Scroll to the bottom and then click 'Load plugin from file'. Then choose the DeDRM_Plugin.zip or Obok_plugin.zip. But you can only add one plugin at one time. So if you want to add both DRM plugin, you need to repeat this process.
Step 3. You'll be warned that this plugin might contains virus or something, just click on 'Yes' because it is 100% safe and clean.
Step 4. The 'success“ windows will pop up this time.
Just click ok and you'll see that the apprentice alf's drm removal has been installed successfully.
Apprentice Alf Kindle
Reminder: please restart the carlibre to make this free DRM Removal tool work properly.
Remove eBook DRM with Apprentice Alf's DRM Removal
Once the Apprentice Alf's DRM has been added successfully, next time you add books into Calibre, the drm removing job will begin soon. Then you can continue to convert your books to other formats and edit ebooks metadata.
Apprentice Alf's Drm Removal Tool For Ebooks
For detailed steps of removing DRM from ebooks and e-ink devices, please read How to remove DRM with Calibre DRM Removal plugin.
Calibre developer center won't provide you the development of the DRM removal plugin and the support services if you met some questions. But don't worry you can get help after you read this article on Alf's blog.
This is a fantastic tool to remove DRM from eBooks, you can't deny this, yes?
Important Notice:
1. Apprentice Alf's DRM removal will not work on Kindle books downloaded from Kindle for PC/MAC1.25 or later version and Kindle-ink devices with firmware5.10.2 or later version.
Solution:Please downgrade kindle for PC/MAC to older version and then redownload Kindle books.
2. Apprentice Alf's DRM remvoal will not work on Mac catalina 10.15.
Solution:Learn how to remove kindle drm on Mac Catalina.
3. Apprentice Alf's DRM Removal doesn't work on NOOK DRM. What should I do?
Solution: Learn how to remove Nook DRM.
4. Apprentice Alf's DRM Removal is too complicated for me. I want the technical support and much eaiser software.
Solution:Epubor Ultimate is the best alternative to Appentice Alf's DRM Removal tool. With the super easy user interface and 7/24 customer service, you can easy remove DRM from kindle, kobo, Nook and google play ebooks and convert them to any format as you like.
Ada Wang works for Epubor and writes articles for a collection of blogs such as ebookconverter.blogspot.com.