E-Books

An e-book is a publication in an electronic format. E-books can be electronic versions of printed SAP PRESS books, they can be SAP PRESS books that are only available in electronic format, or they can be publications in our series "SAP PRESS E-Bites". We offer e-books in three different formats: PDF and EPUB file for download, and also an online book format. This guarantees that you will be able to read our e-books, regardless of which reading device you own or use. For most of our products (and all of the recent publications) our e-books are published in full color and with linked reference such as table of contents, cross references, and index. In addition, e-books are fully searchable.

For more information on our e-book formats, please see section In which formats are your e-books available?

The majority of our books are available in three e-book formats. Depending on the device you use to read them, or the situation in which you read them, one format or the other might be preferable.

E-books as PDF

The e-book in PDF format (Portable Document Format) delivers the e-book in exactly the same layout as the printed book. Thus, it offers the same convenience, but on your screen. The disadvantage: The screen needs to be of approximately the same size as a book page. If it is smaller, scrolling and moving the page becomes a nuisance.

We recommend the PDF for reading the e-book on a PC and—to some extent—on a tablet. In general, the PDF can be used on all devices that run Adobe Acrobat Reader or any other PDF viewer.

E-books as EPUB

If you would like to read your e-book on a smaller screen (tablet, smart phone, e-book reader), the EPUB format (Electronic Publishing) is recommended. In EPUB, the layout of the text adapts automatically to the size of the screen. You can even adjust font size and type to your liking. It is thus ideal for books such as novels, which primarily contain headings and standard text. All this is not possible with the PDF.

Professional books, however, also contain figures, tables, code listings, info boxes, etc. The advantages of the EPUB now turn into a disadvantage: The balanced and thoughtful layout of the original book is lost. Also, as an additional disadvantage, not every device shows the e-book in the exact same design; tables, figures, and line breaks can therefore be distorted.

E-books as online books

The online book offers online access to the book. It is available around the clock for all devices with a web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari) and internet access. Thus, you can access it from any device, even if this device does not contain an e-book file.

In addition to the functionalities offered by the online reader, online books are integrated into one consistent library. The full text search doesn’t only enable you to search within one e-book, but you can explore the contents of all your e-books, or even our entire publishing program.

Our e-books are not using copy protection (Digital Rights Management, DRM). However, every e-book copy is equipped with a digital watermark (the name and e-mail address of the owner and a unique serial number). To make the e-book experience as convenient as possible for our readers, we decided not to use hardware-based copy protection: The e-books are DRM-free. You can copy your e-book as often as you’d like, but only for your personal use please!

Most of our products come in three different versions: as a printed book, an e-book, or as a bundle that contains both the printed and the e-book version. Before placing a product in the shopping cart, you have to decide which version you want.

If you purchase an e-book or a bundle, you’ll have to create an account (if you don’t already have one). Upon completion of the checkout process, you’ll receive an activation link for your e-book via e-mail.

Please note: If you decide to buy either the printed version or the e-book version, it is not possible to buy the other version at a reduced price at a later point. You cannot “upgrade” to the bundle. Please note that e-books are non-returnable. If you purchase a bundle, you can only return the printed version and we’ll refund you the price difference between the e-book and the bundle version.

If you purchase an e-book or a bundle of the print and e-book version, you’ll have to create an account on our website. Please note: When creating an account, you commit to entering your personal information (name, e-mail address, mailing address) correctly. For more information, please see our Terms of Use.

Upon completion of the checkout process, you’ll receive an activation link via e-mail. Click this link or copy it into your web browser’s address field.

Subsequently, you may have to log on again to the Library using your e-mail address and password. There, you’ll find your e-book ready for download and/or online reading.

If you order an e-book or a bundle version of a product that has already been published, the e-book will be available to read immediately. Upon completion of the checkout process, you’ll receive an activation link via e-mail. Click this link or copy it into your web browser’s address field. (You may have to log on again to the Library using your e-mail address and password.) There, you’ll find your e-book ready for download and/or online reading. Alternatively, you can copy and paste the activation code from the e-mail into the field "Product or Subscription Key" in the Library.

Once you've activated your e-book in the Library, it is also available in the mobile app.

During the generation process, the digital watermark is being written into the file. Depending on how large the e-book file is (for example, if the book has a lot of pages or contains many figures) the generation process of your personal copy can take some time. The PDF generation is generally fastest, EPUB takes a little longer. You can find the approximate file sizes for each format on the product page for each book in the box “About the E-Book”.

While purchasing your first e-book, you created an account that is linked to your personal Library. This Library contains all the e-books that you own—and it is open 24/7. Just log on with your e-mail address and password to get access to your e-books.

We offer e-books in three different formats: PDF and EPUB file for download, and an online book format. You only need internet access to read the online book format. For all other formats, you need internet access only to download to the device of your choice. As soon as a PDF or EPUB file has been downloaded to your PC, e-book reader, smartphone, or tablet, you can read it in offline mode.

Log on to your Library (How do I get to the Library?) and activate your e-book (How do I get my e-book?). Then, click “Download E-Book” for the book of your choice. Using the respective buttons, you can now generate your personal copy of your PDF or EPUB file. Then, use the “Download” button to download and save the file to your computer or your mobile device. Depending on the file size, the generation and download may take some time. You can download each file format up to three times.

We recommend you create a dedicated folder (for example, “SAP PRESS E-Books”) to manage the e-book files on your device.

Amazon changed the way to load e-books onto your Kindle device. E-book files have to be converted into Amazon's proprietary format first. The easiest way to read your e-book on a Kindle is to add it to your Kindle library via the "Send to Kindle" page.

Yes, our files are compatible with PCs, laptops, tablets, and even smartphones.

We offer you three formats of e-books. These formats have been tested on multiple current and popular e-book reading devices—including various generations of the iPad and Kindle. Which format works best for you on your specific device depends on your preferences. General information on the various e-books formats can be found here: In which formats are your e-books available?

Please note that each e-book reading device displays generic e-book formats (in particular EPUB) slightly differently. Some less sophisticated devices may struggle with displaying our books (including the multiple figures, tables, and boxes) correctly.

No, you can use the EPUB file for this purpose. You can find more information on transferring the file to your Kindle device under How do I transfer e-books to my Kindle device? We’ve tested it. It works.

Unfortunately, this is not possible. On our website, we offer all our books as bundles of print and e-books, but a later “upgrade” to a bundle is not offered.

Unfortunately, this is not possible. On our website, we offer all our books as bundles of print and e-books, but a later “upgrade” to a bundle is not offered.

After you purchased an e-book you can download it from the Library for at least 12 months. During this time, you can access it around the clock and from any computer. Each e-book format (PDF, EPUB) can be downloaded exactly five times.

Once you downloaded a file, you can use it as long as you like.

Your e-book is protected by copyright. When purchasing the usage right of an e-book, you acknowledge and observe the copyrights. You are entitled to personal use of your e-book. You may print and copy it, but again, only for personal use. Passing on an electronic or printed copy to others is not allowed, neither in total nor in parts. In particular, sharing the file on a company network is a violation of our copyright. For more information on the usage rights, please see our Terms of Use.

Bonus material for your e-book (such as codes, exercises, data models, etc.) are available for download on the web catalog page for the book and in the Library.

On the web catalog page, you’ll see the area "Supplemental Material". Click "Material Overview". In the pop-up window, you’ll find links to the supplemental material for download.

If we have corrections or updates to your e-book, we will alert you via e-mail. A list of corrections can be found on the web catalog page for the book and in the Library.

If we publish a corrected or updated version of your e-book (“Corrected Reprint”), you’ll find this new version in your Library for download. Please note: This is explicitly not referring to a new edition of the book.

An interrupted download has no consequences. Maybe try it again? If the download fails again, please contact support@rheinwerk-publishing.com. By the way: Only completed downloads count against the download limit.

We’re here for you! Please contact our customer service via e-mail or phone:

Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Eastern time
info@rheinwerk-publishing.com