5 Great Tips for Digital Download Books & Kits

by Ashley Chase

Every single colored pencil book, project kit and issue of Ann Kullberg’s COLOR magazine is available as an instant digital download at much lower cost than the print version.

Many of you, however, are still print loyalists. And that is OK! You may just prefer to have something to hold, flip through and add to your book collection. For others, it may be a technical challenge, such as figuring out how to download the PDF materials, view them on your computer or device, and zoom in and search.

In this article, I will detail each step of downloading and saving a digital  product from annkullberg.com, and also give some helpful tips and tricks for Adobe Reader, the free software for viewing PDF files, that is likely already on your computer. If not, you can download it by clicking here.

There are many advantages to going digital:

• Environmentally friendly: You can choose to only print certain pages or not print at all, and save resources.
• Fast delivery: When you order a digital product, you can start reading and drawing in fewer than 5 minutes.
• Zoom in: No more squinting to see small text or images – you can make them as big as you want with a PDF.
• Always at your fingertips: You can save any book, magazine or kit on up to 3 devices – so you can have it on your computer, your tablet and your smartphone. Reading on the go has never been easier.
• Saves space in your studio or bookcase.

5 TIPS FOR DOWNLOADS:

1. Search
The toolbar at the top of the screen has many helpful features. Click on the magnifying glass to open a search window and type the words you are looking for – it will find any instance of those exact words in the document, and you can click Previous and Next to navigate through the pages with those words.

2. Save notes
Clicking on the chat bubble icon on the toolbar turns your mouse into a comment box. Click anywhere in the document where you would like to make a note, and it will add a digital bookmark with a dialog box that you can type into. When you save the document and close, your notes will still be there the next time you open the PDF.

3. Highlight text
Next to the chat bubble icon in the toolbar is a highlighter icon. Clicking this will turn your mouse into a highlighter – simply select the text you want to highlight and it will add a colored background to the text for easily referencing later. To switch back to your regular mouse, click on the arrow in the toolbar.

4. Zoom in
The plus and minus icons in the toolbar allow you to zoom in and out on any page. This is ideal for examining a step-by-step image closely and making any text the perfect, readable size for your vision.

5. Page view
There are several options to change how the pages display; play around until you find an option you love. Single Page View will show one page at a time. Two Page View or Two Page View Scrolling will show you side-by-side pages. You can also use Read Mode (Ctrl+H) to hide any extra tool panels that may be open, or Full Screen Mode (Ctrl+L) to turn the book into a full screen presentation. Simply hit ESC to exit Full Screen Mode. If at any time you can’t find the main File Menu because it’s hidden, hit F9 on your keyboard and it will reappear.

How to download Ann Kullberg's digital books and kits:

Step 1
From the dropdown menu on any product listing, you will find a digital download option. Simply select, add to cart and check out as usual.



Step 2
Check your email. You will immediately get an email with a link that you can use up to 3 times to download your goodies.



Step 3
Fetch your files. When you click on the link in the email, you will be taken to a screen where you can download all digital files from your order. Click on Download and you will be prompted to Save As the file. Navigate to the folder where you want to save it, and click Save.

That’s it – now you can go to that folder, open the file and start reading!

This article was originally printed in the February 2017 issue of COLOR Magazine.