A tip for Mac users of Zinio documents

[motorollin]

I recently purchased a Physiology eBook. The only version of the one I want is in Zinio format. This has the following disadvantages:

1. Requires a proprietary reader: annoying when Acrobat is built in to Mac OS.
2. Zinio Reader on the Mac is PowerPC only. That means it is SLOW when using large documents (like the one I am using)
3. The Zinio reader does not seem to allow searching for a phrase!!! So if I search for "vocal fold", the results will show every page which contains "vocal" and every page which contains "fold". It does not matter if the quotes are there or not.
4. Zinio files are DRM. I can understand why, and I'm certainly not promoting illegal copying, but it is really irritating not being able to have my eBook on more than one of my own computers.

Step 1
Fortunately there is a workaround if the license for your Zinio document allows you to print. In the print dialogue under Mac OSX there is an option to export to PDF. This will NOT work in Zinio. However, if you install CUPS-PDF you get a virtual printer which exports to a PDF (like the Distiller in the Windows version of Acrobat). This fools Zinio in to thinking you're printing to a real printer, when in fact you end up with a PDF.

The Zinio reader will only print 20 pages at a time, so if your document is more than that then you will have to print in chunks. The CUPS-PDF printer prefixes each file with a job number which increments each time you use it, so they will be kept in order.

Optional Step 2
If you are happy with your PDF being in separate files then you can just leave them as they are. Otherwise, download the Windows trial version of Acrobat Pro 8. Run Acrobat, the go to File > Create PDF > From Multiple Files and add all of the PDFs created by CUPS-PDF. The files will be combined in to a single PDF which you can then save.

Optional Step 3
Zinio adds a watermark of a "C" (copyright, presumably) and your email address to every page when you print (or in our case export to PDF). This is understandable, but annoying when you are trying to read or look at a diagram. Unfortunately the watermark is not an Acrobat watermark or background - it's a separate image on every page. However, there is a relatively quick way to get rid of it.

Download and install the trial version of Macro Express. Create a new macro, and use the Scripting Editor. Add the following events:

- Mouse Left Button Click
- Delay 20 Milliseconds
- Mouse Right Button Click
- Delay 20 Milliseconds
- Text Type:
- Delay 20 Milliseconds
- Text Type:
- Delay 20 Milliseconds
- Text Type:
- Delay 20 Milliseconds
- Text Type:
- Delay 1000 Milliseconds
- Text Type:

Bind this macro to a keystroke which is not used in Acrobat. I use Ctrl-Tab, since both keys are on the same side of the (Mac) keyboard. Switch to Acrobat and move the mouse over the watermark. Press the hotkey and it will select the watermark, being up the context menu, cursor down to the "delete" option and select it, wait for one second to give you time to check it worked, then move to the next page.

If your document is quite small or does not contain any graphics then you can use the Repeat functions of Macro Express to repeat the macro for every page. However, I found that my eBook, which contains a lot of complex vector graphics, would take a long time to change from one page to another, or to select and delete the watermark. So I left the macro with no repeat and just kept pressing it, and manually removing the watermark on those complex and slow pages.

This process is somewhat laborious, but I managed to do 500 pages in an hour.


I know there will be a very limited number of people to whom this will be useful but hopefully it will help somebody.

Disclaimer - don't use this to illegally copy Zinio documents...

--
moto