You can find answers to many frequently asked questions on this FAQ page:

General Questions Contact us

Look here for info about who we are and what we do.

How did the Take Control series begin?

Take Control began in 2003 as a radical rethinking of how books are written, edited, published, and yes, even how they are read. Take Control is run by the husband-and-wife team Adam and Tonya Engst. By the time they began Take Control, they had authored or edited more than 25 traditional books and written hundreds of magazine articles for major Mac magazines. And, they'd spent the last 15 years gaining experience in Internet publishing with TidBITS, their Web site (updated quite often) and weekly email newsletter about Mac and Internet topics. These experiences helped them develop the Take Control model, which results in highly practical ebooks that cover much more detail than a magazine article but that are shorter, more focused, and more timely than a typical printed book. For more background, read the TidBITS article that introduced the series.

I'd like to write a Take Control ebook. How should I proceed?

Thanks, but we currently aren't bringing in new authors - our plates are full!

I'd like to edit a Take Control ebook. How should I proceed?

If you have experience with editing in the technology world, particularly with manuscripts about Macintosh topics, we'd like to hear from you! Use the contact form at the bottom of this page to send us a note.

I have an idea for a Take Control ebook that I'd like you to write so I can read it!

Great - we love to hear your ideas. Use the Search form available in the top navigation bar of our site, and if you don't turn up anything, please use our contact form to send us your thoughts. Note that we have more ideas for books than we could write in the next 5 years already, but we do read all idea submissions.

You've written manuals for iKey and Now Up-to-Date & Contact. Will you write the manual for my product?

It's all a matter of whether the business details work out, but if your product has a sufficiently large user base, we're happy to talk with you more. Please use the contact form at the bottom of the page to send us information about what you have in mind, and we'll get back you.

I'd like to review a Take Control ebook. Can I get a review copy?

Sure thing. Just use the contact form below to send us a note, telling us which ebook you'd like to review and for what publication.

Do you use copy protection on your ebooks?

No. Our ebooks do not use copy protection because it makes life harder for everyone. So we ask a favor of our readers. If you want to share your copy of an ebook you've bought with a friend, please do so as you would with a physical book, meaning that if your friend uses it regularly, he or she should buy a copy. Use the Help a Friend offer on page 2 - or on the lower left of the cover of some older titles - to give your friend a discount.

How can I give one of your ebooks as a gift?

Any way you like! Seriously, if you want to purchase one of our ebooks for a friend or relative, run through the order process as you normally would. Once you've downloaded the PDF file, you could send it to the recipient as a normal email attachment. Or, if you're looking for a more concrete object to present, you could burn it to a CD-R disc. (If you haven't done that on the Mac before, insert a blank CD-R, open the Untitled CD's window in the Finder, drag a file to it, and click the Burn button.) Also, many of our ebooks are available as printed books; check the left margin of any ebook's detailed description page on our site for info, or contact us for more info about a particular title.

What do you use for the Take Control Books Web site?

Our site uses an Xserve running Mac OS X Server, but the most relevant bit is that we rely on ExpressionEngine as our content management system. Thanks to Adam Khan of EngagingNet for translating our static HTML into a database- and template-driven site.

Pre-Ordering Info Contact us

This section covers some common questions people have about payment methods, the eCD option, and other things that may come up when the cart is working properly. If you have a problem with the cart working incorrectly, please see the next section, which covers ordering problems.

Are your books available in traditional, printed form?

Yes, they are!

Can I buy ebooks with PayPal?

Yes, eSellerate now accepts PayPal as one of the standard payment types, along with common credit cards. You'll start in our cart, get handed off to PayPal, log in, go through a screen or two, and return to the eSellerate cart to complete and download your purchase.

Can I get my ebooks on CD?

We now offer an option for ordering a backup CD containing all the ebooks in your order. On the first screen of the shopping cart, under the Backup CD Service heading, click the Add to Cart button.

Can I order ebooks via phone or fax?

If online ordering isn't working for you - perhaps you're having trouble with the cart or you feel uncomfortable giving credit card information, even on a secure Web site such as our eSellerate cart, you can call or fax eSellerate directly to place your order. Keep the following notes in mind:

Can I buy multiple copies of ebooks for students in a class I'm teaching?

Yes, if you're teaching a class and wish to purchase copies of our ebooks for your students, we offer steep discounts. For more information and to apply for class-copy pricing, visit our Class Copies page.

How do you convert currency from U.S. dollars for ebook sales?

Either PayPal, your credit card company, or eSellerate does the conversion. Here's more info:

Will I have trouble if I'm using Mac OS 9 or earlier?

Possibly, not due to Mac OS 9 itself, but because people who are using older versions of the Mac OS often have older versions of other software as well. In particular we recommend that you use the following software:

Ordering Help Contact us

Occasionally people have trouble completing an order via eSellerate. Here are some tips for getting through the cart and for getting your ebook if you encounter an error.

What if I can't order an ebook through your cart?

If, for whatever reason, you can't place an order with a credit card via the Web, phone, or fax (or through PayPal, which is an option in our shopping cart), please contact us and we'll work something out.

What if the ebook shopping cart doesn't work right?

Occasionally, people have trouble using our shopping cart, which is run by eSellerate, an online services firm that handles our ordering process. If you experience trouble ordering, try these tips:

Do you charge VAT for ebooks sold to EU customers?

Yes, unfortunately, we have to. The EU regulations surrounding VAT on sales from companies outside the European Union changed radically in the middle of 2003, and electronic books are regulated differently even than physical books. Sorry!

I live in Nebraska, and I noticed that the ebook cart charges me sales tax. Is that necessary?

ESellerate, our shopping-cart service, is located in Nebrasksa, so they are required to charge Nebraska state sales tax to those who enter a Nebraska address. If you are a tax-excempt entity in Nebraska, you can place your order and then contact us and we'll have eSellerate reverse the charges on the tax. Or, if a reversal isn't helpful, contact us to get info about paying us directly via check or some other means.

I live some other state besides Nebraska, and I noticed that the ebook cart charges me sales tax. Is that necessary?

Yes, it is, because our shopping-cart company, eSellerate, is owned by Digital River. (Please see the above question about Nebraska.)

This is a somewhat new development, and right now (March 2008), as a consequence of the change, eSellerate is charging sales tax not only in Nebraska but also in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Georgia, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Utah. We are still tracking down the situation with tax-excempt entities in these states; we think it's the same as with Nebraska, but please contact us to check first, if you are concerned about definitely getting your order tax free.

Downloading Tips Contact us

At the end of your ordering process, eSellerate displays a Download button, which you click to download the associated ebook. If you experience trouble downloading, try these tips:

Reading on a Screen; Using Links, iPhones, and KindlesContact us

Electronic books are a new experience for many people, but they provide you with a good deal of flexibility that isn't available with printed books: you can follow links to move around quickly and you can search the material to find a particular topic quickly.

Once you've downloaded and expanded the file, you'll have a PDF containing the actual ebook. Here are some tips for reading the ebook:

Why would I want to read onscreen?

If you wish to print your ebook, we understand, and it will work fine. However, these ebooks are designed to be read onscreen and to avoid common problems with the way PDFs are presented onscreen: the type is larger than in most PDFs, the space between the lines is taller, and you'll find lots of bookmarks and links to help you navigate. You can search for specific terms, insert your own bookmarks, and avoid ending up with an out-of-date printout next time we update the ebook. The topics we tend to cover in Take Control ebooks change rapidly, and information can become obsolete in the blink of an eye.

Where's the table of contents? How do I use it?

The table of contents is on the first (cover) page of the ebook, and you can click any topic in the table of contents to jump to it. However, PDFs have a bookmark feature that provides table of contents that can be accessible at all times, not just when you are viewing the cover. In the bookmarks list for your ebook, you'll find all the main topics in the table of contents, plus all the second-level topics. We recommend that you work with bookmarks showing so that you can move quickly among the topics.

Where are the internal links and how do I use them?

The internal links are formatted in blue. To use one, just click it.

When I click a button or link in my ebook, nothing happens. Help!

Try picking a different function for the mouse pointer. In Preview, look for a different tool button on the toolbar or look for a Tools menu on the menu bar. In Acrobat, make sure the Hand tool is selected. Also, if you are using Preview under Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar, links won't work in Preview, so try Adobe Reader instead.

What basic settings should I use for viewing a Take Control ebook?

In Adobe Acrobat 5, the Take Control default settings on the View menu are Fit in Window and Continuous. For most people with larger monitors, those should be fine. To focus only on reading, in Acrobat 5, choose View > Full Screen, or in Acrobat 6, choose Window > Full Screen View. (Press Esc to leave full-screen mode.) Preview ignores our default settings, but to emulate our defaults, choose View > Continuous Scrolling and select Scale Pages to Fit Display in the PDF pane of Preview's Preferences window.

How do I make the text bigger?

In Acrobat, you can increase the size of the text by clicking the window's Zoom button to make the window as wide as possible, and then choosing View > Fit Width. You can eke out more horizontal width by closing the Bookmarks tab (click the Bookmarks tab at the far left of the Acrobat window). In Preview, resize the window manually and click the Zoom In button; to save more horizontal space, close the bookmarks drawer (Command-T).

How can I scroll quickly?

To scroll using keyboard shortcuts you must first click in the main text area. The Page Up and Page Down keys may be the easiest (and they scroll by screen when you are viewing less than a full page). In Acrobat, the Left and Right arrow keys scroll to the previous and next page starts.

Web pages are appearing in my PDF. What do I do?

This problem occurs in Adobe Acrobat Pro if your Web Capture preferences are set to display Web pages in the PDF. We recommend that you turn this setting off for viewing Take Control ebooks because it harms their presentation and makes it impossible to successfully download updates. To turn it off, choose Acrobat > Preferences, switch to the Web Capture pane, and choose In Web Browser from the Open Web Links pop-up menu.

How do I read a Take Control ebook on an iPhone or iPod touch?

At the moment, you have two options.

To our knowledge, no PDF app supports live internal links or Web links. Nor does any PDF app show the "chapter" bookmarks that can be included with a PDF. If you've found an iPhone app that supports any of these features, please let us know!

The above entry was updated June 3, 2009.

How do I read a Take Control ebook on a Kindle?

Kindle DX

The Kindle DX supports the PDF format, so you move PDFs from your Mac to the Kindle via USB and read them without doing a conversion. We have tried this with the Take Control PDFs and the Macworld Superguide PDFs, and in both cases we think they look great! The Take Control PDFs use a fairly large type size, so they squish down to the Kindle DX's screen size in a wonderfully legible way. The Superguides use a smaller type size, so while they seem entirely readable to us, some older readers may disagree. Regrettably, bookmarks do not appear on the Kindle DX and internal links and Web links do not work.

Kindle 1 and Kindle 2

You can convert any Take Control ebook PDF to the Kindle format with Amazon's email conversion service: log in to your Amazon.com account, follow the "Manage Your Kindle" link, and configure your Kindle email address. Once that's done, simply email the PDF as an attachment and Amazon will do the conversion. There is a small charge, and the pricing seems to be changing over time, but at present the cost is .15 cents per MB (most Take Control ebook PDFs are under 5 MB in size). Amazon has posted complete details on their Web site.

Here's how the converted ebook looks and performs on the Kindle 1 (the Kindle 2 may be somewhat improved):

All that said, if you are enthused about reading a Take Control ebook on your Kindle, it's easy to forgive the formatting oddities, and with luck the disfunctional tables and the lack of links won't be a big problem. Keep your PDF so you can access the Check for Updates Web page, since it may have interesting post-publication news or access to an updated PDF.

TidBITS is on the Kindle, Future Plans

We do hope to make the ebooks available in the Kindle Store at some point in the future. And, we are offering TidBITS (Mac and Internet news, reviews, and analysis) on the Kindle, so that readers can get some of our content natively on the Kindle and so we can become more adept with Kindle formatting.

The above entry was updated June 17, 2009.

Printing an Ebook YourselfContact us

Although you can order a spiral-bound, double-sided, 7x9 printed version of most of our ebooks (click "Check for Updates" on the cover, or—on newer ebooks look for a Print button on the cover, you can also print your ebook yourself. Although our primary design goal is to make a good-looking ebook, we also design the ebooks so they will print reasonably on a typical home printer. Here are some printing tips:

Finding an Ebook UpdateContact us

We offer free minor updates to electronic books in the Take Control series, and it's also possible to access those updates if you purchase a print version.

How do I check if an update is available for an ebook I purchased?

Check for UpdatesOn the first page of your ebook, in the lower left, click Check for Updates (see the image to the right; newer ebooks have a different cover design; the link is at the top of the first page). A few of our oldest titles lack a Check for Updates button; in that case, Contact us and we'll take care of you.

On the resulting Check for Updates Web page, you may see some (or occasionally a lot) of new material relating to the topic. You'll also learn if we are planning an updated PDF in the near future. Updated PDFs that we consider to be minor updates are free, and you can download them from the Check for Updates page. In some cases, so much material will change that we'll do a major new edition of the ebook and, in that case, we'll let you know about the new edition and give you a link for buying it, usually with a nice discount.

I can see the Check for Updates button, but when I click it, nothing happens

Likely, you have the wrong mouse-pointer tool selected. A TidBITS article, "Solve Link-Clicking Problems When Reading PDFs" has information that should help you select the right tool.

Can you send me an email message when you release an updated PDF for my ebook?

Yes! To sign up, click the Check for Updates button on the first page of your ebook. On the resulting Web page, look near the upper right for a sign-up form. Please be aware, however, that a few people on these lists tend to not receive update notices because of spam filters and other Internet glitches.

You can also find news about updates in the News section of the Take Control Web site (look on the home page); those updates also appear in weekly TidBITS issues. Occasionally, for especially important updates, we will pull email addresses from our eSellerate database - but only if you've indicated that it's okay to contact you, and use that larger mailing list to inform you of that update.

And, finally, major updates (updates that are so major that they constitute a new edition) also get announced on our Take Control Announcements mailing list, a list that we use to announce all of our new ebooks. You can sign up for Take Control Announcements when you order a book.

What if I bought the printed version of the title, and don't have a Check for Updates button?

In that case, contact us and we'll send you the ebook version of your title so that you can use the Check for Updates button, as explained just above.

What if I bought a Peachpit book that contained the text from an ebook, and I want an update?

Managing Your Mailing List Subscriptions Contact us

We run a number of mailing lists, including the public Take Control Announcements for announcements of new releases and private lists for owners of each of our ebooks to learn about updates or other news of interest.

How do I subscribe to Take Control Announcements?

Scroll up, and then enter your email address in the New Releases form in our right-hand column. Click Send, and when you get the confirmation message, reply to it. You can also subscribe to Take Control Announcements whenever you subscribe to one of the update lists for an individual ebook. If you checked the "Notify me" checkbox when ordering and replied to the confirmation message, you're already subscribed.

How do I subscribe to an ebook update list?

Click the Check for Updates button on the first page of your ebook, and in the Web page that appears, enter your email address in the Email Notification field, select the appropriate checkboxes, and click Subscribe. You must reply to the confirmation message for each list.

How do I manage my mailing list subscriptions?

Visit our Manage Mailing List Subscriptions page, where you can login (requesting a new password if necessary) and both subscribe to and unsubscribe from various lists. Note that if you unsubscribe from an ebook's update list, the only way to resubscribe is from that ebook's Check for Updates page.

How do I change my email address for these lists?

Again, visit our Manage Mailing List Subscriptions page, where you can also change your email address.

How do I unsubscribe from your lists?

Hate to sound like a broken record, but our Manage Mailing List Subscriptions page provides exactly what you want.

How to Contact Us

If you still have questions or wish to contact us for any reason, please use the form below to send us email. Although we often respond to customer questions right away, our goal is to reply within one business day.

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Why Take Control?

Expert Advice
Real-World Topics
Immediate Download
Free Minor Updates
Low Prices
Clickable Links
Readable Onscreen
Class Copy Discounts
Print Versions Available
Satisfaction Guaranteed!

Readers Speak

“I love having these Take Control books to take with me as I travel.” –LM

“I am very impressed with your product. It worked flawlessly (and almost instantly). On the scale of Web commerce, you guys get a 10 out of 10!” –DW

“Well done for making the ebooks screen-friendly. That's so rare.” –ES

“Take Control is one of the great publication ideas of the Internet age.” –CF

“Take Control ebooks get straight As—they're authoritative, accessible, and affordable.” –ET

“Congratulations on the next step in publishing!” –MW

“The experience of buying a book and receiving a free update is new to me and quite marvelous!” –CP