LAST UPDATED: October 2023
Find out how to download preview pages from Google Books site, then save them and also edit the text to your own requirement.
Just like in the books in the Amazon site, the free preview pages of books in Google Books site cannot be downloaded.
But for those "Full View" or labeled as "Read" under the book titles, they can be downloaded directly from Google Books site., as explained in this post "How To Download Full View Books From Google Books".
I know some of you might want to adapt the content of the book for personal use, and preferably want to rewrite or edit it to your requirement.
As I have just mentioned all Google books preview pages cannot be download directly.
You can still copy the preview pages text by taking a screenshot it page by page.
Yes, definitely it is laborious and bothersome.
There is a workable way to download all the Google books preview pages.
You use the free software called "Google Books Downloader Lite".
This original tutorial was written way back in the year 2015, and at that time, I used "Google Books Downloader version 2.6".
When I updated this post in 2017, I reinstalled the latest "Google Books Downloader version 2.7".
It was still working perfectly fine.
But then when I updated this tutorial again, I found that all the versions of "Google Books Downloader" are NOT working any more.
When I tried to install back the older version 2.5 & 2.6, I was warned of harmful programs or the file has being blocked it may be harmful.
Google Books Downloader Runtime Error
When I tried to install the latest version 2.7, I encountered this remarks:
"Runtime Error (at 8:217) Format result longer than 4096 characters."
In fact, in 2019, there were some French guys who were already highlighting this "Runtime Error" when installing the 2.7 version of Google Books Downloader in C|NET Forum.
For those who still want to use this "Google Books Downloader", there is still a workable way.
There is another free online tool called "Google Books Downloader Lite".
This tool is similar to Google Books Downloader, except it doesn't has the option of "Resolution" and the "Output Format" is set for PNG files only.
But it works just as good as the full version.
All you need to do is to download and save its .exe file in to your computer, without having to install it.
So each time when you want to use it, you go to where you have saved its .exe file, and click on it.
How To Download Preview Pages From Google Books Site
Now, let me show you how to download it, configure it and how to use it to copy Google books preview pages with Google Books Downloader Lite.
The last STEP #4 is for those who want to edit the downloaded preview pages.
STEP #1: Download Google Books Downloader Lite
1. Download "Google Books Downloader Lite 1.0"
2. Click on the green color box on the top right hand corner.
3. It will open a new page, and followed closely with a pop-up box.
4. Click on the "Save File" button.
5. Another box pops up, to let you select where you want to download it.
6. Choose where you like to save "google_books_downloader_lite-1.0-installer_f6aL-G1.exeoogleBookDownloder.exe" file.
7. Click the "Save" button.
STEP #2: Install Google Books Downloader Lite
1. Go to where you have saved "google_books_downloader_lite-1.0-installer_f6aL-G1.exe" and double click on it.
2. A box pops up.
3. Click on the "Run" button.
4. From there you just follow the instruction to install the Google Books Downloader Lite onto your computer.
5. Then you would find this "google_books_downloader_lite-1.0-installer.exe" where you saved it.
6. Double click this to launch the Google Books Downloader Lite.
7. As you can from the interface, the first option is "Google Book URL".
8. This is where you paste the book URL taken Google Books site.
9. The second one is "Output Folder".
10. This is where you want to save your downloaded Google book preview pages.
11. By default, it is set as "Desktop".
12. If you want to change to another location in your computer, click on the "small box with three dots" above the "Download" button.
13. A box pops up and from there you can make your selection, as to where you like to save the downloaded PNG file.
14. Then click the "OK" button.
NOTE: Ignore the "FULL VERSION" button.
STEP #3: How To Download Google Books Preview Pages
Now let me show you how to download books preview pages from Google Books site with "Google Books Downloader Lite".
1. Go to Google Books site.
2. Type in the book title in the empty space provided and click on the magnifying glass icon or press the "Enter" key.
3. Make sure the the book which you like to download must has the word "Preview" under the book title.
4. If it doesn't have the word "Preview" or it has just the word "Snippet view", then it means you CANNOT download the preview pages from this particular book.
5. In other words, you can only download the preview pages, if the book featured in Google Books, has the word "Preview".
6. Right click on the word "Preview" or the book title.
7. A context menu pops up, click on "Copy link address".
8. Paste the book URL onto the space below "Google Book URL:"
9. Then click on the "Download" button.
10. You can see the green color gradually filling up the horizontal bar above the words "FULL VERSION".
11. Once it has finished downloading, a small box pops up with the word "Done".
12. Click on "OK".
13. You can close the "Google Books Downloader Lite" interface by clicking on the "X" icon.
14. Now you should find the just completed download book folder with a random name at the place where you have set to save in your computer.
15. You can change the random name to other name of your own choice.
16. To view all the preview pages, double click on the folder.
17. Now you can read all the images of preview pages of that particular book in PNG format.
NOTE: At this point, all these preview pages CANNOT be edited, as they are actually images in png format.
STEP #4: Edit Download Preview Pages
This step is for those who want to edit the text from these preview pages.
You need to convert them to PDF or Word format to be editable.
You can do it with the free online OCR software.
OCR stands for "Optical Character Recognition".
Here is how you do it.
1. Go to the free online OCR tool.
2. First you select the language to be used and for the "Output formats", choose "Microsoft Word (docx)".
3. Now you upload your file by clicking on the blue button "Select file...".
4. A box pops up, and you locate your folder (with files of downloaded book preview pages).
5. Click on it, and then click the "Open" button.
6. Now you can see all the downloaded preview pages in PNG format.
7. Click on the one which you would like to edit.
8. Next click "Open" button.
9. It goes back to the OCR site.
10. Then click on the blue color "CONVERT" button.
11. The buttons shows: "waiting"...."processing"...and then back to "CONVERT".
12. You can see the text from the downloaded file below "Download Output File".
13. Move your mouse cursor over the text and click on it. It is just like the normal Word format.
14. Now you can edit the text from the book which you have downloaded from Google Books site.
15. After you've edited the test, you save the document by clicking on the "Download Output File".
16. A box pops up and you click the "OK" button.
17. Another box pops up and choose where you want to save the edited document in your computer or an external drive.
18. That's all.