Getting Started
This guide will familiarize you with the features and functionality of the latest RedShelf eReader. Our award-winning product delivers an enhanced, interactive digital learning environment for students and instructors that makes books more accessible, intuitive, comprehensive, and user-friendly.
Features
Launch into the eReader
Log on to RedShelf.com. You can access the Login in the upper right corner of the page on a desktop device, or by clicking the menu button in the upper right corner of a mobile device.
You will be directed to the My Shelf page, which will display the books currently available to you. If you have already purchased a book, but do not see it in My Shelf, visit this RedShelf Solve for additional support.
Navigate to the book you would like to access and click Read Now. The eReader will open the book in a new tab.
eReader Layout
The eReader utilizes an all-new layout that intuitively groups the various tools and settings into four main areas:
- Top Bar (known as an App Bar): Contains the Learning Tools toggle menu along with the most utilized eReader tools: Contents, Search, Appearance Settings, and Additional Options.
- Learning Tools Drawer: Contains interactive tools and resources like Notes and Highlights, Flashcards, Copied Content, and Classroom (if applicable), which enhance the digital experience.
- Main Content: Contains the book content, your annotations, your inline notes and Classroom questions (if applicable).
- Navigation Bar: Contains the tools that help you understand where you are in the book and advance you to other areas of the book. This bar also contains that Text-To-Speech button that launches an additional control bar above the navigation bar to read the text aloud.
Top Bar (App Bar) Tools
Learning Tools Menu Toggle
The menu button (3 vertically stacked lines) controls the learning tools menu. The toggle will hide/show the entire learning tools menu, giving you greater control over your learning environment.
Contents
The Contents button allows you to access the important markers in the book: Table of Contents and Bookmarks. The Table of Contents are markers that the publisher deems important and Bookmarks are markers you deem important. You can create bookmarks at any time in the navigation bar at the bottom of the eReader.
Table of Contents
The left tab in the Contents area is the Table of Contents. Each item in the Table of Contents is in an organized list with the page number on the left (if applicable), the name of the chapter and/or subchapter, and an accordion (if applicable) that can be expanded and collapsed to see the additional sub-chapters. Each chapter and subchapter is a clickable link to bring you to the start of that chapter or subchapter.
Bookmarks
The right tab in the Contents area is the Bookmarks area. Each item in the Bookmarks area is organized by chapter or subchapter in an accordion and each bookmark is a clickable link to bring you to that specific page in the book.
To create a bookmark, click the Bookmark icon in the bottom right corner of the eReader. A toast notification will appear to let you know that a bookmark has been successfully added.
To delete a bookmark, click the trash icon in the Bookmarks tab of the Contents area or toggle the Bookmark icon off in the bottom right corner of the eReader. A toast notification will appear to let you know that a bookmark has been successfully deleted.
Search
Search allows you to find key terms within the digital textbook. One of the benefits of our eReader over traditional books is the ability to immediately flip to any key term
instead of having to waste time manually flipping to the index and then lining it up with the rest of the book.
To access this feature, click the magnifying glass icon at the top right and then enter the word or phrase you are looking for. Each item in the Search area is organized by chapter or subchapter in an accordion and each term shows a short preview along with the page
number and section. Each item is a clickable link that will bring you to that specific page in the book.
Appearance Settings
Depending on the book you’re reading, there will be two different versions of Appearance Settings for you to work with.
For many of our titles, you will be able to adjust the Font Size, Theme, Font, Letter Spacing, Line Height, and Margins.
If your book is in a PDF format, you will be presented with this menu instead.
You can click the - or the + magnifying glasses to adjust the size of the entire content or select from our preset options in the drop-down menu. You also have the option to click the button with the four arrows to fit your book to your screen size (viewport).
By clicking Reset to Default, you can restore all of the default appearance settings.
Additional Options
In the top right corner, there is an Additional Options menu to access additional tools and support.
Download for Offline
Download for Offline allows you to take your digital content anywhere, without the need for a network connection. You must have an Internet connection while activating Offline mode. The content downloads to your browser cache. From there, you can then access your content through the unique link without a network. Clearing your browser cache may disrupt your Offline Access.
To download content for Offline Access, open the Additional Options and then click Download for Offline.
From there it will prompt the Download for Offline menu, allowing you to download specific chapters or subchapters.
Once you click on the Download icon, the eReader will automatically calculate your remaining allowance and trigger the download if you have sufficient allowance available. It will download one item at a time and put the rest of the items in a queue if more than one download is selected.
Note: The publisher determines the DRM allowances for how much of the book can be downloaded for offline on a device and browser. You can see this information in the DRM information box at the bottom of the dialog or in the side sheet of the My Shelf page.
In addition to the progress spinner in the dialog, you will also see a toast notification that displays the progress of the download, and the Currently Downloaded area will update with exact percentages throughout the download.
Note: You can collapse the DRM allowance area at any time using the accordion if you have limited height in your browser.
Once a download is complete, a header titled Downloaded Content will appear along with the items downloaded.
You can delete these items at any time by clicking the trash icon. A toast notification will appear letting you know you have successfully deleted an item.
Accessing Content Offline
Once you have successfully downloaded content for offline access, you will be able to access your content without a network connection.
Note: It's critical that your content is downloaded for offline before you go offline to access at a later point. Once your content is downloaded, we recommend you either save the eReader as a bookmark in your browser or leave the tab open that contains the eReader.
When offline, the content that is available to view offline will display normally. Content unavailable will display with a disabled state letting you know that content is unavailable.
While offline, some features like Search, Definitions and Copied Content are not available. Any highlights, notes, bookmarks, or flashcards you create or edit while offline will sync when your internet connection is back.
The scrub bar will also provide you with helpful information about the parts of the book that are available and unavailable. Any blue area is available and any gray area is unavailable.
Another feature that works to help you access your material outside of the online version of our eReader is our Print function. While this button does not physically print off a chapter, it does convert a given section of the book to a PDF. This can be found in our Additional Options menu.
Once you click the “Print Pages to a PDF” button, it will take you to a secondary modal that will allow you to choose which pages you would like to print to a PDF.
Similarly to our Offline function, different publishers will only allow you to print certain percentages of their titles. We have created a visual indication at the bottom of this page to show how much you are printing, and what remains of your print allowance.
Select the first page and the last page you would like added to the print queue and click Add. You can select more pages, or choose to include your notes and highlights to print alongside the printed material in the Print Queue.
When you are ready to print, click the Print to PDF button and a confirmation dialog will appear to confirm your decision. If you choose to continue, a toast notification will appear to let you know your progress and when the print is complete.
If you choose to cancel the print, the entire print job will be canceled. You can access previous print jobs in the Print History area.
Help and Feedback, Versions and Keyboard Shortcuts
Here you find a few additional features available.
- Our FAQ page directs you to our Support Center where we have previously replied to some of the most frequently asked and common questions.
- Accessibility Support directs you to our Accessibility Support Center should you need any accommodations or additional support.
- Submit a Ticket allows users to write a personal inquiry to our Customer Support Teams.
- Switch to Existing eReader will allow you to switch to our previous version of our e-reader while our current one is still fresh on the market and wrapping up some additional features.
- Manage Keyboard Shortcuts will provide you with our preset keyboard shortcuts. Here you can view all the existing keyboard shortcuts, designed to make navigation throughout the e-reader without a mouse seamless.
- You can turn these shortcuts on and off at any time using the toggle switch at the top of the dialog.
Navigation Bar
One of the biggest improvements of the new eReader is the navigation bar fixed at the bottom of the page. The bar is intended to help you navigate throughout the book whether you need to advance down the page or jump to another area of the book, the scrub bar along with the page input and forward/back buttons help give you the interactive controls you desire in a digital book.
Scrub Bar
The scrub bar allows you to see where you are in the book at any time and quickly jump to another page or chapter. A popover provides additional context about the page and chapter so you can scrub to an exact location.
The dots on the scrub bar mark the beginning of a chapter.
At any time, hover over the slider thumb (the large dot), to identify the page and chapter you are on or tab into the scrub bar to advance the content with your arrow keys on your keyboard.
Page Input
To use the page input, enter a page number and click the Go button to bring you to the top of the page you entered.
Go Forward/Backwards Buttons
The arrows to the left and right of the scrub bar help you slowly advance through the book. If the book has long scrollable content, the page arrows help jump you up and down the content so that you don’t need to scroll.
Note: The arrows are not page-specific since pages can be both very short or very long.
Text to Speech
Many users find our Text-To-Speech (TTS) quite helpful as another way to ingest reading material.
To access this feature, click the ear button in the bottom right and it will launch your Text-To-Speech controls.
Volume Control
Increase or decrease the volume by moving the volume slider up or down. Clicking the icons to the left and right of the slider will decrease or increase the slider value by one.
Audio Controls
Use the Play/Pause buttons to start and stop the Text-To-Speech at any time or jump forward or backward 10 words with the circular arrow keys.
Voice and Rate Controls
Finally, you have the ability to change both the voice and the rate to truly cater the experience to your specific needs. Choose from 50 different voices and 7 different speeds that range from .5x to 3x.
Bookmarks
While your collection of bookmarks is organized in the Contents tab in the Top Bar, you can add or remove a bookmark to any page using the Bookmark button in the corner right of the eReader.
A toast notification will appear to confirm that you have bookmarked a page.
Main Content
Layout
The main content area is broken into 4 columns:
- Left Margin: Used for inline Classroom questions (if applicable)
- Book Content: The book content is provided by the publisher. Also, where inline annotations are created.
- Right Margin: Used for inline notes (if applicable)
- Scrollbar: Used to control the height of the page
Left Margin: Classroom Questions
If the book is a Classroom title, the far left margin (1) is used for inline questions. The questions appear next to the applicable area of the text and can be clicked to display a question card.
Book Content: Document Area
As mentioned above in the Appearance Settings, there are two types of content: reflowable content and fixed content. Reflowable content changes based on user settings and the device/viewport. Fixed content does not change based on user settings but it can be zoomed in or out like an image.
Annotation Modal
Within the book content, you can select text to display an annotation modal. The annotation modal allows you to create a highlight in 4 different colors, define a single word or short phrase, create a note, create a flashcard, create a citation or read aloud from that specific location in the book (a new feature).
Create/Delete a Highlight
You can create a highlight by selecting the text in the book you want to highlight and then selecting a color. You have 4 color options to choose from: yellow, green, orange, and purple.
Once you’ve selected a color, the text will appear in that color inline in the document area.
You can delete a highlight by clicking on the highlighted text and clicking on the trash can in the annotation modal or by deleting the highlight in the Learning Tools area.
Define a Word or Phrase
You can select a single word when you have a network connection and the eReader will define that word for you as well as provide a link to see the full definition and pronunciation.
Create/Edit/Delete a Note
You can create a note by selecting the text in the book and clicking Create a Note in the Annotation Modal.
An inline dialog will appear that will allow you to choose a color and add a note.
Create a Flashcard
You can create a flashcard by selecting the text in the book and clicking Create a Flashcard in the Annotation Modal.
A secondary modal will appear that will allow you to choose a previously created flashcard deck or create a new one. Select the deck you would like it added to or type in the new name of the flashcard deck you would like to create and hit “Add [Your Flashcard Deck Name]”
Type in the text you would like added to the front of the flashcard or switch the Front and the Back and click Save. The new flashcard will be saved in the Learning Tools area where it can be deleted or edited.
Copy Text
In some cases, publishers allow you to copy content in the book, but they often restrict the amount to a certain percentage of the book. We created a feature that makes it easy for you to copy text and see exactly how much more of the book you can copy (called the Copy Allowance).
You can copy text by selecting the text in the book and clicking Copy Text in the Annotation Modal.
A secondary modal will appear that will show you the text and percentage selected, the amount previously copied and the remaining allowance to allow you to confirm the decision to copy the content.
Once you copy the content, an inline underline will appear to display what was copied along with a toast notification confirming that the text was copied to your clipboard.
You can recopy content in the Learning Tools area at any time.
Create a Citation
You can create a citation by selecting the text in the book you need to cite and clicking the Create a Citation in the Annotation Modal.
From there, select the format of citation you would like to use for your paper: APA Chicago or MLA. No more having to remember proper citation formatting. All that work is done automatically for you.
Read Aloud from Here
If you’d rather start reading in the middle of the page, you can use the Read Aloud from Here feature. Select the text in the book where you would like to start reading from and click Read Aloud from Here. Our Text-to-Speech software will launch the Text-to-Speech controls and handle the rest.
Right Margin: Inline Notes
The right margin of the document is used for all inline notes.
Once you hit save, the Create a Note dialog becomes an inline note that will also appear in the Learning Tools area.
You can edit or delete the note by clicking the overflow menu or by clicking the overflow menu in the Learning Tools card.
Learning Tools
The Learning Tools area creates an interactive learning space to better engage with the content and provides quick navigation tools for Notes and Highlights, Flashcards, Copied Content, and Classroom (if applicable). Click on any of the side tabs to launch a side sheet.
Each area is set up with a consistent header that allows you to close the side sheet at any time by clicking the X.
Notes and Highlights (Learning Tool)
All your notes and highlights are neatly organized into chapter accordions that can be expanded or collapsed.
Each annotation has its own card that provides helpful information about the page number, when the annotation was created, a snippet of the annotation in the color you chose, the note (if applicable) and a menu to edit or delete the note in the Learning Tools area. Click on the colored note to bring you to that specific spot in the book.
Flashcards (Learning Tool)
All your flashcards are neatly organized into flashcard deck accordions that can be expanded or collapsed.
Each flashcard has a front and a back with a few additional options at the bottom of each card.
On the front of the flashcard, you can click the card to bring you to that spot in the book, the arrows button to flip the card, or the overflow menu to edit/delete the flashcard.
On the back of the flashcard, you can select a color that can be an indicator of your confidence level in knowing the information on the flashcard. The color choices are red, yellow, and green.
Once you select a color, that color will appear on the left side of the front and back of the flashcard.
Copied Content (Learning Tool)
Much like the Copied Content modal, your DRM allowance is displayed at the top of the side sheet, and all your previously copied content is neatly organized into chapter accordions that can be expanded or collapsed.
Each previously copied action is displayed in a card that provides helpful information about the page number, when the annotation was created, a snippet of the copied content, and a button to recopy the content. Click on the underlined content to bring you to that specific spot in the book.
Sign-in/Sign-out
To log into the eReader, you will need to have an existing account already set up on RedShelf.com.
For new users, you can create an account by clicking on the Create an Account link and following the steps to complete your account details.
If you do not know your account information, you can try the Forgot Password? option and we will send a Password Reset email.
Thank you, and happy learning!