Here you will find a list of some common questions and answers related to our PDF eBooks!
General Questions about Your eBooks
The use of digital content in the classroom provides a few advantages:
- To make all course materials available to students and faculty through LoudCloud. Everything you need to be successful in class will be available immediately when you log into your classroom.
- To reduce the cost of course materials to students. At current pricing levels, digital content will reduce the overall cost of course materials by approximately 25% over the program. This may vary slightly, depending on the program in which you are enrolled.
- To continue to provide a high-quality, contemporary education at an affordable price. We live and work in an increasingly electronic world. The education you earn at Grand Canyon University will enable you to be confident in your skill at working in this digital world.
The complete citation for the textbook can be found in your syllabus. If you wish to purchase a hard copy of the textbook, use the citation to order the correct edition. The purchase of a hard copy textbook will be at your own expense.
Digitally enabled courses will have materials fees applied to the course and students will be charged for the digital content.
Canyon Connect (canyonconnect.gcu.edu) will tell you whether your course materials are found in your class as eBooks or if your class requires a print textbook. Please see our article Canyon Connect for instructions on how to use the website.
Downloading Your eBook
If you are unable to move past the downloading step, you may be experiencing an issue with your browser. We recommend:
- Clearing your cache and cookies
- Checking the Downloads in your browser
- Trying a different browser
Yes, each time you download an eBook on a different computer, it will have to be unlocked using your GCU username (without @my.gcu.edu) and password.
Logging into Your eBook
To log into the PDF version of your eBook, enter your GCU username (do not add @my.gcu.edu) and password. Once you are finished entering your username and password, click the Log In button; pressing Enter on your keyboard will not log you into the eBook. If the pages of your eBook say they are protected, this means your eBook has not been successfully unlocked.
Yes, in order to log into your eBook, you must be connected to the internet. After it has been unlocked for the first time, you may select Automatically sign me into this document in the future. This will allow it to remain unlocked without an internet connection when you reopen the eBook. The latest version of Adobe Reader is recommended in order to utilize this feature; for further assistance with Adobe Reader, please refer to the Adobe Reader Installation and Setup article.
If you see the letters and numbers in your password instead of asterisks (*), your eBook is not opening in Adobe Reader. To set your eBooks to always open in Adobe Reader, check out our article on setting your default applications!
Like Chrome, Firefox also has a built-in PDF viewer which can prevent eBooks from opening in Adobe Reader. This can cause two issues: (1) the user is unable to type in the Username and Password boxes, or (2) the user can type, but clicking the Log In button will not unlock the eBook. For more information on how to fix this issue check out our article on Disabling your Browser's PDF Viewer.
The following error message occurs when the username or password is entered incorrectly on the login page of a PDF eBook:
“Your credentials appear to be incorrect. Please try again or contact customer support. (bw5)
Would you like to navigate to the support site?”
If you are unsure that you are using the correct login credentials, try resetting your password or recovering a saved password. If you are still unable to unlock the eBook after resetting your password, try downloading the eBook again and log in with the new password.
The following error message occurs when the username or password is entered incorrectly on the login page of a PDF eBook.
“An error occurred during the submit process. Cannot process content of type application/json; charset=utf-8.”
If you are unsure if you are using the correct login credentials, make sure that you are using your GCU username (not including the “@my.gcu.edu”), and try resetting your password or recovering a saved password. If you are still unable to unlock the eBook after resetting your password, try downloading the eBook again and log in with the new password.
The following error message occurs when the default Chrome PDF Viewer prevents the eBook from opening in Adobe Reader. "Chrome PDF Viewer: There is a problem with this protected pdf document. It may be damaged or has been tampered with. Please contact the publisher for a clean file. Message Code: 013". For more information on how to fix this error check out our article on Disabling your Browser's PDF Viewer!
The following error message appears due to an unsuccessful decryption of your eBook. To resolve it, first we recommend disabling the Global Object Security Policy in Adobe Reader. Follow the instructions provided in the error, or select one of the following links for a visual guide: PC Instructions / Mac Instructions
If you continue to receive the vitrium security error afterwards, we recommend resetting your password. For a step by step guide, see Password Reset Process.
When logging into your eBook, you may receive the following error:
Warning: Javascript Window – Vitrium Security – Error
Request timed out. Please try again later.
If you receive this error, you may not be using the correct username. Please make sure you are logging in with your GCU username (without @my.gcu.edu). If you are using the correct username, please try to reset your password.
Accessing Your eBook
To view your PDF eBooks, you will need Adobe Reader. Check out our article on Adobe Reader Installation and Setup.
I unlocked my eBook and saved it to my computer but when I try accessing it, all the pages are black
If you are receiving this error, you can try unchecking the option to automatically be signed into your eBook. Once you uncheck this option, close the book and then try to open and sign in one more time. After unchecking this option, you will need to sign in each time you access it.
If Adobe Acrobat Reader is blocking access to gcu.edu, you may receive one of the following errors when attempting to access your eBook.
“Your security settings don’t allow access to the protectedpdf server. You must allow access to the server in order to open the document.”
Or
“Adobe Acrobat does not allow connection to: ppdf.gcu.edu”
In which case you will need to allow Adobe to access *.gcu.edu by navigating to Preferences from the Edit menu or hold Ctrl and press K.
In the Preferences window, locate the Trust Manager category from the navigation pane on the left and select Change Settings.
If gcu.edu is listed under “Web Sites”, remove it by selecting it and clicking Delete. Then enter *.gcu.edu in the text box below Specify Web Sites to Allow or Block and click Allow.
Then click the OK button located at the bottom right corner of the window, do this again on the Preferences window.
You can locate your textbooks by navigating to the Path, which is one of the options available from the Navigation Menu (the drop-down in the upper left-hand corner that appears when you click Dashboard).
Once on the Path, select Course Materials. If your textbook is an eBook, you will be able to click on the title of the eBook. If you are not able to click on the title, it may be a print textbook. You can verify this in Canyon Connect.
If you click on the link to the eBook, you will be redirected to the Digital Resources page. Here, you can find a link to the eBook download as well as Canyon Connect. Some eBooks will also have Web Viewer options, though it is not guaranteed for every eBook.
As a doctoral student you can access your text books through the Learner Dissertation Page (LDP). We recommend bookmarking your text books as they are only accessible through your internet browser and not downloadable.
If you are an inactive student for 90 days (3 months), meaning you are not participating or taking classes, you may lose access to all your eBooks, as well as other features of the LDP. If you are missing information from your LDP, please contact the College of Doctoral Studies directly.
To access the Learner Dissertation Page, you must first locate the My Dashboard option on the upper right corner.
Under the My Spaces header, select your Committee.
Once you are on the Leaner Dissertation Page, locate Important Links in the column on the left side of the page.
Your text books will be available under, GCU Doctoral Text Books.
Using Your eBook
Our licensing agreement with the eBook publishers allows students to print one (1) copy of the eBook for personal use. Other printing problems can have various causes.
- If you receive an error saying, THIS PAGE IS PROTECTED, enter your username and password before attempting to print the document.
- Some eBooks have publisher restrictions that prevent you from printing, editing, or copying content in the document.
Try printing a test page from another document. If you can't, follow these steps to check your connection to the printer:
- Ensure the cable connecting your printer to your computer is securely plugged in.
- If your printer is plugged into a USB hub, unplug the printer cable from the hub. Then, plug the printer cable directly into a USB port on your computer.
- Turn off your printer. Wait 30 seconds, and then turn it on again.
If you are encountering this issue, make sure that the Save ink/toner option on the print screen is unchecked. View Printing eBooks for more information. 
By default, Sticky Note and Highlighter tools are available in Adobe Reader. These annotation and markup tools can only be used in an eBook if the publisher has enabled them. In Adobe Reader, choose Add Sticky Note or Highlight text from the Toolbar. The ability to highlight or comment in your eBook requires Adobe Reader DC or later. To keep these changes, you must save the PDF file to your computer. If you close the document without saving, all changes made will be lost.
You may copy content in Adobe Reader, unless the eBook publisher has applied security settings that disallow copying, which is common for most eBooks.
Confirm that content copying is allowed
- Right-click the document, and choose Document Properties.
- Click the Security tab, and review the Document Restrictions Summary.
Copy specific content from a PDF
- Right-click the document, and choose Select Tool from the pop-up menu.
- Drag to select text, or click to select an image.
- Right-click the selected item, and choose Copy.
Our licensing agreement with the eBook publishers allows students to use eBooks for reading and annotating. Depending on the licensing agreement of your eBook, it may or may not be interactive.
Web Viewer, W.W. Norton, Webbooks, and Pageburst/Evolve eBooks are available on mobile devices including Kindle, iPad, and Android. However, PDF and ePub eBooks are not supported on mobile devices.