Simply Charlotte Mason — Charlotte Mason method homeschool helps.

If you’re having problems downloading or using any of our timesaver files, e-books or samples, or audio files, this is the place to look first. We’re discovering new and, shall we say, “interesting” things about various computer and software configurations as we go, so we’ll be adding more information to this page along the way.

Table of Contents

1. Steps for Downloading
2. Help, I Didn’t Get My Download Links
3. Loading Books onto My E-book Reader
4. Damaged File Error
5. Can’t Open .efw File
6. Backups
7. Help for Macintosh Users
8. Contact Us for More Help

Steps for Downloading

1. Download links are provided on the purchase confirmation page and in your e-mailed receipt. Just click the link to start downloading. Can’t find your link? See Help, I Didn’t Get My Download Links
2. If asked to open or save, be sure to choose Save.
3. Choose a location on your computer to save the file. Your desktop is a good choice if you don’t know where you would like it.
4. Most of our products download as a .zip file. It’s sort of like an envelope that contains your books or audio files and protects them as we send them across the Internet. When you double-click your saved .zip file, it will usually open like a folder to show the .pdf book or .mp3 audio files inside. You can drag the files out to another location so you don’t have to open the zip file each time you want to use them.

5. When you double-click a .pdf file, it should open in Adobe Reader. If you don’t have the latest version, you can download it for free at Adobe’s website.

   Audio .mp3 files should open in Windows Media Player or iTunes. You can get a free copy of iTunes from the iTunes Web site.

Help, I Didn’t Get My Download Links

After your purchase, you should be taken to a page confirming your order. This page includes your download links. If you have an account with us, you can log in to see your past orders and access your download links.

We also send you an e-mail receipt that includes your download links under each downloadable product you ordered.

Sometimes our e-mail messages get blocked by anti-spam filters. Be sure to check in your spam or junk mailbox. You can help make sure our e-mails get through by adding sales@simplycharlottemason.com to your address book, approved list, or whitelist. Also be sure to mark any messages mistakenly placed in your junk folder as not spam to help the system learn to handle it properly in the future.

If you still can’t find your download links, please use the contact our friendly support for help.

Loading Book onto My E-book Reader

We have help pages with instructions for adding our e-book files to various e-book reader devices.

• How to add a PDF e-book to your iPad
• How to add an e-book to your Kindle
• How to add an e-book to your Nook

Damaged File Error

• Sometimes an error like this appears when trying to open a file you have downloaded from us (emphasis added to show the important clues):

  Adobe Reader could not open ‘Some-File-From-SCM.zip‘ because it is either not a supported file type or because the file has been damaged (for example, it was sent as an email attachment and wasn’t correctly decoded).

  Notice that it says Adobe Reader is trying to open a zip file. The file isn’t really damaged. Adobe Reader is only made to open pdf files and just doesn’t know how to deal with a zip file. Most likely, the software needed for unpacking a zip file is not installed on your computer or is out of date. Fortunately, there is free software you can install to handle it. Please see installing 7-zip for instructions.

• If the zip file opens okay, but Adobe Reader then complains that the file is damaged and can’t be repaired, try these steps:

  1. Download and install a new copy of Adobe Reader. It can sometimes get damaged, so please try this even if you already have the current version. There is no cost, and you can get it here:
     http://get.adobe.com/reader/.
  2. Reboot your computer just to be sure everything is starting fresh.
  3. Delete the files that didn’t open and download your files again. See the Steps for Downloading section for help downloading and opening the files.

Can’t Open .efw File

Our books are actually sent as a .zip file that must be unpacked to get the pdf books inside. Computer Associates (CA) antivirus and personal firewall software has a habit of renaming .zip files to .efw as a precaution, even if the file is not infected with anything.

To fix it, right-click on the downloaded file, click Rename, and change the .efw to .zip. You should then be able to open it.

If your computer does not have recent software for unpacking zip files, please see installing 7-zip for instructions.

Backups

Don’t forget to make a backup copy of your files once you get them downloaded successfully. Use a CD or other media that you can store away from your computer. If the files on your computer get damaged or lost, you can easily restore them from your backup.

Help for Macintosh Users

We do realize that most of the instructions on this page are Windows specific. This simply reflects the nature of the majority of requests we answer. Feel free to contact us using the form below if you need help and we will be happy to assist.

Contact Us for More Help

Still having trouble? Please use our contact form to give us the details so we can help.