Frequently Asked Questions

Our books are generally available for purchase on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Google Play Books, Redshelf, VitalSource, or by placing a special order at your local bookstore. Books by ASCENT are only available to students through your campus bookstore. Our books are also available to institutions through BibliU and Campus eBookstore.

International customers can purchase our books at Routledge and Amazon International Amazon Canada Amazon France Amazon Germany Amazon India Amazon Italy Amazon Japan Amazon Spain Amazon United Kingdom

• Return authorization is not required.
• Most books are returnable within 12 months of the invoice date. We do not accept returns on eBooks, eBook Codes, or Out of Print titles.
• Returned books must be in new resalable condition. Books with any damage, markings, stickers, or without shrink wrap will not be accepted and no credit will be applied. The bookstore will be contacted to see if they want the books recycled or returned.
• A 20% restocking fee will be applied on all returns.
• Please include a copy of the original invoice or return information with your billing address and what is being returned.
• Bookstores are responsible for any shipping charges for returns.
• Return cartons may never exceed 50 pounds and should be constructed of 275lbs (PSI bursting strength), single or double wall corrugated. Books need to be well packed to avoid damage during shipping. Box size may not exceed the following dimensions: Length 21” x Width 12” x Height 9 ¼”.
• A Credit Memo will be issued shortly after receiving a return. Credit Memos are valid for two years. Contact us to apply this credit to your account balance or to have a refund check issued.
• Our return address is:
  6800 Squibb Road
  Mission, KS 66202

Our books are generally available for purchase as eBooks through a variety of platforms. Currently you can buy most of our books as eBooks on Apple Books, Google Play Books, Redshelf, and VitalSource. Select titles might not be available through every eBook platform.

Our books are also available to institutions through BibliU and Campus eBookstore.

1. Start by browsing our website.
2. When you find a book that you would like to purchase, go to its details page.
3. Next to the cover you should see a yellow button that says 'Purchase Options'. Click on it.
4. Now a box will appear giving you several options for purchasing this book. If this book is available as an eBook, there will be a section titled 'eBooks'.
5. Within this section you should find a list of links where this book is available for purchase as an eBook.
6. Click on any of these links to be taken to that book's page from that retailer.
7. From there you can make your purchase through the retailer of your choice.

If you purchased your eBook directly from an eBook provider such as (Apple Books, Google Play Books, Redshelf, or VitalSource), you should visit their online platform or use their apps to read your eBook.

If your eBook was provided to you as part of an “inclusive access”, “first day”, “day one” or similarly named program where the purchase of your eBook is bundled with your course enrollment you may need to access your eBook through a course link provided to you by your instructor, through your educational institution’s Learning Management System (LMS) or from an eBook provider’s platform. In these cases, you may need to ask your instructor where to go to access your eBook. This might be the case with textbooks provided by Barnes and Noble College Bookstores (BNC FirstDay), Yuzu, VitalSource, BryteWave, RedShelf, BibliU, and Campus eBookstore.

Along with your eBook purchase, you may have received an access code for exclusive bonus content from SDC Publications. The access code provided with your eBook purchase is exclusively for unlocking bonus content on the SDC Publications website and does not grant access to the eBook itself on our platform.

Below are links to relevant help articles provided by each of our inclusive access partners, along with their customer support information, should you need further assistance. If you received an email receipt, it might also contain links to their customer support at the bottom of the email.

Barnes and Noble College Bookstores (BNC FirstDay)

• Help Article: https://customercare.bncollege.com/hc/en-us/categories/360000142447-First-Day-Inclusive-Access-FAQs
• FAQ Pages: https://customercare.bncollege.com/
• Email: bookstorecustomercare@bncollege.com
• Phone: 1-844-932-6657 (1-844-9-EBOOKS)
• Submit a request online: https://customercare.bncollege.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
• Customer Support: https://www.bncollege.com/contact-us/
• Website: https://www.bncollege.com/

Yuzu

• Help Article: https://customercare.yuzu.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001291467
• Customer Support: https://customercare.yuzu.com/
• Email: customercare@yuzu.com
• Phone: 1-844-989-8669 (1-844-YUZU-NOW)
• Website: https://www.yuzu.com/

VitalSource

• Help Article: https://support.vitalsource.com/hc/en-us/articles/360036466173-How-To-Access-your-VitalSource-eTextbook-purchased-at-your-Bookstore-s-Website
• Customer Support: https://support.vitalsource.com/
• Submit a request online: https://support.vitalsource.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

BryteWave

• Help Article: https://brytewavesolve.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4405820255131-How-to-find-your-Access-Code-for-ancillary-publisher-materials-ebundles
• Customer Support: https://brytewavesolve.zendesk.com/hc/en-us
• Email: customerservice@brytewave.com
• Phone: 877-612-2233

RedShelf

• Help Article: https://solve.redshelf.com/hc/en-us/articles/360013239433-Access-FAQ
• Customer Support: https://solve.redshelf.com/

BibliU

• Help Article: https://support.bibliu.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002057418-Logging-into-your-BibliU-Account
• Customer Support: https://support.bibliu.com/
• Email: support@bibliu.com
• Submit a request online: https://support.bibliu.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

Campus eBookstore

• Help Article: https://support.bibliu.com/hc/en-us/articles/4415899510033-Campus-eBookstore-FAQs
• Customer Support: https://campusebookstore.com/ContactUs/
• Email: support@campusebookstore.com
• Submit a request online: https://campusebookstore.com/Support.aspx
• Phone: 1-888-322-2272 (Option 2 - CampusEBookstore Support)
• Website: campusebookstore.com

Windows based PC

Files are usually downloaded to the Downloads folder or the Desktop. If you are using Windows Vista or Window 7, you can locate the Downloads folder by clicking on the Start menu, then selecting your username at the top right corner of the Start menu. The Downloads folder will be located within this folder. If you are using Windows XP, you can locate the Downloads folder by clicking on the Start menu, then selecting Documents, My Documents. The Downloads folder will be within the My Documents folder. Once you are in the Downloads folder you can locate the download by name, or you can sort the files by the date modified option and look for files downloaded today.

If your file is not in the Downloads folder, the settings on your browser may be set to download to a different location. Depending on which browser you are using, you can change the location using the instructions below:

Internet Explorer

1. Click on the Gear in the upper right corner of your browser, and then select View downloads.
2. In the View Downloads window, you will find your download. You can choose to save your downloads to a different location by clicking on the Options button. Then in the Download Options dialog box click on Browse, and choose a new download location.

Firefox

1. Click on Tools at the top of the browser. Select Options from the drop down list.
2. Open the General tab and locate the Save files to: option. You can check to see where your files are being downloaded to, and you can also change the location by selecting the Choose button, and choosing a new location.

Chrome

1. Click on the Chrome menu on the right side of the browser toolbar.
2. Click on Settings.
3. Click on Show advanced settings and locate the Downloads options. You can check to see where your files are being downloaded to, and you can also change the location by selecting the Change button. You can also select “Ask where to save each file before downloading” to choose the download location for each file you download.

Mac

The Downloads folder is generally the default location for downloads. To access your downloaded file, click on Finder, and select your username; then select the Downloads folder. Look for the file that you downloaded in the list of downloads, or sort the files by date and look at the most recent downloads.

If your file is not in the Downloads folder, the settings on your browser may be set to download to a different location. Depending on which browser you are using, you can change the location using the instructions below:

Safari

1. Open the Safari menu located in the top left corner of the browser.
2. Select Preferences…
3. Open the General tab and locate the Save downloaded files to: option. You can check to see where your files are being downloaded to, and you can also change the location by using the drop down menu option.

Firefox

1. Open the Firefox menu located in the top left corner of the browser.
2. Select Preferences…
3. Open the General tab and locate the Save files to: option. You can check to see where your files are being downloaded to, and you can also change the location by selecting the Choose button, and choosing a new location.

Chrome

1. Open the Chrome menu located in the top left corner of the browser.
2. Select Preferences…
3. Open the Under the Hood tab and locate the Downloads options. You can check to see where your files are being downloaded to, and you can also change the location by selecting the Change button. You can also select “Ask where to save each file before downloading” to choose the download location for each file you download.

A zipped file is a file that contains one or more files that are compressed to take up less storage space. Zipped files can be transferred between computers more quickly than uncompressed files.

Windows

To extract everything in the compressed folder, right click the folder, and then select Extract all. You can then choose the destination of the uncompressed files. The files can be extracted into the same location as the zipped folder or be moved to a new location.

-or-

To extract individual files or folders, open the compressed folder and then drag the files or folders you want to extract to a new location.

Mac

To uncompress (expand) an item, double-click the .zip file, and the file or folder will be uncompressed into the same folder the compressed file was in.

Many of our books have files available for download on their details page. These files come in two varieties: nonexclusive content and exclusive content.

Nonexclusive content are files that anyone can download at any time and generally consist of exercise files that are used within the tutorials presented in the book. These are usually the minimum files necessary to follow along with the book.

Exclusive content generally consists of additional files that will help you learn material easier or covers bonus topics not covered in the text. To gain access to exclusive content you will need to register your book with the access code that comes with the print copy of your book. If you have purchased an eBook you can email a proof of purchase to receive a free code.

Some of the most common issues with downloads failing can be resolved simply by restarting your computer and internet router. It may sound simple, but this is an easy step that can often solve download problems.

If you are using a WI-FI connection, check to make sure you are within range, that the signal strength is good, and that the connection is persistent. If possible, we recommend using an ethernet connection instead of WI-FI for the fastest download speeds.

If you are using an ethernet cable, make sure the cable is a high-quality cable, with no defects, that’s not too long, and is securely connected to your computer and router. You could try using a different cable to see if that resolves any issues.

Check to make sure you do not have any other bandwidth intensive programs or web pages open. This includes streaming videos, streaming music, video conferencing, online gaming or other large downloads. Close anything that isn't necessary and only download one file at a time.

If you are using a VPN, proxy server, or similar service, large downloads can sometimes cause issues. Some services will throttle the amount of bandwidth you are allowed to consume at a given time, or in total. With some VPNs, a download may consume a large amount of bandwidth, and when other VPN clients try to use the VPN tunnel, the file transfer gets interrupted. You may need to temporarily turn off your VPN to download large files.

Check to make sure your operating system and web browser are up to date. Please note that Internet Explorer is no longer supported and using it to view our website could cause the website to not work as expected. We recommend using a modern web browser such as Google Chrome, Edge or Firefox. If you want to go the extra mile, you can make sure your router’s firmware is up to date as well.

Browser extensions can sometimes be the source of download issues. You can try temporarily turning browser extensions off or using a private window to see if a browser extension is causing any problems.

Be sure you have anti-virus software installed on your computer, that it’s running, and up to date. Viruses can run in the background, using your internet and increasing your bandwidth usage, which results in slow download speeds.

Finally, you can check to see how fast your internet connection is using an internet speed tester such as http://speedtest.googlefiber.net/ If your download speeds are low this may indicate a problem with your internet connection or computer.

In some rare instances, Google Chrome or other browsers will display a warning when you try to download a file from our website that is ‘unknown’ or ‘uncommon’. Some browsers, such as Google Chrome, check the files that you download from the internet against a database of known malicious files and a list of known safe files. Occasionally, files that are new to our site are not yet in Chrome’s known safe files list and for this reason they might display a warning. Additionally, because we provide files for a wide variety of software some of the file types might not be known to Google Chrome. For more specific information regarding this please visit Google Chrome’s blocked downloads help page.

Are these files safe to download and use?

SDC Publications takes every step to ensure the files we provide to you are safe to use. We always scan our files with antivirus software before making them available to you on our website. If you ever have a concern about a download we encourage you to please contact us immediately. We recommend that you use caution whenever you download any file from the internet and that you scan any file you downloaded from the internet with your own antivirus software before opening it.

Some of our books feature exclusive bonus content that we make available as a download from our website. We make this exclusive bonus content available to customers by including a unique access code in our books. Exclusive content consists of additional files that will help customers learn material easier or covers bonus topics not covered in the text. This could include videos, bonus chapters, additional exercises, etc. Nonexclusive content, such as exercise files, are not tied to the access codes and are freely available to anyone from our website.

This access code can only be used by one registered user. The code will give the customer access to electronic materials that are associated with the book. The code, along with directions, can be found on the inside front cover of the book.

When you redeem your access code the book that is associated with that access code gets added to your SDC Publications library and provides you with access to the exclusive bonus content for that book. To access this bonus content you can navigate to your SDC Publications library and click on the book’s cover. This will open a window where you can download all the files for the book. Alternatively, while logged in, you can navigate to the book’s details page on our website and download all the book’s files directly from this page.

No. Only some of our books come with access codes. We include access codes in books that include bonus material such as videos or bonus chapters.

If your book includes an access code it can be found on the inside front cover of the book along with instructions to redeem your access code.

Instructions for redeeming your access code are included on the inside of the front cover of your book along with the access code. Note that not all books come with an access code.

The instructions for redeeming an access code are generally as follows:

1. Login to your SDC Publications account or register at SDCpublications.com/Register.
2. Once you are logged in to your account visit SDCpublications.com/Redeem.
3. Enter your access code in the form provided and click redeem code.
4. Go to SDCpublications.com/Library to access this book’s exclusive content from your account library.

We have two categories of files for customers to download. We have exclusive content and nonexclusive content. Exclusive content is made available to customers through the use of our access code system, while nonexclusive content is freely available to everyone. Exclusive content consists of additional files that will help customers learn the material easier or covers bonus topics not covered in the text. This could include videos, bonus chapters, additional exercises, etc.

Nonexclusive content are files that anyone can download at any time and generally consist of exercise files that are used within the tutorials presented in the book. These are usually the minimum files necessary to follow along in the book.

Please bear in mind that not all textbooks contain exclusive content or an access code.

Yes. If you have purchased an ebook that normally comes with an access code you are entitled to a free access code. To receive your access code please forward us a proof of your purchase. Please email to request this content. Upon verifying your purchase we will email you an access code for the book you purchased.

Access codes are one time use. After a code is used the book is added to your library and the access code is made unusable. If you buy a used book there is a good chance that the access code has already been redeemed and you will not be able to access the bonus content. If you are positive you have a new book and the code says it has already been redeemed by another customer check to make sure the book isn’t already in your library. If the book isn’t in your library contact us and we will help you resolve the issue.

If your book was sold as new and the code was redeemed by another customer you may be entitled to a new book or refund from the seller you bought the book from.

In some rare cases a code may become smudged or a printing error may occur that makes it difficult to correctly identify all the characters in your access code and prevent you from redeeming your code. If you experience any issue reading or redeeming your access code please contact us and we will be happy to assist you.

Books with access codes are shrinkwrapped before being shipped. If you bought a book with an access code and the book is in its original, unopened shrinkwrap and the code has not been redeemed the book can usually be returned to the store you purchased it from. You should check to see what the return policy is of the bookstore before making a purchase.

Bookstores that buy books directly from us may return new books with access codes as long as the books are in their original, unopened shrinkwrap and the codes have not been redeemed. Other terms do apply for returning books. See the textbook returns section of this FAQ for more details.

At this time we do not sell access codes without purchasing a book.

No. Instructors who have registered with SDC Publications, and had their account approved, have access to the book’s bonus material when logged into their account. As an instructor you may choose to redeem your access code so you can become familiar with how the system works, but this is not necessary.

Whenever you request an examination copy through our website that book gets added to your SDC Publications library. From within your library not only do you have access to the same content that your students do, but you also have access to any instructor resources that are available for that book. Additional tools are also available to manage your library.

Please note that instructor accounts that have not been verified or that have been denied do not have the same access privileges as verified instructor accounts.

To request examination copies online:

1. Browse our books
2. Add books to your exam copy cart by clicking "Add to Exam Cart" from their details page
3. Place your request by viewing the cart and clicking "Complete Request"
4. Provide any necessary shipping information
5. Make any notes including course information and eBook requests
6. Confirm and submit your request

All examination copy requests are reviewed and approved before being fulfilled. Instructors who abuse the examination copy request process may have their requests denied and their account disabled. SDC Publications reserves the right to refuse fulfilling examination copy requests, for any reason, at its own discretion.

Instructor resources may be obtained in one of three ways depending on the resource:

• Some resources may be downloaded from our site by anyone.
• Other resources require you to first register with us as an instructor. Then once you are verified you will be able to download these resources.
• The third type of resources are those that have to be shipped. These are included with examination copies when request through our site or you may contact us to request just the resources.

All resources may be obtained by contacting us by email: or phone: 913-262-2664.

Disability service coordinators may request electronic files for students who have a documented print disability. Certain criteria must be met in order for us to send the electronic file:

• The student must have a documented disability.
• The student must be enrolled in a class that requires the title.
• The student must have proof of purchase for a print copy of the title.

To request electronic files, please email .

• Students may download Autodesk software for free from http://students.autodesk.com. All you need is a student email address.
• If you are a student having trouble installing your Autodesk software, please contact the Autodesk Activation and Registration Team at 1-800-551-1490. SDC does not provide technical support. We cannot replace serial numbers.

SOLIDWORKS 2012 and newer

Until 2012 the Student Design Kit (SDK) was included with each SOLIDWORKS textbook from SDC Publications. However, the SDK Program has been terminated by SOLIDWORKS Corporation.

Students will now have access to free copies of SOLIDWORKS through a different means. When an educational institution purchases its SOLIDWORKS license, a number of free licenses are available for students. In order to determine how many free licenses are available for students, instructors need to contact SOLIDWORKS directly.

The contact person at SOLIDWORKS is Chris Morse. Her telephone number is (781) 810-5443. Her email address is christine.morse@3ds.com. She will provide software license codes and work with you to make sure that you have enough licenses for every student.