An online flipbook is a great format for online publishing. It’s an easy way to share digital documents while also enhancing them with multimedia, branding, design, and content protection. Online flipbooks are made from PDFs so anyone can create one. They also present a nice compromise between digital and print—with flipbooks, you can publish and share digitally but still get all the flourish and aesthetics of a printed publication, down to the smooth page-flip effect. And they’re mobile-ready, as well! Here’s what they look like:
Online flipbook example
Create yours
So how to create a PDF flipbook like that? In this article, we will give you the simplest guide on how to make a flipbook via FlippingBook Online.
How to Make a Flipbook from a PDF
#1 Prepare a PDF
Before we get to the actual flipbook creation, you’ll need a PDF first as you can’t actually create an online flipbook from scratch. Just in case you’ve never made a PDF before, we’ve prepared for you a list of the best PDF-creating solutions for non-designers.
Note: If you don’t have a PDF but still want to give FlippingBook Online a try to see how it works, you can choose to convert a demo PDF that we offer after registration.
💡 Don't have a ready PDF yet?
Create your PDF in Canva and publish it to FlippingBook right from your Canva account. To give you inspiration, we’ve designed five stunning Canva templates: digital flipbook, catalog, magazine, brochure, and newsletter. Add any template to your Canva account and customize it to your liking. And then publish to FlippingBook straight away.
Learn more →#2 Upload your PDF to FlippingBook Online
Go to FlippingBook and sign up for a free trial. In your account, upload the PDF, and the conversion process will start right away.
When it’s over, you’ll have a digital flipbook you can share with the world. Yes, just like that! If you had bookmarks in your PDF, your new online flipbook will also have them in the form of a neat interactive table of contents. However, before you actually share the flipbook, we recommend you do some customization first.
#3 Customize your flipbook
Customization is a vital step in creating an online flipbook. It allows you to add flavor and unique visual strokes that will complement the content of your original PDF. You can decide on the level of content protection you require as well.
What you can customize in your digital flipbook:
- Design and branding
With our design and branding tools, you can give your flipbook a distinctive look and feel and increase your brand awareness at the same time. - Interactivity
By inserting relevant videos, links, GIFs, pop-up image galleries, inline pictures, and forms and quizzes right to the pages of your flipbook you can make it even more interactive and engaging to flip through. - Document control
You can make your flipbook as protected from unwanted access or as public as you like thanks to privacy levels and sharing control.
When you’re finished, don’t forget to save the changes!
Note: If you want to change the contents of the document itself, you’ll need to do it in your original PDF. You can then replace the PDF in your flipbook, without having to start all over. All the settings you’ve set, as well as the link to the flipbook, will remain the same.
#4 Share your PDF flipbook
Your digital flipbook is all glossed up and ready to conquer. So it’s time to share it! There are multiple ways to do it—choose the one that suits your needs best (or use all of them, if you want):
- Direct link
The easiest way to share the flipbook is via its direct link. Copy the link and send it to your clients. All they have to do to view the flipbook is click the link. - Embed
If you’d rather display the flipbook on your website, embed it. This way, your document becomes a part of your platform—visitors will be able to flip through it while browsing.
- Social media
To widen the outreach, post the link to your flipbook on social media. The link will transform into a neat preview of your PDF flipbook, prompting people to click it. - QR code
For safe and swift offline sharing, place a QR code to your flipbook on a business card, on a banner at a tradeshow, on a menu in your restaurant—wherever you want.
No matter how you choose to share your online flipbook, be sure—it will open instantly and look awesome on any device!
Advanced features
Once you learn how to create a PDF flipbook and nail the basics, you can try more advanced features of FlippingBook Online. What else can you do with your flipbook? Well, for instance:
- track statistics and analyze viewers’ activity;
- collect new leads via a lead generation form. According to our research, 90% of emails submitted through the FlippingBook Online lead capture form are valid. Thus, you get high-quality leads right from your flipbook;
- create individual trackable links to learn when each of your clients opens or downloads your pitch decks and presentations;
- create branded URLs for your digital flipbooks
We hope that in this article, we’ve covered all the questions on how to make a flipbook online but if you still have any, don’t hesitate to ask—we’re always happy to help. As you can see, anyone can create an online flipbook and benefit from it. Try it yourself!
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