FlippingBook-specific Google Analytics events

Google Analytics is not an easy product to start with. To retrieve the correct data requires proficiency. For everyday usage, we advise looking at FlippingBook Online's built-in stats first. 

This article is not a tutorial for using Google Analytics 4 (GA4) in general. It contains a full annotated reference of the data we send to GA4 and that you can use in your reports after you have set it up and if the standard data you can track with GA4 are not sufficient. If you have not looked at these articles yet, look at them first. This article is intended for experienced GA users who want to explore additional tracking possibilities.  

FlippingBook generates its own events (in addition to the standard GA-events) specifically related to our flipbooks. Some of these events generate additional data in parameters. To track such event parameters you need to add the parameter as a custom dimension in GA4.

For example, the zoom_in event has a custom parameter event_page. If you don’t add this parameter as a custom dimension then you will be able to see how often your readers zoom in but not on which page.

But if you add a custom dimension to track the event_page, GA will show you an additional pane. This pane shows exactly on which page your users zoomed in.

Note: Google generates a lot of events itself. Some events track data that is similar to what we also gather. For example, Google tracks page_view, and we track page_opened. Both of these are triggered when a page is opened. Generally, they will be pretty similar but we advise you to use our events. They often contain additional information and are more accurate. 


How to track FlippingBook event parameters?

As mentioned above, you can track our parameters by setting them up as custom dimensions. This is done as follows:

  1. In GA’s side panel, select Admin.
  2. In the Property column, select Custom definitions.

  1. Click on the button Create custom dimensions.
  2. Fill out the new custom dimension and press Save. Make sure that the event parameter exactly matches the FlippingBook parameter name (without square brackets). The Dimension name will be used as a column header in your reports.

 

FlippingBook Events

Here is the full list of all events that your flipbooks generate for GA4 with a short description of when they are triggered and which parameters they generate.

Event Description Parameters
page_opened Page [page_url] in the flipbook is shown in [orientation]. This page was reached from [initiator]

[page_url]

[initiator]

[orientation]

page_go_to_first Reader clicked the icon to move to the first page

 

page_go_to_last Reader clicked the icon to move to the last page  
link_click_external Reader clicked on a link on [event_page] leading to  [link_url]

[event_page] 

[link_url]

link_click_internal Reader clicked on a link on page [event_page] that leads to page [to_page]  in this flipbook

[event_page]

[to_page]

fullscreen_off Reader disabled fullscreen mode  
fullscreen_on Reader enabled fullscreen mode  
sound_off Reader disabled flipbook sounds  
sound_on Reader enabled flipbook sounds  
search_close Search sidebar was closed (*)  
search_open Search sidebar was opened (*)  
search_query Search term [query] was entered in the Search field (*) [query]
share_open Reader opened the Share pop-up  
share_close Reader closed the Share pop-up  
shared_via_facebook Reader pressed the Facebook icon in the Share pop-up to share [url] [url]
shared_via_linkedin Reader pressed the LinkedIn icon in the Share pop-up to share [url] [url]
shared_via_twitter Reader pressed the Twitter icon in the Share pop-up to share [url] [url]
shared_via_email Reader pressed the Email icon in the Share pop-up to share [url] [url]
shared_via_clipboard Reader pressed the Copy button in the Share pop-up to share [url] [url]
print_open Reader opened the Print pop-up  
print_close Reader closed the Print pop-up  
printed Reader printed file [file_name] from the Print pop-up using the [option] ‘page’ (single page) or ‘full’ (full publication) to print page [printed_page] (only if single page) [file_name]
[option]
[printed_page]
download_open Reader opened the Download pop-up  
download_close Reader closed the Download pop-up  
downloaded Reader download file [file_name] from the Download pop-up using the [option] ‘page’ (single page) or ‘full’ (full publication) [file_name]
[option]
thumbnails_open Thumbnails sidebar was opened (*)  
thumbnails_close Thumbnails sidebar was closed (*)  
toc_open Table of Contents sidebar was opened (*)  
toc_close Table of Contents sidebar was closed (*)  
zoom_in Reader entered the Zoom mode on page [event_page] [event_page]
zoom_out Reader left the Zoom mode on page [event_page] [event_page]
video_play Video [url] starting at [time] seconds from start (*) [url]
[time]
video_pause Reader paused video [url] starting at [time] seconds from start [url]
[time]
video_stop Video [url] was stopped after it reached the end [time] seconds from start [url]
[time]
video_seek Reader skipped to [time] in video [url]
Note: Vimeo only! Use GA4’s default events for YouTube videos.
[url]
[time]
image_click Reader click on a pop-up image [url]  (**)
image_loaded Pop-up image was fully loaded [url]  (**)
help_open Reader pressed F1 to open flipbook Help  
help_close Reader closed flipbook Help  
note_list_open The Notes sidebar was opened (*)  
note_list_close The Notes sidebar was closed (*)  
note_open Reader clicked on an existing Note  
note_add Reader added a new Note  
note_remove Reader removed an existing Note  
text_select Reader selected text on page [event_page] [event_page]
text_copy Reader copied selected text on page [event_page] [event_page]
text_copy_link Reader copied a link to selected text on page [event_page] [event_page]
orientation_change Reader rotated their device to [value] (landscape/portrait) on [event_page] [value] [event_page]
orientation_load Flipbook was loaded in mobile on [event_page] in [value] (landscape/portrait) [value] [event_page]
slideshow_start Slideshow mode started either because the flipbook starts in Slideshow mode or by a manual action  
slideshow_stop Reader stopped Slideshow mode  
leadform_skip Reader skipped the Lead Capture Form  
leadform_submit Reader pressed submit in the Lead Capture Form  
leadform_validation_error Reader entered incorrect data in the Lead Capture Form (e.g. invalid email address)  
password_submit Reader pressed the Submit button on the password screen  

(*) these events are generally triggered by a user. They can also occur automatically. For example, if you have set up a ToC to be opened by default, or if you have a video that uses autoplay.  

(**) images are given a unique cryptical filename when uploaded. We do this to prevent duplicate filenames. This looks something like d19c49b1738548b38e24ceaf05c54dd4.customContent_s_{size}.png While advanced users could find out this name using the Developer Tools in the browser, this is very time-consuming and prone to errors. If you are interested in finding out the flipbooks and pages with pop-up images that your readers clicked on, we would advise you to:

  1. Open the Engagement tab and select Pages and screens.
  2. Change Page title and screen class to Page path+ query string and screen class.
  3. Under Event count, change All events to image_click.
  4. Sort on Event Count.

You can now see which pages generated image_click events and how many. In the example above, we see that the image on page 2 was clicked.


Parameters

The table below contains all parameters that we use, and in which events they are used. We advise you to add custom dimensions for all parameters that you possibly will ever be interested in. Data will only be gathered starting from the moment that you add a parameter as a custom dimension.

For example, you are interested in finding out on pages your readers zoomed in. If this question comes up, you want to immediately see this data. But if you only add a custom dimension today, then GA only starts tracking this from today. This means that you will need to wait for a month (or maybe even longer) to gather enough relevant data to make a conclusion.

Parameter Description Used in events
event_page The page number of your flipbook where the event occurred

link_click_external 

link_click_internal 

zoom_in 

zoom_out

text_select 

text_copy 

text_copy_link

orientation_change 

orientation_load

highlight_on 

highlight_off

event_label FlippingBook product with which the flipbook was created opened
file_name Filename of the printed/downloaded file

printed 

downloaded

initiator How did we get to this page (*) page_opened
link_url Destination link link_click_external
option

What was printed/downloaded?

 • page (single page)
 • publication (full pdf)

printed

downloaded

value

How was the page displayed (mobile only)

landscape
portrait

orientation_change

orientation_load

page_url Page number part of the URL. This will generally be a single page (e.g. 1, 2, or 17) but if your PDF contains spreads, it will contain the number of both pages (e.g. 2-3, 16-17) page_opened
printed_page Page number of a printed single page or spread (e.g. 16-17). This uses page offset in case your page numbering doesn’t start at 1. printed
query Keyword entered in the Search field search_query
to_page The page where an internal link leads to link_click_internal
url

exact URL of a

flipbook(incl page number) when sharing
video
pop-up image  

shared_via_facebook

shared_via_linkedin

shared_via_twitter

shared_via_email

shared_via_clipboard

video_play

video_pause

video_stop

video_seek

image_click

image_loaded

orientation

How was the page displayed (mobile only)

landscape
portrait

page_opened

 

While most parameter values are self-explanatory, the ‘initiator’ has a wide array of possible values. They are listed below

Value Used when
init Initially opening the book
flipComponent Flipping through the book by clicking a page and dragging it over with the mouse
toc Clicking on an entry in the TOC sidebar
search Clicking on a search result in the search sidebar
thumbnails Clicking  on a thumbnail in the thumbnails sidebar
notes Clicking on a note in the notes sidebar
link Clicking on an internal link to another page
history Pressing the browser history button forward / backward
wheel Scrolling through the pages with the mouse wheel
nav-arrow-tap Clicking on the next/previous page arrow
nav-first Clicking on the arrow to go to the first page
nav-last Clicking on the arrow to go to the last page
free-space-tap Clicking on free space to the left/right of the book
page-edge-tap Clicking on the edge of the page
book-depth Clicking the thickness of the books
nav-tap Tapping on the arrow in mobile or slide
nav-swipe Swiping over the next-page arrow on mobile (simplified page flip effect)
swipe Dragging over the page from a corner on mobile (sophisticated page flip effect)
slide-swipe Swiping over a page in slide mode
paginator Setting a page number in the paginator in the top menu
slide-show Automatic transition during slideshow
keyboard Flipping a page using an arrow key on the keyboard
titleTap Tapping on the title (mobile)
orientation Changing orientation on a mobile device
error Moving to the first page if the page number is typed incorrectly in the paginator



 

Was this article helpful?
;
drift chat