PDF-FLIP Documentation

Version 3.7 • For PDF-FLIP Subscribers

Welcome to the PDF-FLIP documentation. Learn how to display your flipbooks on your website. If you don't find what you're looking for or run into technical issues, contact support — we're here to help.

Create Flipbooks

Upload PDFs to create flipbooks. Use the Dashboard: drag and drop a file onto the New Flipbook card, or click to select a file. After upload, the flipbook is optimized and ready to customize, embed, or download.

File Types

PDF — Supported on all plans. This is the primary format for flipbooks.

On Pro plans, you can also upload: DOC, DOCX, ODT, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX. These are converted to PDF during processing.

File size limits depend on your plan. Free accounts have a lower limit; paid plans support larger files (up to 512 MB). If your file is too large, optimize or compress it before uploading.

Page Distribution

PDF-FLIP handles page distribution automatically. When you upload a PDF, the system processes each page and prepares it for the flipbook viewer. It detects whether sub-pages are merged (e.g., two PDF pages combined into one spread) or split (e.g., one logical page split across two PDF pages) and displays them correctly in the flipbook. Pages are distributed for optimal loading — the viewer loads pages on demand as readers navigate, so long documents perform well without loading everything at once. Spreads (single or double-page view), page order, and layout are handled by the system; you don't need to configure anything. For right-to-left languages, enable Right to Left in Flipbook Settings.

Optimization

After you upload a PDF, PDF-FLIP automatically optimizes it for web viewing. You'll see an "Optimizing Flipbook" message while processing completes. This step prepares your content for fast, smooth page turns in the viewer.

Benefits of optimization:

Optimization typically completes within a few seconds to a minute, depending on file size and page count. You can customize and share the flipbook once the process finishes.

Duplicate

Create a copy of an existing flipbook. Click the on the flipbook card. A confirmation modal appears — confirm to create the copy. The duplicate has the same PDF content and settings as the original. Useful for creating variations (e.g., different languages) or reusing the same design.

Replace

Update the PDF content without losing your settings. Click the on the flipbook card and select a new file. The flipbook keeps its customization (background, logo, controls, etc.), its URL, and uses the new PDF. This is important if the flipbook is already shared or embedded — existing links and embeds continue to work without any changes.

Delete

Remove a flipbook permanently. Click the on the flipbook card. A confirmation modal asks you to confirm — deletion cannot be undone. You can also select multiple flipbooks (Table view) and use Delete Selected to remove them in bulk.

Copy & Paste Settings

Copy settings from one flipbook and paste them onto another. Saves time when multiple flipbooks should share the same look and behavior.

How to Copy & Paste

  1. On the flipbook you want to copy from, click the .
  2. On the flipbook you want to paste to, click the .
  3. The target flipbook is updated immediately. Copied settings are stored for your session, so you can paste to multiple flipbooks without copying again.

What Gets Copied

Styling, page effect, page disposition, controls, Table of Contents, access (password, intro message), analytics, meta description. The flipbook title and PDF content are not copied. Free accounts: Logo settings are not pasted.

Styling & Customization

Customize the look of your flipbook to match your brand. Open any flipbook in the Dashboard and click . Changes appear in the live preview as you make them.

Background

The Background tab lets you style the area around the flipbook. You have three options:

The Logo tab lets you add your brand logo to the flipbook viewer:

Logo customization is available on Pro plans. Free accounts use the default PDF-FLIP logo.

Controls & Colors

In the Controls tab you can adjust the appearance of the navigation bar:

For Realistic Flipbook type, you can also set the Internal Covers Color — the color of the inside cover edges visible when pages turn.

Flipbook Settings

Configure page effects, controls, and how your flipbook behaves. Open any flipbook and click to access these settings.

Page Effect / Templates

Choose how your flipbook looks and feels. Five templates are available:

Page style (for 3D/2D/Realistic): Soft Pages, Hard Cover, or Hard Pages.

3D Perspective Angle

Add 3D perspective depth. Range 0–45°. Set to 0 to disable. Available for 3D Flipbook only.

3D Shadow Intensity

Control the shadow the flipbook casts on the background. Range 0.0–0.3. Available for 3D Flipbook only.

Flipbook Gutter Curve Size

Adjust the center gutter shading and page curl. Range 0.0–3.0. Available for 3D Flipbook only.

Zoom Intensity

Set how far users can zoom into page details. Range 1–5. Higher values allow more zoom and slightly sharper detail when zoomed (lighter on device resources than very large texture caps).

Page Turn Speed

Adjust how fast pages turn. Range 100–3000 ms (0.1–3 seconds). Slower values give a more relaxed flip.

AutoPlay Flipbook

Start automatic page flipping when the flipbook loads. Toggle On/Off. Set the interval between page turns (1–10 seconds). Users can pause AutoPlay.

Page Disposition

Control how pages are displayed. Open Customize → Page Disposition tab.

Opening Page

Set which page opens first when the flipbook loads. Enter a page number (e.g., 1 for the first page).

Interactive Links & Highlight Links

Enable interactive links from your PDF (buttons, email, web and https links). When enabled, readers can click links to open URLs, send emails, or navigate within the document. Highlight Links adds a visual highlight so links are easier to spot.

Page Structure

Choose how the PDF pages are interpreted:

Page Display Behaviour

Control how many pages are shown at once:

Right to Left (RTL)

For languages that read right-to-left (e.g. Arabic, Hebrew), set Read Direction to Right to Left in Customize → Page Disposition. The flipbook will open from the right, pages will turn in RTL order, and navigation will follow the correct reading direction.

Use Back Cover As Page 1 (under Page Structure) if your PDF was exported with the back cover as the first page — common in RTL workflows.

Controls

Customize the navigation bar: Show/Hide controls, Nav Size (Small/Large), Nav Position (Top/Bottom), Control order (drag to reorder), Share options (platforms, email subject/body).

Flip Sound — Optional sound effect when pages turn.

Access Control

Protect your flipbooks and bookshelves with passwords and intro messages.

Flipbook & Bookshelf Password

Require a password before readers can view content. Click the on the flipbook card, or open Customize → Access Password. Available on Basic and Pro plans.

Intro Message (Welcome Overlay)

Show a welcome screen before readers access the flipbook. Click the on the flipbook card, or open Customize → Welcome. Customize title, message (400 chars), button text, optional download button. Available on Pro plans.

When Both Are Active

If both the intro message and password are enabled, they combine on a single screen. Readers will see the intro message and password prompt together before they can access the flipbook.

Statistics

Built-in Statistics (Professional) show views, page engagement, average reading time, collected leads, and PDF downloads for each flipbook. You can also optionally add your own Google Analytics snippet.

Using Statistics

Click the on the flipbook card, or open Customize → Statistics. Use the tabs and time frame filter to review performance. From the same modal you can open Add Your Google Analytics Code to paste a GA snippet if you want third-party tracking as well.

Google Analytics (optional)

Each flipbook can have its own Google Analytics code. Use the same code across flipbooks to report to one property, or different codes for separate tracking. The snippet runs when readers open the published viewer.

Sharing

Share flipbooks via URL, social media, and email. Click the on the flipbook card to open the Share modal.

Share Preview (Title & Description)

When someone shares your flipbook, the link shows a preview card with thumbnail, title, and description. Edit these in the Share modal (Edit button) or via the on the flipbook card. These appear on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and similar platforms. A clear title and description improve click-through and branding.

Copy URL

Use the Copy button in the Share modal, or click the on the flipbook card to get the URL. To share a specific page, add ?page=5 to the URL.

Social Share Buttons

The Share modal includes quick-share buttons for Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Reddit, Pinterest, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Telegram, Skype, Email, Evernote, Messenger. Customize which platforms appear in Flipbook Settings → Controls.

QR Code

Basic and Pro plans. Generate a QR code that links directly to your flipbook. Click the icon next to the Share button on the flipbook card (or in the table view). A modal opens with the QR code.

Use Download QR Code to save a high-resolution PNG (600×600). Print the QR code on brochures, flyers, posters, or packaging so readers can scan with their phone to open the flipbook instantly. The QR code works for both individual flipbooks and bookshelves.

Custom web address

Pro plans only. Set a custom web address so your flipbooks are available at iflip.page/your-name/flipbook-name.html instead of the default PDF-FLIP viewer URL. This is a branded path on our short domain—not connecting your own DNS domain.

How to Set Up

  1. Dashboard → Click the Web address button (next to New Flipbook).
  2. Turn on Use a custom web address.
  3. Enter your company path (3–80 characters: letters, numbers, underscore, or minus).
  4. Click Save web address to apply (availability is checked when you save).

Once saved, all your flipbooks and bookshelves use the new URL format. For example, a flipbook titled "Product Catalog" becomes iflip.page/your-name/Product_Catalog.html.

Turning Off

Turn Use a custom web address off and click Turn off web address to revert to the default PDF-FLIP URLs. Your iflip.page name can stay reserved while your subscription is active.

Table of Contents

Add a clickable table of contents so readers can jump to chapters or sections. Available on Basic and Pro plans. Open Customize → Contents tab.

Activate Table of Contents

Turn on the Activate Table of Contents switch to enable the feature. The TOC icon will appear in the flipbook navigation bar.

PDF Bookmarks

If your PDF has bookmarks (created in Acrobat or other PDF editors), choose Create Table of Contents from the PDF Bookmarks. The flipbook will automatically build the TOC from those bookmarks. No manual entry needed.

Custom Table of Contents

Build your own table of contents manually. Choose Create Custom Table of Contents, then:

Each entry can link to a specific page or an external URL. Drag entries to reorder. Chapters can contain multiple sub-entries.

Auto-Open on Load

Enable Toggle Table of Contents on Flipbook Load to have the TOC panel open automatically when readers open the flipbook. Useful for long documents where navigation is important.

Bookshelf

Organize multiple flipbooks in a single, browsable library. Bookshelves are available on Pro plans. You need at least 2 flipbooks to create one.

Creating a Bookshelf

Go to Bookshelf in Dashboard → Create a Bookshelf. Add flipbooks, drag to reorder, add multiple rows with Add New Shelf.

Customizing the Bookshelf

Edit Bookshelf: Background (gallery, custom image, solid color), Shelf color, Shelf Edge Texture (Wood, Marble, Glass, Concrete). You can set a password — see Access Control.

Share & Embed

Bookshelves can be shared and embedded like individual flipbooks (URL, social share, embed code).

Add to your website

Get your flipbooks onto your website using embedding or self-hosting.

Two Ways to Display Your Flipbooks

PDF-FLIP gives you two options for putting your flipbooks on your website:

Method Best For Your Hosting Required?
Embedding Quick setup, no file management No — flipbook stays on PDF-FLIP servers
Host Flipbooks Full control, your domain only Yes — you upload the HTML to your server

Embedding

Add flipbooks to your website with a simple code snippet. No downloads or uploads. Your flipbook remains hosted on PDF-FLIP.

Steps

  1. Log in at www.pdf-flip.com → Dashboard.
  2. Find the flipbook → Click .
  3. Choose Embed as iframe (full viewer) or Embed as Cover Thumbnail (clickable cover).
  4. Copy the code and paste it into your website's HTML/code view.

Iframe embed:

<iframe src="https://www.pdf-flip.com/viewers/YOUR_VIEWER_ID/YOUR_FILE.html" 
        title="Your Flipbook Title" 
        style="width:100%;height:80vh;min-height:400px;border:0;display:block;" 
        loading="lazy" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Cover thumbnail:

<a href="https://www.pdf-flip.com/viewers/YOUR_VIEWER_ID/YOUR_FILE.html" target="_BLANK">
  <img src="YOUR_THUMBNAIL_URL" style="width: 250px;">
</a>

Troubleshooting

If the embed doesn't show: Check the iframe src URL loads in a new tab. Ensure your CMS allows iframes. Try clearing cache.

Host Flipbooks

Download the flipbook HTML and host it on your own web server or your client's. The flipbook will load from whichever domain you upload it to. You can download the same flipbook multiple times and host it on multiple websites — there are no limits on how many sites use it.

Step 1: Download

  1. Dashboard → Find flipbook → Click .
  2. Enter your website URL in the modal (e.g., https://www.yoursite.com). This is required.
  3. Click . Your browser downloads an HTML file.
Important: You must enter your website URL before downloading. This authorizes the flipbook to load correctly when hosted on your domain.

Step 2: Upload

Upload the .html file to your web server via FTP, SFTP, or cPanel. See Uploading: Best Practices for guidance. You can rename the file (e.g., product-catalog.html) — the flipbook works the same.

Your flipbook will be at https://www.yoursite.com/flipbooks/Your-Flipbook-Title.html. Link to it or embed it with an iframe pointing to that URL.

Important Notes

Troubleshooting

Doesn't load from computer: Upload to a web server; file:// won't work.

"Un-published" message: Download again and enter your correct website URL.

Uploading to Your Website: Best Practices

This is general guidance for uploading files to your web server. PDF-FLIP provides hosting when you embed; uploading to your own website is an optional alternative. If you choose to self-host, you use your hosting provider's FTP, SFTP, or cPanel to upload the downloaded HTML file.

Important: If you have trouble connecting (FTP, SFTP, or cPanel), contact your web hosting provider's support — they can help with server access, credentials, and upload issues.

FTP

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a standard way to upload files to a web server. Use an FTP client such as FileZilla, WinSCP, or Cyberduck.

Connect, navigate to your web root (often public_html or www), create a folder if needed (e.g., flipbooks), and upload the HTML file.

SFTP

SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) is more secure than FTP — it encrypts the connection. Prefer SFTP when your host supports it.

Use FileZilla, WinSCP, or Cyberduck. Select SFTP as the protocol when connecting.

cPanel File Manager

Many shared hosting plans include cPanel. Use cPanel → File Manager to upload files directly in the browser:

  1. Log in to cPanel (from your hosting provider).
  2. Open File Manager.
  3. Go to public_html (or your site's root folder).
  4. Create a folder (e.g., flipbooks) if desired.
  5. Click Upload, select your HTML file, and wait for the upload to complete.

Best Practices for Connecting

Support

For additional help:

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