Intro to the Editor: Photo Books

Overview

When you start a new project, you will begin by seeing the full editor view. You'll see a screen that looks something like this Layflat Photo Album example:

The left-hand side panel contains the project options for your current project and product type. Here you can adjust project size, color, foil color, paper options, and others depending on the product type. You can find more details on changing project options here: Changing Project Options in the Editor.

In the middle of the screen is the page view, where you can edit the cover and pages of your project. Here you can adjust the images and text.

Along the top of the screen is a menu bar that shows alert notifications, the saved status of your project, the option to view all pages, preview mode, and the 3 small dots which will open the menu on the right-hand side of the editor screen. In this menu, you can name your project, send yourself a PDF proof, see the saved status (auto-save is always enabled as long as there is a secure internet connection), ask for help, see in-editor tutorials, and the option to return the main website.

The right-hand side panel contains the photos and layouts for your project. Here you can upload new images, add images from galleries to your project, and change page layouts.

You can find more detailed information on these topics in the following articles:

Uploading Images

Changing Page Layouts in the Editor

Edit, Rotate, & Crop Images in the Editor

Add, Edit, & Delete Text

Pro-Tip: You collapse the left-hand and right-hand side panels by clicking the arrow icons on each side of the editor screen.

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Page Views

There are a few different page view options when building a book in the editor, the single-page view, the full-page view (by collapsing the right side panel), the all-page view (a zoomed-out view of all the pages by clicking this button from the top panel), and the preview mode (see a preview of your project by clicking this button from the top panel).

The default view is the single-page view, shown below. Here you can edit each individual page/spread, and add and edit images and text. You can also add, delete, and rearrange pages. Additional information on adding and removing images can be found here: Adding & Removing Images from Layouts in the Editor. 

Clicking the blue "View All Pages" button at the top of the screen will change to the full-page view, shown below.

Here you can view all of the pages or spreads in your project. You can also add, delete, and rearrange pages. While you can add images in this view, you must return to the single-page view to change layouts or edit text. You can return to the page view by clicking the blue arrow icon at the top of the screen again.

Details on adding, removing, and rearranging pages can be found here: Add, Delete, & Rearrange Pages in a Project.

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Preview Mode

If you would like to preview your project while still working on it within the Editor, you can utilize the Project Preview mode. 

This option can be found on the toolbar at the top middle of the Editor, the button labeled 'preview' with an eye symbol. By selecting this you can look through your book without the sidebars and see a more accurate representation of how your book will print. 

Please note: we still recommend utilizing the emailed PDF proof to truly preview your project as this is the most accurate representation to use prior to ordering your book of how your project will print. For more info on this, please visit our Understanding PDF Print Proofs help page.

 

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Uploading & Adding Photos

To upload images, click the 'photos' tab on the bottom right of the editor and click the blue plus sign icon. Here you can upload from your device. You can also access your existing galleries here.

There are two ways to add the image to the layout. You can either click and drag the image into the grey image area in the layout, or you can click the image within the gallery on the right-hand side to add it to the highlighted layout (there will be a small blue border around the highlighted page). An image will appear greyed out in the gallery with a check mark over it if it has already been added to the project. 

More information on this topic can be found here: Uploading Images and Adding & Removing Images from Layouts in the Editor.

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Edit Photo View

Once an image is added to a layout, hover over the image within the layout, and click the small pencil icon in the middle of the image. This will open the edit image view, shown below.

Use the percentage slider bar at the bottom of the editing screen to adjust different settings. You can adjust the cropping, rotation, brightness, contrast, saturation, exposure, temperature, and more.

Click 'Done" in the top right corner to save any edits.

More details can be found here: Edit, Rotate, & Crop Images in the Editor.

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Along with the information in this article, there are some helpful blog posts on project creation, including this one here: Tips And Tricks For Creating Your Project.

 

Have additional questions? Contact us, and we can give you a hand!