Flipbuilder

What do you like best?

The process of uploading a PDF to the Flip PDF dashboard is incredibly simple. The upload can be time consuming based on how large your pdf file is. Mine is quite large since it's a catalog; however, all you have to do is simply browse to the designated location of your file and its automatically placed in a template. There are plenty of templates to choose from if you aren't satisfied with the default template. The dashboard also allows you to seamlessly switch between a PC view and Mobile view mode so that you can see how your book will be displayed before it's published. There are many export options when publishing your PDF. We typically create Flash/Html files when generating our books; however, you can import to email, ftp, exe format, Zip files and more. How you host your file(s) is totally up to you. All of your files are also neatly packaged in a file after export.

What do you dislike?

The toolbar in the dashboard is pretty clunky and filled with tons of settings that will likely not be used. The settings provide a slight edge in customization; however, you have to weed through a lot just find what you need. Creating a search bar is a must for us. We like our customers to be able to search numbers and keywords found within the book and Flip PDF does a decent job of making this accessible; however, this setting is buggy and there are often entire sections of our book that aren't searchable even though we ensure that this setting is toggled prior to exporting. This biggest issue I have with the software; however, is you have to reimport your entire catalog if you need to make changes to it. Individual pages cannot be updated, which is a nuisance when your catalog has over 800 pages.

Recommendations to others considering the product:

This review is based on the free version of the software. It's my understanding that the Pro version is more geared toward online and cloud-based use with additional features like the ability to add hyperlinks & buttons, integrate social media accounts and video content via YouTube and FLV, etc. Whether it functions better overall is unknown to me. Therefore, if you want those features, the paid option might be the way to go.

What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized?

The problems I have mentioned have ultimately remained unsolved; however, the good outweighs the bad here. The program has given us a solid platform in showcasing our catalog on our website making it more accessible to our customers.